Around the beginning of 2025 we were approached by TU Delft communications with a request to participate in a Dutch children's television show about science called Proefkonijnen (EN: crash test dummies). We were told that a kid had submitted a question asking if it was possible to do a wheelie on a tandem bicycle and the show was wondering if it is possible and if so can we help them answer this question.

I proposed it to the lab and enough members were excited to participate, so we agreed to help. Our job was to prove you can do a wheelie on a tandem, explain how it works on camera, and support the two zany hosts attempting the wheelie at TU Delft. This was the first time that we did a large lab-wide project together like this and it ended up being a great idea, both for the fun and for our own team building.

After some brainstorming, we settled on adding a counterbalance to tandem to facilitate the wheelie and side wheels to prevent falling to the left or right. The show's science focused on explanations about gravity, balance, levers, etc. Bart volunteered to be our speaking representative in the show and everyone else that helped was about to be a cheerleader in the show's wheelie scene.

It wasn't trivial to wheelie the final design, but with some coordination and practice you could manage a wheelie. Here is Bart and one of the shop employees learning:

Even professors can learn it too! Here is Simon and myself managing a decent length wheelie:

Here is Bart live on the show explaining what we built and how it works:

All the helpers got to be the cheerleaders in the wheelie scene:

The show's hosts managed to get one brief wheelie to close the show:

Thanks to everyone that helped pull this off: Bart de Vries, Simon Sorgedrager, Looka Schoneveld, Eloy Vazquez, Neville Nieman, Jan Spoelstra, Benjamin Gonzalez, Rawdha Al Amri, Jose Farias, Sara Youngblood, ME student machine shop employees, Annemiek Schouten, Mette Christiaanse, and Anna 't Hoen! Special thanks to Bart for leading the effort and being the fietslab explainer!

Watch the full show online which aired in January 2026!