Touring with children - tandem vs non-tandem option?

[eileithyia]

Further vote for tandem, our tandem was great, junior started on it in the spring before his 4th birthday, kiddie cranks and railing, railing removed, kiddie cranks lowered and removed in favour of crank shorteners as he grew... now the whole machine is re-furbed and used for two adults to race on (other options available).

For touring I rode the tandem with junior, saddle bag, rear panniers and handlebar bag, while the ex carried the heavier stuff, camp kit etc.
Don't expect too much in the way of help with the peddaling and they slow down very quickly on hill..sometimes almost quicker than you can change down to the right gear. Also if they switch around and lean out (to look for tractors etc) it can reflect on the steering.. so be prepared.

We did consider a tag-a-long type arrangement, but I watched how a tag-a-long handled one day; most worrying was when mum got out of the saddle on a hill and the bike was moving side to side, child got out of the saddle to honk and, because of the difference in pedaling, was side to opposing side to the mum... it did not look very stable. Given that we also did off-road tracks I was worried the tag-a-long might not always be in line / follow the lead bike in line... especially on rutted rough ground.
With a tandem the pedals are linked and juniors legs go around when yours do..... even when they are asleep on the back.

[hamster]

Absolutely agree with all of that!
The only thing that is a problem with a tandem is that tours with train + bike are out of the question (in the UK anyway).

[landsurfer]

Absolutely agree with all of that!
The only thing that is a problem with a tandem is that tours with train + bike are out of the question (in the UK anyway).

Good point hamster ,,, what other countries rail systems will carry a tandem ?
Expect our friends in the Netherlands do...

[RickH]

Absolutely agree with all of that!
The only thing that is a problem with a tandem is that tours with train + bike are out of the question (in the UK anyway).

I've never had any problem with getting our Circe Helios on a train but haven't used services outside NW England (Virgin, Northern, Arriva Wales &, I think, Transpennine - I've taken it from Bolton to Manchester a few times & didn't really pay attention who's train I was putting it on, it was just "the next one"). It fits in most bike spaces, the hanging spaces on some services might be challenging but probably not insurmountable (I haven't tried hanging it up on the few occasions I use a Virgin Voyager but then I'm only doing a short hop when I do & stay with the bike. No-one has ever been bothered by it). It isn't usually heavily loaded but travels by train most weeks.

I have seen a couple loading a well laden, full size tandem on a train at Blackburn, one time when I was passing through, & didn't seem to be getting any problems (apart from the physical problems of dealing with a long bike plus luggage).

[Richard Fairhurst]

The mee and car seat option says it's suitable from 4 months. Most other options say the baby must be sitting up with a strong ability to hold its head up. About 9 months for most child trailers with baby snuggler fittings is typical advise I've read.

With the morpheus is it one size fits all or do you have to buy a specific size?

It's one size fits all. Fine for me (5ft 10) and Mrs F (5ft 5); not sure how 6ft 5 would be. Baby is fine at holding his head up, and he's on the small side so I think he'll be in the Baby Mee for a good few months yet.

A few long-distance rail companies, such as GWR, will take tandems for now. In the most part I don't expect that to continue once the new trains come into service with their hanging spaces, though the Virgin West Coast Pendolinos should still be ok. But I'm quite tempted by the combination of cycling to Oxford, Stagecoach X5 coach (takes bikes) to Milton Keynes, then cycle a couple of miles to Newport Pagnell to pick up the European Bike Express...

(For car transport, we bought a DIY-style welded tandem rack off eBay and adapted it for the Morpheus: all the off-the-shelf tandem racks were either prohibitively expensive or looked too flimsy for the Morpheus.)

[Vorpal]

Absolutely agree with all of that!
The only thing that is a problem with a tandem is that tours with train + bike are out of the question (in the UK anyway).

Good point hamster ,,, what other countries rail systems will carry a tandem ?
Expect our friends in the Netherlands do...

Denmark, Norway, Sweden. Maybe Germany? I've a seen a pretty big cargo bike get on a train in Germany, but I've never investigated the rules.

[landsurfer]

Countries that encourage cycling would also do the infrastructure thing as well .... you would think ....?

[Tangled Metal]

There's a few tandems that have independent pedaling. What i mean is the little one can stop pedaling and the pedals stop turning.

