Tandem Bike Parts

"Hi, I'm Aaron Philips for Expert Village, and this is choosing the right bike for you. The stoker’s feet are on the actual drive train. This is your chain wheel, you have three chain rings that allows you to go nice and slow up the hill. As I said on a Tandem you kind of start dragging on the hills, so it's nice to have that small chain ring down there so you can really spin on those hills and get up to the top without being too out of breath and feeling like you're going to die. The derailleur is on the back here and you have a pretty good gear range on this. This Tandem is fitted with a rack so that we can do solo or independent tours like for one or two days. We don't carry a lot of stuff back here but it's a nice way to take a nice little hotel tour every now and then. The tires you run on the Tandem are much the same as the tires you run on a Touring road bike. As you can see, I use clipless pedals and my wife just uses a pedal that's very basic and you can kind of walk around in the shoes that you're wearing, whatever street shoes, or running shoes, or skateboarding type shoes that you have, these work very nicely. Most Tandemers, however will opt for a clipless pedal, which allows better power transfer to the wheels. You'll note that there is a drive chain on this side but there's a connection, there's a chain on this side of the bike as well. Another thing that makes the Tandem unique is that there are chains on either side of the bike. What this chain does is basically link the pilot's pedaling motion to the stoker's pedaling motion, so that we're in sink, and we're pedaling in the exact cadence or speed. In contrary to popular belief, it's really difficult for the stoker to not put any effort in when the pilot's putting effort in because your pedals will be spinning and they sort of have to take part. There are a lot of jokes that go around, hey your wife's back there and she's not pedaling, she's got her feet up on the back. I have yet to see her. If I catch her doing it, man, game over. But she provides the engine for this thing. So, this is a wonderful bike for couples that just want to stay together all day, or for stronger riders, who just really want to see how fast they can push it. These bikes will go on average on a flat, usually two or three miles an hour faster than you would go on your own on just a regular touring bike. They are just a wonderful way to get out and enjoy the day together."