Originally Posted by
jnbrown
Headset: Can't beat Chris King, worth the money many times over.
Cranks: We have Gossamer's on the rear and after 4 years no problems, the bearings are still good. SL-K are just a more expensive version and from my understanding actually weigh more than Gossamers. Crankset choices for tandems are really limited. Other options are Lightning (light, but expensive, large Q-factor), DaVinci (lots of options, reasonable price but use old style square taper BB)
Wheels: I build all my own wheels
Thanks for your input. I am not a bike mechanic so haven't done much work; I did build a wheel once many years ago. Fun thing to do. Not sure why our Gossamers are giving trouble. We had a ton of noise and LBS said the rear BB was shot (wished I'd asked exactly what he meant by that). The front stopped creaking initially but is starting to creak again after ~3 weeks having been worked on.
I like the Cannondale disc brakes. It is not unusual for us to climb - and descend - 15-20% grades. Some are long descents where I'd be pretty nervous about rims heating up; Palomar Mtn tomorrow, for example!