I like the tandems with recumbent style front seat for little one. What's your views? Which style tandem is yours?

[Cyril Haearn]

Just one point on tandem price: ours was £260 secondhand in full working order on eBay, deals are there if you are prepared to wait and/or travel.

Good advice not only when buying a tandem, not only when buying.

I strongly advise renting or borrowing before buying.

[hamster]

Germany is OK, although it's not possible on ICE trains. So it's slower services only. As you can imagine, rules are interpreted consistently but with little flexibility. Facilities at stations are excellent so it's rare to be faced with a flight of stairs at the end of the platform. We used DB last summer for a return leg along the Rhine.

For car transport I take off the right hand pedals and remove the stoker seatpost / bars. Then I turn the handlebars flat and tie to the frame to stop the front wheel turning. I simply lay the whole thing flat on a pair of conventional roof bars.

[Vorpal]

There's a few tandems that have independent pedaling. What i mean is the little one can stop pedaling and the pedals stop turning.

I like the tandems with recumbent style front seat for little one. What's your views? Which style tandem is yours?

We have a Thorn. The main advantages of a childback tandem are:
-it's like a standard bike, so few specialist parts are required
-the stoker learns a lot about riding a normal bike
-they are relatively easy to park (at most bike stands)
-they are generally okay with anti-motorcyle barriers (except for bike kissing gates); trailers, I'm sure you know are another matter
-they are relatively inexpensive (we bought ours lightly used for £500)
-when the stoker learns to, they can watch out for traffic from other directions and tell you; they can also signal turns

The big advantage of the recumbent stoker seat is that you can see the stoker, and easily talk to them.

For transport, we also just put the tandem, lying on the roof of the car. We have roof bars, and I use a couple of planks of wood to protect the paint on the roof of the car.

[pwa]

We had two tandems when the kids were young. The Missus piloted one and I piloted the other. It worked nicely on day trips in France and so forth. But the kids only liked the tandems for a few years. They soon wanted to do their own steering and braking. So I would warn against shedding out loads of dosh on something that has the best of everything, especially if you are buying from new. See it as a fairly short term thing and spend accordingly. Out smallest Thorn tandem (Raven Adventure) cost about £2400 (a lot more these days) and after a lot of effort I managed to get about £1100 back when I sold it on. The other tandem is still in my garage and has been unused for a couple of years because nobody really likes being on the back of it when they could be on the front of their own bike. So try to buy cheap.

[pjclinch]

The Thorn Triplet...

Used to have one, great thing, toured on it as well as used it for transport (including daily school run until they were on their own bikes). If we suddenly found ourselves in the same boat again I think we'd look at the Circe options very closely. I like (at least on paper) the way you can reconfigure for cargo use etc. When ours had grown out of the Thorn (physically and cycling-developmentally) we sold it on for a good price, so anything you spend shouldn't be a total write-off.

Having everyone on a single stiff frame and at least notionally contributing to the motive power makes a big difference to one's (or three's) ability to progress, and aside from a turning cicrle not wholly dissimilar to a Jumbo Jet handling is pretty good and very sure footed.

Pete.

[GarethF]

Last Summer we took our Orbit on the train from Durham to Alnmouth along with our Burley trailer. Provided you're booked in advance and arrive in plenty of time to prime the staff we found the whole experience a positive one. We needed two bike spaces reserved for the tandem and a third for the trailer. The 'guard's van' on the Virgin East Coast trains are at the first class end of the train, which meant the first class stewards made a great fuss over us while we waited by the door nearest the van on the approach to our stop. My daughter was delighted to be gifted a muffin and a bottle of water on both outbound and return journeys, so our successful first foray may have resulted in somewhat unrealistic expectations for future rail travel.

These may be the only current rolling stock with suitable space to carry a tandem, others will doubtless know? I'm hoping we can build on our initial success with more ambitious trips in future.

[Vorpal]

Our tandem has been in fairly steady use for 6,5 years. Mini V is 10 and Littlest is 7. Mini V has been riding the tandem since she was 4. Littlest was a bit smaller and couldn't reach the pedals until he was 5. He still likes riding the tandem, and we are planning a summer tour with the tandem.