Tandem sizing

[Chadvdw67]

How does tandem bike sizing work? Is each position a different size? I would like to try one to see if my wife would enjoy it, she cant ride a bike on her own, but likes the idea of riding, so a tandem would allow us to ride together, I ride Large MTB, but she would need an XS or at the most maybe a S frame, do you get tandems with those sizes? Are they difficult to find if you do actually get them?

[Zebra]

I don’t have much experience, but most of the’mixed’ tandems I have seen, the ‘pilot’ has been ONE size larger that the ‘stoker’, as in L in front, M at back….

(when Male in Front, Female behind…but IHAVE seen some Dads riding with SMALLISH children so likely a small at rear?)

Edited June 5, 2022 by Zebra
Clarity…

[100Tours]

Tandems are very accommodating on the back - they have shore rear seat tubes (i.e. can take a range of seatpost lengths), and the stoker mostly just needs to be stable. We ride a L/S cannondale - I'm a 56 frame usually, and my wife is a 48. 

[Chadvdw67]

13 hours ago, 100Tours said:

Tandems are very accommodating on the back - they have shore rear seat tubes (i.e. can take a range of seatpost lengths), and the stoker mostly just needs to be stable. We ride a L/S cannondale - I'm a 56 frame usually, and my wife is a 48. 

Thanks, can you tell me how tall your wife is? My wife is 148cm, so a real pipsqueak

 

Having looked at the tandems I see now they come in L front S rear, and looking at them it seems there is quite a bit of room for "adjustment" as far as the sizing goes for the stoker, so I guess I will now have to cobvince her that it is a good idea.....

[Martin PJ]

Are you planning to buy road or MTB tandem?

[Chadvdw67]

51 minutes ago, Martin PJ said:

Are you planning to buy road or MTB tandem?

Would be a roadie for now, the MTB ones I have seen are way to expensive to experiment with

[Martin PJ]

You can size up a bit, or down by adjusting stem length and saddle length. I bought a Large / Medium and managed to make it fit medium in front or XL in front, depending on the stem and seat post height used. I would be worried about an XS on a small frame (e.g. if you bought Large / Small or Medium / Small). Ideally you should check first. Before I bought my tandem I asked the seller to take many measurements of various parts of the frame, compare with existing bikes to ensure that the sizing would work.