I want to take a visiting friend out on a bike ride.
Since this friend never learned how to ride a bike, I was thinking that a tandem might be a viable solution in the short term, instead of spending time on teaching them how to ride a bike.
I've never ridden a tandem myself, so I wonder if both buddies must be capable of riding a bike on their own, or only one is sufficient.
Sheldon Brown (of course) has a good page on riding tandem. He doesn't get into details, but since the stoker's main job is to keep upright it doesn't demand a lot of bike handling skill. Riding as stoker for the first time is similar to being passenger on a motorbike for the first time; the main thing to learn is not to lean or shift your weight. All the bike-handling skill comes from the captain, and as the captain it's a good idea to become familiar with the handling of the tandem before you try riding with a stoker. (Brown's page covers all this.)
In my experience the trickiest part of riding stoker is getting mounted; holding steady balance with both feet on the pedals as the captain mounts. You might try having a pole or something similar for the stoker to put a hand on to help their balance.
So the answer is no, the stoker doesn't really need to learn how to ride, in the sense of knowing bike-handling skills. That said, the stoker does need to learn how to sit on the saddle without throwing the balance of the bike, and also to learn to turn the pedals at the same time - and in the same cadence - as the captain. Again, from experience, synchronized pedalling is one of the hardest parts of riding tandem, especially if you're an experienced cyclist who tends to spin continuously.
I've ridden stoker, and its probably easier for a non-rider than for someone who rides.
The instinctive thought for the experienced rider is to move their body weight around to balance. That would work if the stoker and captain were completely in tune and had the same riding style.
However, cyclists have different styles and move the bike differently. For me, being on the back with a MTB rider on the front, it felt like the bike was falling over a lot. Thus I'm more of an upright touring style of balance.
An inexperienced rider as stoker might work better, if they lock their arms and keep their center of mass straight over the centerline of the bike.
As for an unexperienced rider, perhaps your first ride should be completely away from roads. Spend the first 10-20 minutes tootling through a park or somewhere completely isolated, to get to a first step of comfort.
In short, no: One doesn't have to be an experienced cyclist to be a stoker but...
I would strongly suggest an aspiring stoker (and captain for that matter) to do some spin classes or workouts on stationary bikes. The reason being that it is VERY difficult to stand and throw a tandem side-to-side as one often does on a single bike. The spin bike teaches one how to stand and maintain balance with no side-to-side motion.
When getting started the captain & stoker need to work on communication technique. Simple commands are necessary for coordinating starting, stopping, shifting, check traffic, turning left/right, etc. It's wonderful having a 2nd set of eyes to watch for traffic!
When cornering the stoker should look around the INSIDE shoulder of the captain. This is simplest technique I've found to get a stoker to maintain proper position. Or more importantly it prevents the natural tendency some stokers have of maintaining an upright position while the captain is leaning (counter steering) into a turn.
For standing, I've found as a captain that I'll yell "UP!" for the stoker to stand. I'll stay seated but will allow the bike to float beneath me as the stoker often will move the bike side to side. When I stand I work hard to NOT move the bike side to side and focus on simple up/down power delivery to the pedals.
The captain needs to listen to and respect the concerns of the stoker. Remember they will be without any brakes nor an obvious method of controlling the bike.
The short answer is no, the stoker does not need to know how to ride a bike. I've taken out an inexperienced stoker in her 70s who has been blind since birth. However perhaps blind people make better stokers as they are used to trusting people to guide them.
Note that riding as a stoker will not necessarily give someone the skills needed to ride a solo bike. The hardest part of riding solo is learning to balance, hence the move to teach kids on balance bikes rather than those with stabilisers/trainer wheels. A stoker will have a very different experience of balance from their position on the bike. In fact that difference in the motion can be quite unnerving at first, especially at low speed. I screamed when I first rode as a stoker.
The minimum a stoker needs to do is:
The captain needs to:
I wonder if to ride one both buddies must be capable of riding a bike on their own, or only one is sufficient.
One is sufficient - as long as the other is not too nervous and can fit properly on the back seat and the pilot (in front) has varied experience.
Case: I (in my 30s) rode tandem with a healthy relative in his 80s who had not bicycled in 50 years - no exaggeration - as he did not feel capable on his own anymore. My experience at that point was about 1 year of tandem riding with various partners. His concern was falling off, yet near falls with previous partners were easily prevented on my part, so I felt confident in being able to cope and prevent injury.
With both of us properly helmeted, we enjoy a casual 10 minute ride. Then he could say he had been biking for over 70 years.
