Tandem stem advice sought

[toasttoast]

I just picked up this guy:

http://i43.tinypic.com/a0zcps.jpg

After some fidgeting, I have the "captain" set-up just about right for me. As you can see, that means a pretty slammed seatpost. So slammed, in fact, that it doesn't leave enough room for a stoker stem.

Now, a possibly quick and easy solution would be to replace the Turbomatic on there now with a "lower stack" saddle, giving me a few more MM's of seatpost to work with while maintaining same saddle height.

Similarly, I could also try a more modern seatpost with a less bulky clamp area, so I have more usable post area.

Failing that, is it conceivable to run the stem up from the top tube? I suppose you'd have to do it "backwards" so what is normally the handlebar clamp is around the stoker TT, then the bars go through the steerer tube area... with shims for both... sigh.

Or, is there some option I haven't considered would be able to bolt on to the small area of seatpost that is currently showing?

Thanks all.

[RPS]

I'm using a standard stem on my Co-Motion for a stoker stem. It doesn't require that much height. If you want I can try to find a picture and post it. From your picture it looks like there should be enough room -- hard to tell though.

What size seat post are you using? If 28.6 MM or less you can use a 1-1/8 MTB or Road stem of the correct length and angle and shim as necessary. If your seat post is larger then you might have to find a 1-1/4 stem and shim from there.

I strongly recommend not doing the reverse-stem-on-the-top-tube idea. Loading of the clamps is not the same when you switch them around like that.

BTW, it looks like a different seat post may be the most you need if you like the saddle. And if you buy one don't go light because it has to handle your weight plus your stoker's.

[pdmtong]

1. replace seatpost with a thomson

2. buy a control tech stoker stem

3. be happy