Maiden ride on the tandem went well. 35 miles with a variety of hills and flat. the route was a familiar one and was covered in more or less the same time as on our own bikes. The tuition from the shop sunk in and we managed without any issues.
The most important thing to remember is to change down to the smaller front chainring before it is absolutely necessary otherwise you loose too much speed when you start to go uphill and it will be too late. Also the one on the front ( captain) can't see the gears
The one we test rode had a triple chainring which was too much of a faff so ours has a 2 X 11 set up with a compact 50/34 on the front and 11/43 on the rear which gives a very wide spread of options.
The bike also has 3 brakes. A disc front and rear and a v brake on the rear rim although we were told to only use that one as a parking brake or if the discs got too hot and faded on a long decent.
So it all looks promising for riding up and down the French cols this summer.
Apparently the Captain (me) has to issue the instructions to the Stoker (Kate) That was what we were told so fingers crossed on that one.
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