REVIEWS DEALS BIKESHOPS TRAILS

Advice for a n00b plz

1310 Views 8 Replies 3 Participants Last post by TandemNut, Dec 16, 2008

Cortvald

Discussion Starter · Dec 12, 2008

Hey there Good ppl.

Me and my friend are planning to buy a tandem mtb, and ride the local tracks (in denmark), and therefor have some Q's.

Im 190cm and hes like 170cm, so we are planning on me in front do to the design of the bike.
Lapierre/TANDEM-X2-RACE-MTB-1

My friends spine arnt the best, and we cant figure out where the stress is highest, on the front rider or the back.
Do ppl normaly go on hardtailes out there or ???

We both normaly ride 69'ers and 29'ers (Trek 69, and Gary Paragon29'er), and where hopping that its possiple to put a 29" fork on the bike. Anyone here have an idea if thats a nono or not ?

Other than that are there anything that we need to get settled before starting ?

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Trails4Two

· #2 · Dec 13, 2008

Welcome to the tandem world! You could try riding with either of you in the front, but will probably be happier with the taller/larger person doing the steering. The rear position is harder on the spine in my opinion. Mostly because that person can't see as well to prepare for hits. Also, they are sitting right above the rear wheel so rear hits transfer directly up to them. Rear suspension seatpost helps, full-suspension helps more. I can't tell what kind of post is on the bike you posted, but it looks to be similar to the cane creek thudbuster (parallelogram design) if so, it should help. The rest of the components look OK, but I don't know that fork or those hubs. Both of those are very important components. You might have a hard time finding a good 29" tandem fork, but if you do it would change the geometry - but not as much as converting a single rider 26" bike. It looks like the LaPierre is pretty steep up front so it might be OK.

How technical are the trails you will be riding? Remember that it is very difficult to unweight the front wheel to go over things, you mostly just have to run over them!

Good Luck

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TandemNut

· #3 · Dec 13, 2008

Welcome to the tribe!
I'm thinking the geometry on that frame is measured before the fork length was caluclated into the equation, based on the bb heights. So a 29" fork will likely slacken the head angle somewhat.
All things being equal, the captain's position is less jarring, since the front is suspended and it's between a 72+ - " wheelbase. However, less stressful on the back may be dependent on whether the captain's compartment is set up without too much bar drop.
As Chris said, the larger person will be better off up front. Stokers tend to ride more upright on tandems as a general rule (might be 'cause they're usually shorter).
Gearing on that one will be a bit high for real off-road use based on the crank and cassette spec.
Also, looks like a 22.5" captain's TT length. That will be a bit short for someone your height.
I don't see pricing information on that site. How much is the LaPierre?

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Trails4Two

· #4 · Dec 13, 2008

Yep, I noticed the gearing too. That's why I asked about type and style of riding. Just for perspective, we run a 12-34 rear with a 42-32-22 up front - we use the granny combination almost every ride. A climb that I can do in my middle ring on my single quickly becomes a granny climb on the tandem (this does NOT imply that my stoker is slacking off!). We are also both riders who spin easier gears rather than pushing bigger ones.

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Cortvald

Discussion Starter · #5 · Dec 13, 2008

Trails4Two said:
How technical are the trails you will be riding? Remember that it is very difficult to unweight the front wheel to go over things, you mostly just have to run over them!

The Trails arnt that hard compared to some of the Rides ive see on the net (havent tryed anything but the local's so cant compare), But they are mainly tricky do to roots and mud-piles

We hope to fit a Maverick upside down fork Duc32

About the Liftover on the front wheel, thats mainly why i want the 29" wheel

and also, that every time i try a friends 26" bike, it feels like riding a Juniorbike

BigNut said:
Gearing on that one will be a bit high for real off-road use based on the crank and cassette spec.
Also, looks like a 22.5" captain's TT length. That will be a bit short for someone your height.
I don't see pricing information on that site. How much is the LaPierre?

My friend normaly go on a SS and are therfor used to a High gearing, and i normaly use high gearings anyway, and if not we'll just change whats need. Im gessing there will be some tweaking the first months.
Conserning the TT for the front driver, im hoping that a longer Sterm will help me out. (if we can find any for that Fork

)

The Price in denmark (which is a high priced country) is around 20.000 dkr ~ 3.200$

oh yea.. a last question... i was on a Sram product thingy, and saw a Tandem crank set that made it possible for the riders NOT to go in sync ??? or was i just passing the place to fast and looked wrong

??

Ty for yr time reading and writing.. nice to get some answers before we spend all that money !

btw. hope my English is readyble... its been a will

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Trails4Two

· #6 · Dec 13, 2008

You both sound like strong riders. Tandems put more stress on chains, freehubs, cassettes and chainrings. Most teams seem to have several stories of failed drivetrain parts - I would think that the higher gearing of the Lapierre would break more things. I would at least immediately swap the cassette for a 34 tooth top. Maverick forks are great - and they are approved for tandem use! They are also very hard to get right now, and if I heard right , will be hard to find until 2010.

Not sure which product you saw on the SRAM site, but I've only heard of one crankset (not counting the DaVinci ICS system) that would allow riders to seperately coast, and I wouldn't trust it off-road.

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TandemNut

· #7 · Dec 14, 2008

Thought I posted this already, but...
What sort of import duties are there in your country? Because it looks like you could get better components for the price with other tandems.
Thanks

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Cortvald

Discussion Starter · #8 · Dec 15, 2008

well i would love to say if i knew it, but i realy dont. I an just see that the prices on the net are Way lower than our store prices.

For comparings i can tell that a Trek 8000 09 model is 11.999,- (2.000$), if that helps any

Other than that, we dont have many that import Tandem MTB's here, so the lepierre is kinda the one

(and i work in a LBS so im hoping to get a bit beter price

)

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TandemNut

· #9 · Dec 16, 2008

Hopefully you can get a better price, and you'll have a decent starter tandem.
The Maverick DUC 32 is not in production and will not be until (possibly) the 2010 model year.
Be sure to post pics when you do your first ride.
Thanks

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