If you look under the info tab at the top of this page there are a few pages that might help.

1. if you have never ridden a tandem before , hire one and see how you get on. 
2. Look for your nearest Tandem Club ride from the What's On tab on this page and go along even with normal bikes you will find club members will explain what to look for.
3. Depending on where you live you have some excellent suppliers, JD tandems  in Yorkshire, The Tandem Experience in Ironbridge, Thorn Tandems in Bridgwater. 
    
4. Don't rule out electric, as you get older it will futureproof your ability to ride as you get older, you don't have to use all the power all the time.
5. If you Google tandem size guides you will find some information to help you.

Good luck

 

 

Hi Keith, if you live near Oxford let me know, you could try the one we have that's for sale

Cheers

Chris

Hi Keith. 

We have  Thorn discovery Tantem, that we are going to sale. Front and back are medium/medium size which I think would suit yor heights. I am the sticker and 5ft 6ins. My husband is 5ft 8ins with sadle up a bit. We are only selling as after two knee replacements,  I struggle on the hills. The tantem was custom built for us. Roloff hub, which excellent, the tantem splits with stainless couplings fir easy transporting or flying, rear disc brake. Many other extras. We live between Bristol and Bath if that's any near you. I am 71 and for my sixth birthday We took the tandem to Northan Spain on the ferry than cycled back through Spain and France to St Malo. Camping most of the way. I biggest journey, many other journeys around Ireland, Scotland, England and France. The Tantem as been serviced mostly by St John Street Cycles in Bridgewater. We have many many years of fun with our tantem. It was our second tandem Thorn tantem. We didn't start cycling a tsntem to our fifties. Very sad I now have a electric bike, miss the fun we had with our tantems.

Please don't hesitate to contact us, even just for more pointers for tantem riding, or more information about out tantem.

Kind regards Jackie & Paul Bridges

 

There is a huge range of cost from perfectly serviceable 2nd hand basic tandems on ebay or Facebook Marketplace for not much over £100, to smart new tandems for several thousand pounds. A little idea of what sort of riding you are hoping to do and how much you expect to spend would let us give more advice.

Our riding is pretty basic, max 25 mile rides, mostly much less, some hills, ~1000 miles per year (except for broken kneecap and detached tendon). We bought a basic Viking tandem for just under £500 about 13 years ago, and converted to electric 7 years ago today, The low cost gave us the budget to upgrade bits as needed; in the end the only significant change has been an upgraded rear wheel from Spa Cycles and higher more swept bars. Pretty basic tandem: excellent for our needs but not suitable for more serious riding. Fits us fine at 5'10" (maybe 5'9" now?) and 5'5" and would fit you. We are just changing to an even more basic Ecosmo as I am finding it increasingly difficult to get my leg over the Viking top tube. There are lots of Viking's 2nd hand that exemplify the low end of the market; they are all fairly similar with slightly different setups (steel/aluminium, 700c/26", style of brakes, etc)

At the other end of the market, see David's advice above.

You are welcome to try either of our current tandems just to get an idea of sizing and style if you are anywhere near Winchester.

Whatever, enjoy your tandeming when you do decide.

Hi Stephen, We bought a folding Ecosmo, without power, a month ago. It's our first tandem, so have no experience of other types. We are loving it. Ours folds down to 85cm, and we don't need to touch the chain at all. But the comment I was going to make is that at 5'1" I can just get over the cross bar. Sometimes my husband leans the bike a little for me. But I'm much shorter than you. We have already noted that we may need to change the gears. Ours has 7 gears, the top gear doesn't really ever seem to work. But we tootle about between 6mph and 12mph. So far we haven't done any hills, or even slopes!!! But I love being on a tandem. I found my balance had deteriorated and I was falling off my old bike, so hadn't ridden for over ten years. I am now enjoying planning excursions on local trains to take us out to new exciting routes! Margaret

Hi Keith,

Depending on where you live, I have several tandems for sale including a Thorn Explorer that would be ideal for a couple your size. Thorn are well engineered, reliable machines supplied by one of the UK's most respected tandem companies,St John Street Cycles in Bridgwater. I also have a Swallow Toucan that would fit and an Orbit Twin that is probably too large. The bikes are in Somerset.
Mike 

Hi Keith

If your budget is sufficient, you should consider buying a Pino.  We have been riding this type of tandem for the last 28 years (since my wife was 57) and it has transformed our lives.  Both riders get the same view forwards so you see the same things and can talk to each other easily.   

A key consideration is how you transport the machine to the start point of your ride, and get home again afterwards.  Our Pino is splittable into two parts which makes it easy to load into a smallish estate car, but it does mean it can't be wheeled around a station or airport without a trolley.  The newest Pinos fold telescopically to the size of a large solo bike, so they should be much easier to transport.  If we were starting again and were back in our 60s, this would definitely be the first machine we looked at.

We have Rohloff hub gears which are expensive but worth having.  They make it much easier to restart after an unplanned stop, particularly at traffic lights. 

If you are only recently retired there should be no need for electrical assistance yet.  It can always be added when you reach your 80s.  One reason for not having electrics too soon is that you can't then travel with the bike by air, or even on TfL trains in the London area.

For some ideas on where to travel with your tandem in retirement, have a look at Tandem Club Journal Feb 2023 page 28.

Peter

https://tandem-club.org.uk/files/members/journals/54/journal.pdf

 

Hi Keith

There is much to take in, so I will try and keep it simple.

We have been cyclists all our lives but we are now the wrong side of 80. Our beloved tandem is on the for sale section with photographs, completely rebuilt, effectively a new bike Dawes Galaxt Twin Electric. Your measurements almost match our with Maggie being slightly  shorter we are open to offers, so come and take a look Best wished John

Hi Keith,

We recently purchased a Dawes Galaxy Twin tandem, size 23.5" front, 19" rear. It was second hand and in very good condition, not having had much use from its owners.

Unfortunately we haven't used the tandem, and are considering selling!

We are based in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

Please do get in contact if this might be of interest to you.

With best wishes,

Allan Gee

Allan, how bizarre we are in Hitchin / Knebworth also with a Dawes Discovery Twin Tandem. We love ours even though it's an old steel frame. Is the Dawes discovery you are planning to sell possibly newer? If it is I might be interested also to suit 5.11 captain 5.5 stoker.

Thanks Jo

Hi
Thank you everyone for your input to my post, and  thanks for any future ones.

It's been very informative and has given me food for thought.

Thanks again Regards Keith