[FrontRanger]

New to tandems but think I can get by with just short cranks instead of a child stoker kit. Any recommendations?

 

[dualpivot]

Davinci sells short cranks: http://www.davincitandems.com/comp.html

Goes down to 150mm, also they have a triple hole crank that goes down to 130mm. Not the cheapest but v. high quality.

 

[JWRB]

I got a set of crank shortners when I got my tandem that I use with my almost 9 year old son. They are great, you can use a standard crank and just change pedal position as you child grows.

http://www.tandemseast.com/parts/cranks.html

look about 2/3 the way down the page.

 

[FrontRanger]

Triple hole crank looks really nice but the crank shortner has it beat on price. Not a very elegant solution but might just work.

 

[JWRB]

certainly not elegant and creates a very wide/long Q factor. I've done 3 hour rides with my 8 year old son and he hasn't complained. We're doing the covered bridge metric century in Lancaster next weekend, it will be our longest ride to date. He hasn't complained but I'm going to keep an eye on him throughout the ride.