What did I see?

[Leo Lichtman]

Im driving along on a city street, when I see ahead of me a tandem, ridden
by two men. Something is peculiar: their cadences are slightly different.
I overtook them, and tried to figure it out, but i had to ewatch the traffic
also, so I only saw this much:

1.) They were peddling at nearly the same cadence, but one was definitely a
little slower.

2.) The frame geometry was different from any other tandem I have ever
seen.

3.) The bike may have been made by welding two frames together. The front
half was blue, and the rear half was brown.

[Bill Sornson]

Leo Lichtman wrote:
> Im driving along on a city street, when I see ahead of me a tandem,
> ridden by two men. Something is peculiar: their cadences are
> slightly different. I overtook them, and tried to figure it out, but
> i had to ewatch the traffic also, so I only saw this much:
>
> 1.) They were peddling at nearly the same cadence, but one was
> definitely a little slower.
>
> 2.) The frame geometry was different from any other tandem I have
> ever seen.
>
> 3.) The bike may have been made by welding two frames together. The
> front half was blue, and the rear half was brown.

Leo, Leo, Leo. You've got to take OFF those goofy glasses when you leave
the 3-D movie house.

:-P

[James]

On Fri, 20 May 2005 01:07:11 GMT, "Leo Lichtman"
> wrote:

>Im driving along on a city street, when I see ahead of me a tandem, ridden
>by two men. Something is peculiar: their cadences are slightly different.
>I overtook them, and tried to figure it out, but i had to ewatch the traffic
>also, so I only saw this much:
>
>1.) They were peddling at nearly the same cadence, but one was definitely a
>little slower.
>
>2.) The frame geometry was different from any other tandem I have ever
>seen.
>
>3.) The bike may have been made by welding two frames together. The front
>half was blue, and the rear half was brown.


Reminds me of an old joke I saw in a childhood comic annual.

A couple on a tandem are climbing a steep hill. He (at front) is
sweating furiously, she's taking it fairly easy.

"Steep hill, this!" he calls out.

"Yes, if I didn't have the brakes on, we'd be slipping back!" she
replies.

[[email protected]]

Leo Lichtman wrote:
<snip>
> 1.) They were peddling at nearly the same cadence, but one was
definitely a
> little slower.
>
> 2.) The frame geometry was different from any other tandem I have
ever
> seen.
>
> 3.) The bike may have been made by welding two frames together. The
front
> half was blue, and the rear half was brown.

Hi Leo,

It was probably a home made tandem. Sheldon Browne has pictures of a
few of these that he built a few years ago on his site.

I'd guess the chainrings on the transfer (left) side were of different
sizes.
The riders would then be forced to use different cadences.

What that would do to climbing out of the saddle, I can only guess -
one rider powers on the left leg, the other on the right, the frame
(incl. welds of "undetermined" quality) is subjected to a violent
twisting force, cue Laurel and Hardy moment...

I'd guess Sheldon's ones did not feature this particular design
feature.

bookieb

[[email protected]]

On Fri, 20 May 2005 01:17:55 GMT, "Bill Sornson"
> wrote:

>Leo Lichtman wrote:
>> Im driving along on a city street, when I see ahead of me a tandem,
>> ridden by two men. Something is peculiar: their cadences are
>> slightly different. I overtook them, and tried to figure it out, but
>> i had to ewatch the traffic also, so I only saw this much:
>>
>> 1.) They were peddling at nearly the same cadence, but one was
>> definitely a little slower.
>>
>> 2.) The frame geometry was different from any other tandem I have
>> ever seen.
>>
>> 3.) The bike may have been made by welding two frames together. The
>> front half was blue, and the rear half was brown.
>
>Leo, Leo, Leo. You've got to take OFF those goofy glasses when you leave
>the 3-D movie house.
>
>:-P
>
Or refrain from dropping too much acid.

[AustinMN]

Leo Lichtman wrote:
> Im driving along on a city street, when I see ahead of me a tandem, ridden
> by two men. Something is peculiar: their cadences are slightly
> different. I overtook them, and tried to figure it out, but i had to
> ewatch the traffic also, so I only saw this much:
>
> 1.) They were peddling at nearly the same cadence, but one was definitely
> a little slower.

Although uncommon, this can be done. It takes a longer tandem frame to keep
from making foot contact. The common chainrings would need to be different
sizes.

> 2.) The frame geometry was different from any other tandem I have ever
> seen.

If #1 is true, then this would have to be true.

Austin
--
I'm pedaling as fast as I durn well please!
There are no X characters in my address

[Bill Baka]

AustinMN wrote:
>
> Leo Lichtman wrote:
>
>> Im driving along on a city street, when I see ahead of me a tandem,
>> ridden by two men. Something is peculiar: their cadences are
>> slightly different. I overtook them, and tried to figure it out, but i
>> had to ewatch the traffic also, so I only saw this much:
>>
>> 1.) They were peddling at nearly the same cadence, but one was
>> definitely a little slower.
>
>
> Although uncommon, this can be done. It takes a longer tandem frame to
> keep from making foot contact. The common chainrings would need to be
> different sizes.
>
>> 2.) The frame geometry was different from any other tandem I have
>> ever seen.
>
>
> If #1 is true, then this would have to be true.
>
> Austin

It does make sense that you could change the chainrings to suit each
riders preferred cadence. With imagination, almost anything is possible.
Bill Baka