My wife and I also have a tandem, they are a great way to enjoy cycling together. We sometimes see other tandems around, the rate probably doesn't differ much from the statistics I've heard of about 1 in 1000 new bikes sold being tandems. The mountains certainly aren't the terrain where a tandem excels - they are much better on the flats and the rolling hills. There are lots of threads about climbing with a tandem on the tandem subforum of bikeforums.net that discuss why it seems difficult to match the speed of single bikes on a tandem when doing long climbs.

There are some long descents in the mountains, some of which are quite twisty. If you only have rim brakes on your tandem right now, then you should seriously consider adding a third brake (the Aria drum brake or the Avid BB7 203mm on the rear wheel being the most popular choices for tandems). Otherwise, you can seriously overheat the rims on some of the descents (my criteria is if it is going to be more than 500m vertical drop and reasonably steep and/or twisty, then we better have the additional brake on the bike for that ride - our Avid BB7 and all the hardware adds about 0.5 kg, so I sometimes take it off until the next mountainous ride). Alternatively, you can just stop by the side of the road for 5 minutes half-way down the descent to let your rims cool off.

We've ridden our tandem in a few cyclosportif (Gran Fondo) rides in Switzerland. There generally aren't many (or any) tandems in the mountainous rides, but in the Cyclotour du Leman (tour of Lake Geneva) we usually see about a dozen because that terrain is ideal tandem-country - we were flying.

As for availability of tandems, there are a few German and French brands that make tandems that you probably don't know about because they are not exported much. The big American tandem makers have European importers (e.g., Santana and Co-motion), plus the big brands that make tandems (Trek and Cannondale) have lots of dealers here. For parts, I don't know of any tandem-specific supplier in Europe (like Precision Tandems or Tandems East), but St John Street Cycles in the UK has quite a lot of tandem parts.

I've ridden at the velodrome at the UCI headquarters in Aigle a couple of times, which was a lot of fun. I know there is a track in Zurich, but have no idea about canton Aargau.

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Cycling in Switzerland | Photo blog (mostly travel pics from Switzerland)

Hey there!
New user here, just moved to Lausanne. Looking for a second hand bike - nothing too fancy, will just be used to commute to and from university. Have had a look around town at cycle shops but most are for new or specialist bikes, and the links in this section seem to be mostly for places in German-speaking Switzerland. Anyone able to offer any advice/tips to some newbies?
Many thanks

For used bikes, try the One More Tandem shop, which is southeast of the center of Lausanne. Also, there's always a good selection on Ricardo (Swiss version of Ebay).

By next week, I should have an 8-year old mountain bike ready for sale for 400 CHF. It has a front suspension fork, 7000-series aluminum frame (i.e., high quality and reasonably light), front hydraulic disk brake (plus rear V-brake), 24-speed Shimano drivetrain (with some nice low gears for the Lausanne hills). The tyres are wide nobblies, not ideal for city riding, but a pair of new skinnier ones and tubes can be bought from local stores for 40-50 CHF. Size = 18.5", and probably suits someone 1.70m to 1.80m well, but could be made to fit people a little outside that range.

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Cycling in Switzerland | Photo blog (mostly travel pics from Switzerland)

Hello all,
I'm seeking help with a little problem. Before moving to CH I purchased a pair of carbon tubular rims from Blackwell Research at a great price shortly before they went out of business. It's a 100mm rear and 50 front. I've only used them a few times on short tris mainly because I've never glued a tubular before, and I wouldn't want to risk ending a race because of a flat. I'm also concerned about decreased braking power on steep descents.
Any suggestions on books, videos, or a local bike shop that may be willing to teach me how to glue the tire properly on the rim and how to prepare a spare? (I've approached 2 shops and they refused).
Also, any experience using the Tufo tubular tape? It seems like an easier alternative, but I've read mixed reviews and would rather not find out the hard way that it doesn't work.
My goal is to use them at IM Zurich next July (since the course is not too hilly) so I have plenty of time to practice before then.
Thanks for any tips,
Carlos

There are good videos of tubular installation on youtube. Also I would recommend paying a good bike store to mount your tubulars prerace if you have doubts in your skills. Chances of a flat in CH are very low- I have ridden/raced quite a bit the last 2.5 years both on clinchers and tubulars with zero flats, so I would not overly stresss about potential for flats.

Except for someone who is competing to win a race (and who hopefully has mechanical support), I would not recommend anyone to enter the messy world of tubular tyres & wheels.

I'm starting to understand what you mean. I probably based my purchase on looks and on getting a good price without thinking everything through. At my level I definitely don't 'need' tubulars, but I'm going to try to learn how to use them safely under the right conditions since I already have them. I think if I don't get comfortable with the whole process I'll sell them to someone who does.

I've been riding tubulars exclusively on road and cross bikes for a season with no issues.

