Tandem Sizing Chart on the BLUG

[Bill Lindsay]

I'm really impressed that Riv pre-sold 50 HUBBUHUBBAH tandems, and I'm super excited to be one of those people.  I had to pull the trigger remotely because I was on vacation.  Now that I'm home and can reflect, I've looked at the SH ranges.  For what it's worth, I've followed Grant and went with a Small.  I'm 5'10-1/2" with a SH of 75.5cm, and I think SMALL is definitely the right choice for me.  My 5'8" son will be able to stoke OR captain a Small.  My munchkin wife and daughter will be able to stoke a small.  With a Small I can run Boscos and get them low enough that they aren't at Ape-hanger height.  With a Medium, bosco handlebars might have been close to a foot above the saddle.  I like 'em high but not that high.  I was handwringing a bit so I called Riv and had a nice long talk with Vince and agreed Small is the way to go.  

So, in conclusion, it feels a little weird to be getting a size Small bicycle, but in this case I think it's the right choice.  I think of the HUBBAHUBBAH sizes as more like Medium, Large and Jumbo.  Grant said that the VAST majority of folks ordered Mediums, as I had done.  I'm happy I switched mine to a Small.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Tim]

I, too, switched from a M to S after talking to Grant on Saturday. He reminded me that in the Hubbah infancy the sizes were M, L and XL, so really, Bill, we did get mediums. His other point was age and hip flexibility and how high you want to swing your leg over and how old you would still like to be swinging said leg. I'm about your height, Bill with a PBH of 87.5. I'm also 55 and having my hip replaced in September. While I expect a full recovery and full range of motion, I'd like to jump on the tandem when I'm 80.

[Lungimsam]

Must be hard to design just a few sizes to fit everyone, especially for a tandem.

Sounds like fistfull of seatpost will be rare on these.

Are the HHH bikes threaded or threadless steerers?

Though not high on my next bike list, I feel funny passing up the rare chance at a Riv tandem.

[Shoji Takahashi]

HHH will sport a Riv first 1 1/8" threadless. 

I'm intrigued by the cryptic description of the fork: "special, groovy, lovely in a Tiggish way". FWIW: Will (was it him?) informed me that tandems are designed with lower trail. 

--shoji

[Steve Palincsar]

On 07/20/2016 02:33 PM, Lungimsam wrote:
> Must be hard to design just a few sizes to fit everyone, especially for a tandem.
>
> Sounds like fistfull of seatpost will be rare on these.

You have a lot more reason with a tandem to want a lower than usual top
tube with a tandem than you do with a single. There are two basic ways
for the captain to get his leg over: raise it and swing it over the
handlebars (i.e., across the front of the bike); and step over the top
tube. The usual-for-a-single swing the leg over the back of the bike
and the saddle doesn't work nearly as well because the stoker's
handlebar is in the way. The lower the top tube, the easier it is to
get your leg over it.

[Mark in Beacon]

And you want to be able to plant your feet wide for the stoker to mount and dismount, and to hold the stoker up when stopped.

[Ginz]

Now how can a S be right for someone 5'10"? Isn't that excluding at least everyone under 5'8"? I guess that's the plan.

[Tim]

You can check the geometry chart out on the blog but I'm pretty sure the S will fit a 5'8 captain just fine. The chart shows a 10cm (4") difference between minimum and maximum saddle height for the capt (and a whopping 18cm difference for the stoker!) and Grant has mentioned that all but the very tallest and very shortest riders will fit two sizes.

[Bill Lindsay]

Yes, Ginz I think you are right, but more like captains under 5'6".  Captains under 5'6" who pre-ordered probably should have a talk with the friendly Riv staff about whether they made a good choice.  If they think you can't fit any of the sizes, they'll give your money back.  The Small is not all that small.  The largest size is kind of enormous, which is kind of cool for big galoots.  

Tandems always exclude some people and combinations of people.  When the stoker is a lot taller than the captain, that's a problem.  When both captain and stoker are super tall, that's a problem.  When the captain and stoker are both super short, that's a problem too.  For control freak couples who both want to captain, it's a problem.  I'm sure Riv did the best they could, and they sold 50, so their best was pretty darn good.