Tires & clearance for 2009 Cannondale?
 

Hi all,

First time posting here.

My GF and I just bought a 2009 Cannondale Road tandem 2 bike. It came with disc brakes, fatty front fork. We are wanting to ride this on both paved roads & gravel roads. I've seen from other posts "Tire clearance on 2004 Cannondale?" that 38mm tires fit onto the 700c wheels no problem.

My questions:

1. Does anyone have experience with putting on larger tires than 38mm? (I'm thinking larger is better for gravel riding)
2. If I buy some different wheels (650 or 26") can I run larger tires?
3. Are there tandem specific tires? Or will any road/gravel tire work?

My stoker and I are about 280 lbs total weight, if this matters at all. (plus add some weight for water bottles, spares, multitool, etc...)

Thanks!
John

Our team is the same weight. For tires, I’d recommend 50mm tires at 50psi for most dirt roads. 60mm at 40psi covers unmaintained roads, muddy roads, or ones with huge gravel. I’m a big fan of the Panaracer Gravelking series in all its flavors. You do have to watch the tire’s sidewall pressure rating. We’ve had tires blow off at 5psi over the rating. Schwalbe and Panaracer tend to have pretty high pressure ratings for the size, so they’re a good bet.
I’ve heard those Cannondales can fit 650b x 47ish tires comfortably. I’m not sure about the largest 700c tire.

I have run as large as 700x38 with fenders so I would expect a 700x45 to fit without fenders. I am currently running 650bx47 with fenders and have no doubt 650bx60 would fit

Highest recommendation to using one of the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires for sale (OEM site, Amazon or such as via Peter White who also makes great wheels for tandems). These tires tend to be taller profile tires vice fatter per say which may help with your frame. The last a very long time and ride smooth. Even after many years of heavy loaded touring on tandem, have never had a flat with any of them. If you are looking for gram-savings, then these are for you as they are not lightweight. Hope that helps. /k

https://www.schwalbetires.com/bike_t...s/marathon_420

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=marathon+...b_sb_ss_i_1_18

I don’t know how much difference there is between 04 and 09, but here are some pics of our 04 with the 700 x 38mm tires (I am the OP from that other thread you mentioned).
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e8a0d3a87.jpeg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4b0821eae.jpeg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c2cced155.jpeg