Transporting a tandem?

I’m very tempted to try and find an mtb tandem!
My 6 year old loves an epic and is always keen to get away bikepacking but as he’s still so young, I have to be very clever picking routes with minimal hills and roads.
We’ve thought that with a tandem though, we can start doing some mega routes and harder trails.

I just can’t get my head around how the hell I would transport it
Either High top camper (has a bike rack on back) no chance of putting it on the roof
Or a vw caddy, I guess There must be some kind of tandem roof rack device out there?

Also, any suggestions on tandems for off road use?

Our Dawes tandem goes on the roof of our Skoda Fabia with an ETC branded tandem rack. It’s very secure, once you’ve got the bugger up there. Only other thing I can think of is that you need a minimum of 100cm between the front and back roof bars when fitting most tandem roof racks, so you’d have to check that you’ve got that amount of adjustment with your existing roof bars.

Towee ?

https://towwhee.com/

some folk put them on towball racks diagonally with the wheels off but its a bit dodgy Can you not put it in the camper?

Loads of tandem roof racks available

With a 6 yr old you either need a kiddyback tandem or a conventional one with kiddy cranks setup. dawes are a good starter tandem.

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/componentstandem-specific-parts/kiddy-crank-seat-tube-attachment-block-286-318-mm-black/

Cheers… I use a towee (sort of thing) already but it’s not really suitable for what we have planned, a tandem would work much better for massive rides.
I’ll have a look for a roof bar setup!

I could do with having a look at a tandem in the flesh, or renting one for the day but guess that will have to wait at the moment

Our Dawes even with mudguards and rack went in the back of our insignia and also fits in back of mondeo hatchbacks with front wheel off and captain seatpost/stoker bars removed. If its mtb without mudguards, both wheels off should fit inside most medium size cars 🤔

I buy estate cars now to get ours in the back. We used tow bar mounted/across the back of the car mounting for years with no problems. The tandem sticks out a foot or so either side of the car obv dependent on what car. We used ours with a Focus for a few years without incident.

I switched to estates for security and wanting to keep road shite off the bike. If you remove the wheels, mudguards and rack(s), you can get a tandem in a Golf/Focus size estate with the rear seats down. I use a bigger estate and just take the front wheel off.

Wheels off and tear bike rack for years here
Never had a problem on Octavia estate.

I can’t comment on transporting one, but:

or renting one for the day but guess that will have to wait at the moment

I will on this. The local wetlands centre used to have some for season ticket holders, so I rode them with all three of my kids when they were younger. The kids were brilliant, maybe because they were so light, and we’d spend a happy day pottering around. My wife, on the other hand, despite not being vaguely overweight, was the equivalent of having several sacks of badly loaded potatoes on the back. Suddenly I changed from being a skilled tandem pilot to being an out of control loon, with a screaming banshee on the back. Try before you buy!

Do it, they’re brilliant. We had a Dawes MTB tandem that would go in a Mk1 Octavia with seats down / front wheel off. Changed to a V50 and no way would it go so we swtiched to a roof rack – the Avenir / Perruzo model is RRP £100 and is OK, but the pendle tandem rack is MUCH better. £300 RRP but you can pick them up for a lot less if you shop around. We’ve continued to use the roof rack despite getting a 3 series touring as we also have a longer tandem now and quite frankly once the rack is on the car, it’s easiuer to use it than putting the bike inside/

There’s a lovely looking Orbit MTB tandem for sale on the tandem club website.
https://tandem-club.org.uk/forSale?cmd=view&id=526

We’ve got a Thorn kiddyback tandem and it goes on the back of our T4 with the wheels off. Rear rack and brake levers are within the wing mirrors (my understanding was this was the legal maximum). I had to shorten the rear mudguard though.
Ours is an oldish (nth hand) one but is super solid with 9 speed LX gears and brakes. It is fine for cycle paths, forest tracks and green routes and could probably do rougher with slightly larger tyres. Also done YHA trips on it and an overnight family camping trip towing the tent etc. in a trailer. Definitely a good toy and n+1 bike if you have young kids.

