With the summer we always see a growing interest in tandems. What could be better than to explore with a friend in perfect harmony.
Of course that is not always the case, there are occasional tales of conflict and marriages being nearly wrecked by the communication and teamwork that is required to successfully pilot these marvellous machines. Frankly I think that is just a sign of other underlying issues – a tandem more often than not will reinforce friendships and enhance many other aspects of your lives!
At Outspoken we try to make the move to tandemania easy for you. A short test ride, after some initial tuition will help you decide on who will steer, what pedaling cadence is common to the both of you, how much do you trust each other and whether a short term hire would be the next best step. With an understanding of the dynamics of tandem riding most cyclists will take to it like a duck to water.
Riding with a child or even children is another possibility. We sell the Circe range of tandems and triplets. These are extremely versatile bicycles. The 20” wheels are crucial to the design, immensely strong and easy rolling they give a manageable compact format which allows a four year old to ride comfortably on the rear – or, in the case of the triplet, upwards from a five and a four year old, to adult. Alternatively a luggage rack may be fitted to take a child seat or other forms of “cargo”. This all amounts to a tandem, rather than just being a great fun weekend bike, being the perfect utilitarian tool for the daily school run. Children love them, the involvement and exercise makes them feel good, helps wind down after school, they learn road sense and gain the confidence of riding safely in traffic.
I have found a tandem in the family fleet incredibly useful, suddenly it’s easy to take visiting friends into town, pick people up from the station or equalise riding strength by going out together on one bike.
The “Morpheus” is an interesting tandem, the bucket seat at the front allows a rider who through injury, age, disability or purely comfort prefers more support than a saddle can give to ride pedalling or purely as a passenger. This can be liberating.
Again conversion can be made to a cargo bike with a broad, strong luggage platform mountable instead of the front seat.
I hope by now, you can see why I love tandems so much and can see why I appreciate working with Circe, seeing their development of simple ideas into a very powerful and versatile pedal powered vehicle. Please come into The Bike Depot and talk tandems with me!
Please contact Rob to discuss your tandem needs.