MTB tandem - huh?

[Jean]

OK, I confess the idea of MTB tandems had never even occurred to me. I suppose there is a way to ride it, but I tip my hat to anyone who can do it. Must be a Youtube vid somewhere?

[dodge]

Saw one yesterday here in Brisbane..Looked weird..Much like a stretched hummer looks weird

[alchemist]

That's not a mtb tandam, this is a mtb tandem. So is this

[Jean]

Pfft. those soft tail MTB tandems are for pussies Everyone knows that real mountain bike tandem riders use hard tail, fixed fork, steel framed SS bikes.

I wonder what sort of person volunteers to be the stoker on these things!

[YoungPodge]

Yeah Dodge - stretch Hummer or stretch X5 - which is the point of the beast - not so much MTB as soft road bicycle. Light tourer on anything the map claims to be a road. Not a singletrack or rockgarden weapon.

[s-s-a]

.

[Jean]

I wonder what sort of person volunteers to be the stoker on these things!

A couple of Canberra people own dually tandems. A friend has been for a ride on technical singletrack as stoker to a pilot with years of mtb racing experience and she said it was absolutely terrifying!

Steph

I bet. She has more guts than I would I think.

[trailgumby]

Not being in control of the steering or brakes would scare me!

As stoker I'd want to be clipped in. Firmly. And a nice big travel fork on the front if I was the captain.

At least the chance of going OTB would be reduced. I wonder how you'd go manualling one of those things.

[stevepedlin]

As stoker I'd be pretty concerned with a fast way out, over the side and such. But then, I'd be showing my yellow side..

[Mulger bill]

Not being in control of the steering or brakes would scare me!

A big plus 1007 to that one.

Methinks they'd be a great fireroad item...

[Jean]

Not the most demanding single track by any means, but no fire trail either.

[flammer]

I have just watched the above instruction on how to gut the fun out of single track. All the agility of a Cadillac.

The folk who'd buy them would be fun to meet.

[koen]

Contrary to some peoples ideas on this forum, not all mtbers spend all day on single track. There are a lot of places to go and see instead of tootling round in circles or zigzagging back and forth. Fun as that is, sometimes other things are funner!




I bought this tandem frame when I started racing with a VI guy. It had a long rigid fork and I built it up for road racing as it was sold as 700c bike. Eventually I got a better road tandem and thought it would be fun to try this off road. I bought some cheapish 26" forks and changed the gear over. Because I had plenty of cranks and it is actually better on the rear BB I have always had the timing chain down the right side with some special jiggery I made for the outer chainrings. When I came to the mtb conversion I tried a new rear triple crankset which ended up with a fourth outer chainring for the timing chain. It played up so I went back to the old campag triple and basically have 2x8 now. It changes perfectly from the 24t inner to the 42t (middle) big ring. A bit undergeared for road use but 42/11 is fine for social riding we'll get up to on this.
It is a little underbraked with cable discs but we are'nt likely to race it anywhere.





I haven't got there yet with a blind friend but I took the wife out the other day. Very much needs a suspension rear seat post judging by her constant complaints on bumpier bits of fire roads up to the hut on Sth Boundary Rd west of Brisbane.

Will try out some single tracks soon.

[AndreB1972]

I have just watched the above instruction on how to gut the fun out of single track. All the agility of a Cadillac.
The folk who'd buy them would be fun to meet.

I did a MTB stage race with lots of single track and technical riding on a tandem (link below). Was the most fun I ever had on a bike - but then I was the pilot The bike was a bit over-spec'ed with all downhill components - weighed in at around 26kg The hard technical riding was actually the best, because there is no way you can go over the bars - I'd just aim the bike in the general direction and let go of the brakes. Downhill switchbacks took a while to master - we'd have to run wide, stop dead in our tracks and then turn really sharp so the bike actually pivoted around the back wheel.

The worst thing about tandem riding was actually quite unexpected - you can't just stand and stretch, but rather have to have a coordinated effort.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4f--od2 ... detailpage

[zero]

OK, I confess the idea of MTB tandems had never even occurred to me. I suppose there is a way to ride it, but I tip my hat to anyone who can do it. Must be a Youtube vid somewhere?

I have about 10 minutes of footage of one from behind at the last 3 ring circus in a single track section, and its a bike I've seen at other races too (including the highland fling).

From what I could see it was hub geared, and has pedals synchronised to the same spot so that it doesn't pedal strike turning. It had no trouble negotiating single track, due to it being an endurance race, it was basically running at a normal pace for the scenery. ie in a 20 minute race, I'd probably have been held up by it, but in a 3 hour race, not so much, and whatever was lost comes back in 5 minutes of drafting on it on a flat firetrail anyway. The last I see of it is almost always me dropping it on a climb with variable grades. The stoker can't really see, which might affect how effectively one manages that sort of scenery, or perhaps the riders just don't quite have my power-to-weight but its masked by gaining time on flat fire trail areas. Its certainly not a bad bike for highland fling/three ring circus that have a lot of open terrain.

[alchemist]

Can't believe no has posted this one yet.

<<youtube link removed>>

Moderator says: There's a reason why no-one else did. As entertaining as it may be, doesnt fit within the 'family friendly' section of the site rules

[trailgumby]

There were a couple at the Fling late last year. One was fully rigid. The other was a dually. Both Ventanas.

Unfortunately the dually didn't finish - a weld on the rear triangle broke, so they had to retire. It had dual crown DH forks up front that were reduced to 4" of travel. I did think, looking at the rear triangle, that the tube sizes were rather small. Kind of like an Ellsworth, whihc have a reputation for being flexy. Being that small on a custom tandem frame was a design flaw IMO.

But they seemed to get around the trail OK up to that point.

[hughie]

I am pretty certain that there have been a couple of tandems finish the Tour Divide MTB race in North America. Reasonably hard core.

http://tourdivide.org/about_the_route

[AndreB1972]

...The other was a dually. Both Ventanas.
/snip ...which have a reputation for being flexy. Being that small on a custom tandem frame was a design flaw IMO.
But they seemed to get around the trail OK up to that point.

Ours was a Ventanna dually, but being custom made you can over-spec if you want. I weigh +90kg and my mate was around 80kg and we had no issues. Ah except for this slight issue if chain stretch on the timing chain - we had to replace the chain every 3 stages (about 300km).

"Flexy" is an understatement - if we stood up and hammered it, the stoker would have a clear view of the trail. Although that could also be the result of some movement in the 2.5 downhill tyres

[koen]

Ah except for this slight issue if chain stretch on the timing chain - we had to replace the chain every 3 stages (about 300km).

I put a cheap chain on the avanti pictured above and we snapped it after 20metres on about a 1% gradient ! Quality chains are certainly a must with the extra demands.

I have always found hillclimbing harder on a tandem even with a strong stoker but downhills and flats are fun even with a poor stoker.