I can't post links right now but when I am at home tonight I'll post several resources for tubular gluing and riding

here are some resources.... I'll try to find some better threads there but they disabled the search function as they have too many online users

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/sho...tubular+gluing

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/sho...d.php?t=209144

I bought used Road Race Bike and currently the weight is around 7 Kg.
I want to change parts of the bike, to reach the target weight of around 6 Kg.
For the wheelset, i am not shure what to do:
Buy a carbon wheelset (reynolds) with tubulars, weight is 1040g/wheelset
or the lightest alloy wheelset(around 1155 g).
The price of the wheelsets are around the same....
I cycle most times around the zurich lake and in the surrounding hills.
Current Wheelset is from fulcrum and the weight is around 1600g.
Wy weight is between 70 and 75 kg, most trips are around 70-90 km long.
I think about to take part in the race around lake geneva(if the weather is ok), don't like cycling 180 km in rain......

Generally tubular wheelsets are only worthwhile for those who race with support teams. Otherwise it's just a lot of extra hassle for very little gain.

If your main aim is cycling on the flat, look for some deep section wheels and don't worry about the weight - you will gain far more from the aero advantages than you lose from a few hundred grams extra. Even in the hills you will still gain from the increased aerodynamics compared to the extra weight.

And don't worry too much about a bit of rain - it was great fun last year despite the weather. Check out some of the other races too, such as the Tour de Gruyere.

Are you as concerned about spending a fortune on light-weight parts for your bike, to save 1Kg in total weight when you weigh 70Kg compared with 75Kg?

maybe, because your own weight is a constant value you can extract from the equation ? Unless of course you are an out of shape heavywheight, but 70-75Kgs is within the competitive range for an standard male.

1Kg drop is the 15% of the bike's weight and if you go from a 1600grs wheelset to a 1250grs wheelset you'll be droping 33% in rotating weight or 45% with a 1100grms wheelset ( that probably would be too light for your weight ).

those weight drops ( 15% on the whole bike and 33% on wheelset ) can be really felt and impact on your performance/riding pleasure.

And you don't need to drop a fortune for that, Dura Ace 7850-C24-TU can be had for around $1200 and 7850-C50-TU for some $1500 if you look for them

A superlight frameset could also be had for around $3000 new or some $1500 used, but at your place I would put my money on the wheels, they indeed do a big difference, and are not a hassle here where we have mostly roads in good condition. I didn't had a flat in 2 seasons so far.

The Frameset of the used bike weighs 900 g and I bought the bike
to cycle more next year then 2010. I did the triathlon (olympic distance this year) with a road bike (weight 8Kg) , but when it comes to real climbing in the
hills that bikes has it limitations, so I decided to buy a new bike.
The current wheelset can be used for training, but I really want to reach the 6 kg barrier with the bike(raceready), so I can climb faster.
I paid for the whole bike around 3200 chf(inkl. Shipment and tax), so i got money enough to tune it. The frameset(with Seatpost/Headset and Stem) alone here in switzerland would be around 3600-4000chf(new).
The carbon wheelset from Reynolds(MV 32UL) has no weight limitations, the carbon rim can be replaced(if nessescary), spokes are aerolite/DT Comp.
The Wheelset costs around 1340 Euro(GST deducted) is Austria, here in Switzerland around 2300-2600 chf.

Sorry, I assumed it wasn't a constant and was a range dependent on time of year etc (some people stop or reduce exercising in the winter).

But, I take your points if the weight is constant

your own weight is allways constant.

if you are 70Kgs, you will be still be 70Kgs whether you are on bike1 = 6Kgs or on bike2=10Kgs.

your weight delta in t0 = 0 Kg

but the bike weight delta in t0 = 4 Kg and that represents 66% of the bike1 weight.

Sure the fatter you get the less would the bike weight delta represent, but there is a point in which you can't put less weight and then the bike weight delta become the determining factor.

for an average sized amateur male, 70Kgs is on the lower end of the weight range

You've never been on a bike expedition with me then!

@blackbird: besides cycling to build up a light bike is also fun (expensive fun) My bike has only 5.5kg and still affordable. Once you are in Basel please visit me in my bike shop. I can introduce you to a few nice light bikes parts.

Thanks for the invitation, currently I am very busy, working up to 14 hours a day (have to setup a new databank for the ERP System),
will check out, when I am in Basel ..........

hello, im from the Netherlands and i'm here for my english.

I'm a very fanatic cycler and every year i train very hard in Swiss.

Last year i rode the Queen-stage of the Tour the Suisse. It was a very nice tour. The Gottard-pass was amazing, because she have a very old way with very old stones. I have heard Napoleon has made this way.

I'm 16 year's old and my climb-speed is 12 with a slope of 10 % and the way is 15 kilometers.

My question louds: is that a good average speed for my age?? I'dont know what the speed is in a junior-course in your country?