I need to take a tandem to the other side of the country for a weekend ride.

Riding there is out of the question, I have “normal” roof mounted racks but obviously it wont fit on that. I presume you need a special tandem carrier, does anyone know where I can hire/lend one (small fee or beer tokens in return)?

I can’t justify buying one just for a weekend so any info would be welcome.

cheers

I’ve seen one upside down on a std roof rack, bars and stoker saddle bungeed down, with the wheels in the boot before now.

We used to just put ours on a standard boot rack. With the wheels off it was no wider that a normal MTB with wheels on but it was a small tandem (20/16)

in a van?

used to strap mine to the top of a Ford Ka – few bungees and straps securing it to a regular roof rack, wheels off. covered a lot of scotland like that!

Befoe we got one with S&S couplings, I lashed together two standard roof carriers. The sort where the bike stay upright and the clamp grabs the down tube. It did need a chunk of plywood under it so you could re-centre it on the roof bars but it worked ok. An extra strap to act like guys lines across the rear roof bar was useful as well.

Now I can take the wheels off, pop the frame inside a hatchback (back seat down), undo the front triangle, fold it back against the frame, close the boot lid. No need to undo anything except pop the gear cables out the guides!

http://www.ventanausa.com/bikes/el-conquistador-de-montanas-s-and-s/

What sort of car OP?

Most estates will swallow a tandem wheels off. It was one of the factors when we chose our Mondeo. Now we just use a boot rack with wheels off.

Put one in my mondeo once, wheels off, upside down it went in longways with one seat down.

Here’s how we transport the tandem now:

It’s a bit of a cheat really. The block of wood at the back is cut to fit in the channel of the bike carrier and the top is cut to fit just in front of the rear BB of the tandem. When we want to take the tandem, I remove the regular rear part of the carrier and screw the block of wood on instead. Take the rear wheel off the tandem and it sits with the front wheel in the normal place, the down tube held by the front clamp as normal and the tube between the two BBs sits on the wood. The seat post of the stoker needs to be tied to either side of the roof rack to make it stable laterally. Looks like hassle but isn’t really.

Pendle tandem rack. It’s a bit agricultural. And off the car at the moment. Have managed in an estate car, but had to remove the mudguards and rear wheel.

If needed, one could bodge two 591’s together to take the bike on the roof, which is why I haven’t put it back.

EDIT: Forgot to ask, where are you located? Email me, address in profile.