I attached some bits of timber to my roof bars and with the front wheel out, slid the tandem on its side onto the roof bars. Then strapped it securely to the bars. You have to be careful that the pedals don’t scratch the paint (could always take a couple of pedals off).

Going to try and post a pic of Enid II on the car…this may take a few edits!

As soon as this weather/lockdown improves I will be putting my Hase Pino up for sale.

It’s not quite the same budget as those listed above, but it has fantastic carrying capacity and comfort.

It’s not really a mountain bike, but it’s great on normal trails, I’ve been all over France on it carrying kit.

They also are swb and the front retracts fairly well – I used to get mine inside a Chrysler Cruiser (rear seats down), with two adults and kit, any similar sized car should be fine. I haven’t tried but with a bit of imagination it might go on my tow bar trailer.

If your budget stretches to it they do come up on ebay occasionally.

This isn’t me, but you get the picture:
https://www.cyclingabout.com/hase-pino-tandem-info-from-long-distance-tourers/

When I had a tandem, I simply lay it FLAT on the 4 bike racks on my Skoda, and strapped it down that way.
I didn’t transport it enough to justify the expensive tandem specific rack. This worked fine.

DrP

Thanks again everyone
Also the thorn kiddyback looks like an excellent option but the hase pino!! Wow, interesting, I would love to try one out, they look bonkers

used to put ours on a thule hangon on the back of an open top astra :).  It was fine sideways as long as both wheels were off.  No need to go diagonal but it was a 20/16

Nowadays it’s on the top or our car now (no longer the astra 🙁 ).  I just pop the rear wheel out and I have a bit of wood screwed to the back of the rack that the rear BB sits in.  Works just fine.  I’m cheap

Brother & sil had a Hase Pino when her MS progressed to much to ride a std tandem, marvelous contraptions 👍

Wheels out and into our Seat estate for us, though its a really tight fit with either the 29er or the EDCM, used to be easier with the shorter wheel based 26er.

Got one of the Avenir racks too but its awkward to load and wasnt very compatible with plus tires so just end up puttig inside, however we ride from home most of the time so its not a problem. Got the Avenir one just sat in garage if your in need in the future.

Kiddybacks are great if you can find one, we had one for a while for grandkids, ok off road, they’ve grown into my others now as my stoke is only 5ft 2.

Heres Bake Off boy Fyn with our old Thorn, he now progressed to the back of the 29er.

Bugpowderdust… what is the bike in the second pic? That looks like the perfect bike for us!

Wheels out and guards off, I think bars spun backwards, ours just slightly overhangs Focus/Golf/V50.

Hooja, it’s my biggest ever biking bargain, bought the frame on eBay a few years back and built from there, custom 18bikes frame but sizing works for us, mix of tubing including a bit of 853, Rohloff specific sliding dropouts (already had the hub), can squeeze a 29 x 2.8 in the back, cost me about £400!!

Bugpowderdust… that’s amazing!!! It looks like a brilliant bit of kit.
I need to start keeping my eye out for an interesting frame!

Our Dawes Double Edge used to go in the back of our Berlingo with both wheels off. Would still be able to leave one of the rear seats in too so you could get 3 people in there if needed.
We once took the tandem and 2 solo bikes along with camping kit to the South of France in it.

OurDawes galaxy fitted into a civic estate with the wheels and pannier rack off.

We just chuck ours in the car. Both wheels off and it fits inside a Skoda Fabia Hatchback with three passengers fine.

DSC_0456 by Luke Bradley[/url], on Flickr

Sometimes we used to put it (without the wheels on) on a towbar bike rack, strapped in a few strategic places to keep it still. You could also hang it on a bootlid rack with the wheels off if you wanted. It should fit in a campervan without any issues whatsoever. But then I’m not the sort of person who can fathom why anyone needs a van to transport a regular bicycle.

We’ve got one of these for carrying our Ventana tandem. Brilliant bit of kit………Sidewinder