Description:Ventana's meticulous craftsmanship and engineering design skills were put to the test with El Conquistador de Montanas. By combining our industry renowned rear suspension technology with a super stiff main frame, we have produced a high performance tandem with real off-road capabilities.
For 2002, we have incorporated quad sets of sealed bearings at all suspension pivots, rebuildable 17-4 stainless steel bearing pivot axles, vertically slotted dropouts with replaceable derailleur hanger, increased rear travel to 4.0 inches, and increased rear tire clearance for up to 2.4 inch tires.
Submitted by
Rob Reed
a Cross Country Rider
from Salt Lake City, Utah Date Reviewed: June 4, 2002
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Purchased At:
MTBTandems.com
Strengths:
Beautiful frame, craftsmanship, frame design. Rock solid in any conditions, so far. Very plush, amazing tracking - no frame waggle. Sweet paint (Superdust)!
Weaknesses:
None that we've found.
Similar Products Used:
Boulder TSL 26 FS Tandem
Bike Setup:
Race Face cranks, Thompson Posts/Stem, Hope Enduro Disks, Easton EA70 Bars, Mavic D521 Rims, Stratos ST5 Tandem Fork, etc.
Bottom Line:
If you are thinking about mountain tandems, put some serious thought into the ECDM. My wife and I have ridden a Boulder FS tandem for the past few seasons - originally planning to only ride dirt roads - be careful if that's your plan also, you'll be amazed at where you can go with these things! We loved the Boulder, but pushed it beyond what it was really intended to do and finally broke it (Rich at Boulder has since created a bigger, stronger FS tandem). We've wanted the Ventana for a couple of years and now that we have it, we're loving it!
The Ventana is absolutely beautiful. It's a clean, yet beefy frame design that has Sherwood's trademark Electric Sex welds and in our case, the Superdust finish, which I swear makes us go faster - it doesn't seem to work uphill though...
This bike actually responds more like a single and tracks better than any tandem we've ever ridden. Let it rip on the downhills, with the right fork (thanks Stratos!), it goes where you point it, then the rear end soaks up what's left. We've been able to take lines on familiar rides that we wouldn't have even thought about on our older bike.
I really don't think that you can go wrong with the ECDM - just make sure you do your homework when picking the components, wheels, etc. Mountain tandems take unbelievable amounts of stress and abuse, so I would recommend going for strength over weight. Mark Livingood (another reviewer of the ECDM) has been kind enough to devote much of his personal website to info on his ECDM's which helped us a bunch when we were getting our bike together. Thanks Mark! You can also find a wealth of info from Double Forte, a Yahoo Groups worldwide family of mountain tandem riders. And when you do decide to take the plunge, and you will, contact Alex Nutt at MTB Tandems.com. He worked with us to give us a great deal on our dream bike not to mention his knowledge and expertise on mountain tandems. He is the only one I know of that specializes in mountain tandems - he even has enough pull to get manufacturers like Marzocchi (great fork, great company) to work with him to build special makes of their existing forks just for tandems! Thanks Alex and Kim for your help.
Bottom line, riding off road on a tandem built to handle it can be some of the best riding you can experience. The ECDM has got to be one of, if not the best FS tandems available today. If you are new to this, demo a bike or two to make sure you and your partner enjoy mountain tandems, do a little research through Double Forte, etc. Then save a little dough and take the plunge - You won't regret it!
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Mark Livingood
a Cross Country Rider
from Near Atlanta, GA Date Reviewed: April 7, 2002
Favorite Trail:
Still looking for it....
Duration Product Used:
More than 3 years
Price Paid:
$5600.00
Purchased At:
http://www.MTBTandems.com
Strengths:
Probably the best off-road tandem frame on the market, in terms of design, quality, value and customer support. This is our second Ventana ECdM; the first was a '97 that was tweaked to '00 specs with the rear disc brake & softer bushings when it was built new in '99. Updates on the '02 worth mentioning include a redesigned rear triangle featuring room for bigger rear tires, quad-set sealed bearings at all pivots instead of nylon bushings, replaceable derailleur hangar, vertical drop-outs and 4" of travel instead of 3.5. Electric Sex welds are still some of the best in biz., "Superdust" powdercoat finish is awesome and hydraulic rear brake line braze-ons are great.
Weaknesses:
If you're looking to fit V-brakes or canti's on the rear you can't; stock rear brake bridge no longer has 'em. Not sure I'd bother with rim brakes on a F/S tandem, so NBD for me. That's it... Somebody mentioned sizing was an issue; however, for $200 Ventana will make it any size you'd like and lead time is only about 6 weeks.
Similar Products Used:
'98 Cannondale MT3000, '97 Ventana El Conquistador de Montanas, '98 Santana Dual Moto.
Bike Setup:
Custom sized 17/15 frame in Superdust. Stratos S5-T fork, Hope Enduro discs (203mm F/185mm R), daVinci cranks, XTR/XT transmission, Chris King hubs w/Velocity Aeroheat AT rims and other nice bits & pieces by Chris King, Easton, Thomson & Speedplay. Full details on our Web site with pictures at: http://home.att.net/~mark.livingood/02Ventana.html
Bottom Line:
The Ventana El Conquistador de Montanas is THE BEST all round off-road tandem frame on the market. If you're serious about your off-road riding and are thinking about taking a friend or loved one out on the back of a tandem full suspension is a MUST HAVE. You may not feel the difference but your stoker(s) will. My wife really enjoyed her first experiences off-roading on our Cannondale MT3000 and at first I couldn't imagine why you'd need to spend the extra dough for a full suspension rig. Well, what my wife didn't know -- being new to off-road riding -- was that her neck and back weren't supposed to hurt after each ride. She didn't know that it could be painless until we got our first Ventana ECdM; and I couldn't believe how much better the handling and control could be with F/S.
Bottom Line: At $2,595.00 MSRP (see http://www.MTBTandems.com for an even better deal), it's an incredible value in a full suspension tandem and a lot cheaper than weekly visits to the chiropractor by your stoker(s). If you're a serious rider with a serious single bike, this is the tandem for you.
If all you're ever planning on doing is riding double track and rail beds, save your pennies and go with a hardtail until you're ready for the single track. Then, buy this bike.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Phil Dunn
a Cross Country Rider
from Richmond, VA Date Reviewed: January 29, 2002
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Purchased At:
Goodleys
Strengths:
Beautiful quality and design. Paint job is excellent and welds are high quality. It looks like it will last a lifetime.
Weaknesses:
Sizing is in 2 inch increments, which forces you to compromise on a very expensive frame. No way to attach V brakes in the rear if you wanted to. Embarrased to say that I galled the rear BB while installing a well greased Shimano UN 72. They fixed it for a reasonable charge, but mentioned that they had switched to new dies because they were having problems with Shimano BBs! OWCH.
Bike Setup:
XT/XTR, Gustavs, Race Face cranks, Jr T fork, Hadley hubs, Rhino Lites.
$
Overall Rating:
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