We are getting a tandem for our wedding present (hopefully) and I’m looking at the various options. I’m interested in the convenience of the smaller wheeled ones, but am not sure how comfortable they are over several hours. Any opinions from owners?
Thanks.

People have done serious distances on the Bike Friday tandems – like across the US. I also know people who have been all across Europe on the Bernds tandems.

Or how about a conventional tandem with S&S couplings? I’ve built a bunch of those – one got used for London-Cape Town.

Bike Fridays are very well thought of. Positioning is as per a full size bike. The Bernds is a rare beast and geometry is smaller, particularly at the back. For home grown, you could consider a Circe tandem. Non-folding but small, nevertheless.

Small wheels do not carry the momentum as easily, and will steer slightly quicker. On a tandem, that’s not the best property, but you’ll adjust to it pretty quickly. Slightly less relaxing over linger periods. It’s harder work on the front, because you are balancing the whole bike.

I did ride the Steve Parry tandem Brompton with my son once. It was great, but not something I’d want to spend hours on.

To be honest, how often will you want to move it, and by what means? A simple S&S model that splits in the middle is more than enough for a fast fold into a car. Full S&S to collapse into two suitcases is another (expensive) option.

Might be worth checking out the Circe Helios. They don’t fold, but the 20″ wheels makes them shorter than standard. There’s a few reviews online.

If it’s just transport, then bear in mind that with the wheels off, our tandem fits into the boot of our Volvo V50 with the back seats down

Can tha ride tandem by Mrs NBT, on Flickr

I have been informed that tandems are not allowed on trains though

Many years ago when I was working on Cycling Today I took a 20in wheeled tandem out, can’t remember the brand, and it was one of the scariest things I’ve ever ridden. Completely unstable and watching it flex along its length was extremely un-nerving.

Just as well technology has moved on a bit, then 🙂

Thanks, it will be used for practical transport and a bit of touring and days out. We don’t have a car and don’t particularly want to get one, but will use trains a lot. S&s is the other thing I’m looking at, but that still splits into a fairly large piece. Am going to try a Helios out soon.

Depends how you split it with the S&S BTCs. Cheapest and simplest is to split once in front of the pilot’s seat tube – that gets the back bit to about the same size as a normal bike, so fine for bike spaces on trains and the like.

Most compact (and most expensive) is to split behind the pilot’s ST and in front of the stoker’s ST – that gets you two triangles and three spare tubes, and will pack down into a box not much bigger than the wheels.