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Submitted by
Rob
a Weekend Warrior
from Gloucester City NJ USA
Date Reviewed: September 28, 2008 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$2800.00 | | Purchased At: | Tandems East | | Strengths: | Disc brakes, quality gear set and shifters, light and strong frame- available in a Jumbo/large frame for a large team (I am 6'4", wife 5'10"), and nice paint | | Weaknesses: | We are a large team over 450 lbs. The stock Continental tires and Mavic rims with a Cross 3 lacing pattern could not handle the load. I spent an additional $800 for 35c tires, new stainless spokes (for a Cross 4 pattern=strength), and new 27.5 mm wide rims. | | Similar Products Used: | Burley and Trek | | Bottom Line: | Cannondale makes a quality product and the bike is quite good for most people. I do not fit in the "most" category. I wrote this as a precautionary tale for people who are big or might load up their tandem for a cross country tour (with a lot of luggage). I crashed with this bike, only to find out later from various websites, that the wheels and tires were not up to the task in my application. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Ryan
a Weekend Warrior
from Oregon
Date Reviewed: February 18, 2008 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$2500.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Good value for the money on an entry level tandem.
Stiff frame provides good power transfer.
| | Weaknesses: | Cannondale spec'd some parts that should not be used on a tandem - see comments below.
Short stoker cockpit length in X/M (Captain 6'0", Stoker 5'8") We fit the bike based on the Captain and didn't realize until much later how short the Stoker cockpit length is.
Captain's seat uncomfortable (Fi:zi'k Aliente Delta) This seat caused numbness in short order, and you tend to spend more time in the saddle on a tandem. | | Similar Products Used: | Demo'd a Raleigh Tandem - enjoyed it so much that we wanted to buy our own.
Looked at Co-Motion, Santana, Trek - all more expensive and couldn't see paying that much for our first tandem | | Bike Setup: | 2007 Cannodale Road Tandem X/M
Ultegra shifters, derailleurs
Avid BB7 Brakes
Speeedplay X5 (Captain) & SPD (Stoker)
38 lbs with pedals & bottle cages | | Bottom Line: | This bike really is a good value for the money. I made a mistake and purchased the bike locally through a shop that didn't have tandem experience and didn't set the bike up properly. Make sure that you buy from a shop that knows tandems! Additionally, there were some problems from the factory that a good tandem shop should catch.
Here the things to watch for:
1. They used standard brake cable housing instead of CompressionLESS housing. This causes the brakes to be mushy. Factory housing must be changed out!
2. The crank set had the wrong type of middle chainring causing the shifting to be inhibited. It works, but can work much better. The mechanic I have working on the tandem now was able to call TruVatiV and have them send the correct middle chainring.
3. Rear derailleur hanger was not straight from the factory and made it difficult to get the rear shifting working properly. Make sure the bike shop checks this.
4. The wheels were not correctly tensioned/trued, so they felt mushy and flexed a lot. This caused the brakes to have to be adjusted out to clear when the wheel flexed which further aggravated the mushy brakes. Make sure that the bike shop is comfortable working on a 40 spoke wheel.
I believe a good tandem shop would address most of these shortcomings.
We purchased a tandem because on our singles we have difficulty riding at the same pace. We struggle with pedaling at the same cadence, but are working it out.
I would recommend this tandem to a couple looking for their first tandem (make sure you have demo'd some tandems to see if you can ride together, there is definitely a technique to it and some people just aren't compatible on a tandem)
| Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mark
a Cross Country Rider
from Guam
Date Reviewed: November 15, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | Guam | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | Hornet Bike Shop | | Strengths: | Awesome disc brakes!!! Excellent Components! Great price and looks great too! Also comes with suspension seat post for the rear. | | Weaknesses: | Hmmm..... rear saddle not women friendly. | | Similar Products Used: | Specialized Tandem. | | Bike Setup: | Standard w/new rear set for my babeedoll. | | Bottom Line: | I have always enjoyed tandems! this one is super solid and has disc brakes. The Trek tandems i looked at were much more costly and did not have disc brakes. On Guam we have lots of rain. Flying down hills in wet conditions requires great brakes!! Disc brakes are a "MUST HAVE" on tandems! I am very very happy with this Cannondale!! | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Darren
a Weekend Warrior
from Hull
Date Reviewed: September 14, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$2500.00 | | Purchased At: | Hull | | Strengths: | Build quality. Very Good level of equipment.
People will always wave and say hello when you are on a Tandem. You can have a nice easy ride to the cafe, or a damn good workout. | | Weaknesses: | Rear brake pads rubbing, does take some adjusting.
Struggle to get panniers on due to the disk brakes.
Cannondales cost a fortune here in blighty.
| | Similar Products Used: | First Tandem owned.
I have ridden just about everything else over the last 25 years, but never a Tandem. | | Bike Setup: | Standard. I dont think I would change anything to be honest.
| | Bottom Line: | Tandems are ace fun, and this is the best road Tandem to do it on. We tested the Trek T2000 (which cost a fair bit more) and prefered the Cannondale. The Trek had lovely trick Bontrager wheels and that nearly sold it to me, but at the end of the day we did the right thing.
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
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