Cycling UK Forum

Since when is a tandem a non standard human powered vehicle?

When this form was first mooted it was made clear that it would include tandems, trikes, fixies, folders, bents, unicycles and any other manner of "non-standard" stuff.

Are tandems "non-standard" within the cyling world - well judging by the reaction to them from the general public, the sales of tandems compared to the sales of multi-geared diamond framed bikes, and the fact that tandems seem to be viewed as specialist kit in the cycling media and trade then the answer is overidingly yes.

Are tandems a human powered vehicle? I think that we have to agree that yes, they also fall into this category.

However, i will admit that there is one group who might have reason to complain about the name of this forum: those who use electric powered cycles.

Si wrote:However, i will admit that there is one group who might have reason to complain about the name of this forum: those who use electric powered cycles.

Guilty! But anything that meets the legal requirements of "Electric Assist Pedal Cycle" is at least built with working pedals so it can be human-powered. (And may need to be... if you over-estimate your battery's range )

Mary

I have a lot of non standard bikes.......

My Thorn has a Rohloff - Non standard
My Brompton has a rear clip - Non standard
My Dawes has Carradice racks - Non standard
My lighting is Dinotte and USE which makes all my n=bikes non-standard

My grandmother rode a tandem when she was young. The basic design hasn't changed. How much longer before they're standard?

I agree to an extent, but it's not a one way thing - consider the Ordinary - once the only type available, and thus very standard, is now very definitely non-standard. I ride a fixed wheel bike (among others), the same frame that was ridden by my mother in law 40 years ago, when everyone rode fixed. Not so common now (although I'm still not sure it's so unusual to count as non-standard).

In approximate order of regularity of sightings by me (with no scientific basis, made up categories, and apologies to owners of the large class of bike I've inevitably missed!):

"mountain" bikes / hybrids - loads
"road" bikes - lots
tourers - a fair few
fixed wheel/single speed bikes - a couple most days
bmx's - seem to come in packs, but sighted pretty often
utility bikes - one or two a day
tandems - a couple a month?
trikes and recumbants - very rarely

AndyB wrote:"mountain" bikes / hybrids - loads
"road" bikes - lots
tourers - a fair few
fixed wheel/single speed bikes - a couple most days
bmx's - seem to come in packs, but sighted pretty often
utility bikes - one or two a day
tandems - a couple a month?
trikes and recumbants - very rarely

Help!
What's the difference between a road bike and a tourer? (Panniers?!)
What's the difference between a mountain bike and a BMX?
What's a utility bike ("Sit up and beg" step-through? Folder?)

Mary

I mentioned in passing to Quackers that he's now regarded as a "non-standard human powered vehicle". Subsequently, he's in a bit of a flap about it!

Willpower wrote:My grandmother rode a tandem when she was young. The basic design hasn't changed. How much longer before they're standard?

Please see
http://www.hasebikes.com/35-1-pino-tour.html

Recumbents have been around for as long as a "standard DF", as far as I am aware, yet a recumbent is not standard because of the number of sales.

maryinoxford wrote:Help!
What's the difference between a road bike and a tourer? (Panniers?!)
What's the difference between a mountain bike and a BMX?
What's a utility bike ("Sit up and beg" step-through? Folder?)

Mary

I did warn you they were my own made-up definitions! But here goes:

Road bike: drop handlebars, saddle higher than bars, narrow tyres, typically no mudguards; tourer - probably drops, wider tyres, higher bars, mudguards and rear rack at least.

Mountain bike: 26 (or 29) inch wheels, typically geared; BMX: small wheels (20"?), much smaller frame, single speed.

Utility bike: anything really practical! I was particularly thinking of a couple of bikes with hub gears, chaincase, racks, dynamo lights.

Folders: the category I missed - I'd put them at two or three a week (but I know there are a few at work that I don't see, as they are tucked away under desks!).

Hope that helps!

Thanks, Andy.

Road bike: drop handlebars, saddle higher than bars, narrow tyres, typically no mudguards; tourer - probably drops, wider tyres, higher bars, mudguards and rear rack at least.

You might add to that that a road bike or racer might have less stable handling - a tourer will be more likely to go in a stright line when you take your hands off the bars and girate your arms around, where as road bikes/racers are a little more twitchy and thus can go around corners, in and out of gaps in the bunch, etc quicker if the rider is a sufficently good handler to control them. Audax type bikes tend to sit somewhere between tourer and racer on this front. But these days, with the popularity of audax and sportifs, all the boundaries are blurring.

Perhaps 'unusual' would be a more apt term than 'non-standard'.

Perhaps, but I still think that "Shirely Bassey" would have been better.

I'll suggest it to Quackers when I tuck him in for the night.