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Cannondale Road Tandem 2 - One Year Later...the 2019 Review!

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Cannondale Road Tandem 2 - One Year Later...the 2019 Review!

Old 07-18-19, 04:17 PM
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Son_Rising
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Old 07-21-19, 08:26 PM
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It is a lovely bike. But that white boom tube is just so hard to keep shiny clean, it's almost a dirt dinner plate. As we all know, that is all that matters :-)
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Old 07-22-19, 11:54 PM
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Thanks for the review, interesting take on the not so much shock absorption in the frame.
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Old 07-23-19, 09:41 AM
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Originally Posted by yamsyamsyams
Thanks for the review, interesting take on the not so much shock absorption in the frame.
We have a 2015 T1 (same frame) and it is VERY stiff. A thudbuster seatpost for the stoker greatly reduced the impact of bumps for the both of us.
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Old 07-25-19, 07:32 AM
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For us the point with stokers seatpost was, that Ms. Stoker was just not able to foresee any bumps on the tandem: The suspension fork in front works really well. That’s good for me (captain) but the first and only moment when she’s realizing a bump is when there's a direct impact in her back.
And even if she’s riding springless solo bikes all the time we finally figured out the difference for a stoker on a tandem: Being a good rider you kind of react directly with your body on any irregularities on the road. You sometimes don’t even realize that you strengthen your back, lifting your backside or pulling your handlebar up. You’re doing all this nearly unconsciously after seeing a bump coming. Which you can't as a stoker...

So here (and once again) the Thudbuster (LT) was our problem solver for the stoker. This is probably the last component she wants to miss in her little stokers’ compartment…

@Son_Rising: My great admiration for what you’ve sacrificed for having that nice tandem-bike. My impression is, that you don’t regret it

Two years ago we also had the feeling/situation that we sometimes wanted to own (or better: to ride) a new tandem. We had one (self-made by welding two old frames together…) many years ago when we were really young. But the question was: When is sometimes? Life itself had an answer to us: After surviving a serious illness we realized that “Right Now” is probably the best reply on that question. So after I found a nice frame, I put everything else together (which I like to do anyway) and now we just love to ride our “Soulmate”

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Old 07-26-19, 02:26 AM
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We recently got a 2017 model of the bike. As far as I understand the only thing that have changed from the 2015-2016 models is the color, it's now a dark brown "anthracite". I'm located in Sweden and the bike is really hard to come by in Europe, but we finally got one sent to us from a German tandem specialist store.

Many say the frame is stiff, maybe they have changed something to 2017 model, or maybe I have a different point of reference, because I find the bike to be surprisingly comfortable, I've ridden both as captain and as stoker. I don't find any need for a suspension seatpost. I should say though that I have never used the 25mm gatorskin tires it came with. I immediately swapped out to GP5000 28mm tires with latex tubes. As a relatively light team I think the gatorskin toughness is overkill, so I opted for faster rolling race performance tires, and increased the width. For casual riding or mixed surface riding I would suggest going up to 35mm which is about the largest "suitable" size (you can squeeze in a bit larger still if compromising clearance). I have a pair of Hutchinson Overide 35mm laying around which I will fit when going for a gravel ride. Tires do a lot for comfort, so if you find the frame being overly harsh I suggest going up in size, and if you are a light team maybe opt for a more supple tire than those gatorskins.

The bullhorn bar on our bike was a real disappointment, as it wasn't fully symmetrical on delivery. We've noted if everything is not perfectly level and symmetrical in the stoker position it feels as if the bike is leaning and off balance when riding, very uncomfortable. When unwrapping the tape it turns out to be a china-made Promax $4 bar rebranded for Cannondale. But it's really only on the stoker bar and stem they have skimped on quality, the remaining components are good quality components from well-known brands. I have swapped out the stoker bar to a Somafab Urban Pursuit 25.4mm 44cm wide, which I think is a good drop-in replacement for the original bar, you need a 25.4 to 31.8mm handlebar shim though. You can get the 31.8mm version too if you can do with its shorter reach.

The stoker stem is okay, a bit heavy and with ugly welds (unlike the frame which has smoooth cannondale welding) though, and I find those adjustable stems are a bit of a pain to get perfectly level. So I wanted a standard fixed stem there. Problem is that with 31.6mm captain seatpost you can't use standard 28.6mm stems. So either you live with the original stem, or you do like us swap out the captain seatpost to a common 27.2mm with a shim in the frame, and then shim up around the stem to 28.6mm. Indeed, now I have shim for the seatpost, shim for the stem, and shim for the bar. The only one of those shims that have been a little bit problematic is the seatpost shim, need to tighten down the seatpost clamp to 7Nm to avoid slippage. I don't find going to the narrower seatpost noticably affected stiffness negatively though. If you are pleased with the original stoker stem, it's better to keep it as is though to avoid the shim. Due to the dual/quad bolts on a stem, shims for the stem and bar are not problematic at all concerning slipping so I wouldn't worry about adding in one there if needed to fit any bar you'd like.

Last edited by torger; 07-26-19 at 02:31 AM.
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Old 07-28-19, 06:10 AM
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So here it is, the S/M sized frame. Currently it is set up for me as stoker, and my slightly shorter brother as pilot. The main team is me as pilot and the girl as stoker, but I have got a bunch of stems etc to be able to set it up for all sorts of teams formed by friends and family. A thing I love about this frame is that with just some long seat posts and a bunch of stems you get a really wide range of people that can ride it. I've also noted that the low stand-over height is also useful for us that is a bit longer (but inflexible from a work life in the office) as it becomes easier for the team to get on the bike if it you don't need to lean it over.

The Cannondale geometry is not really a racing geometry so to get as low as possible we have actually removed the 15mm high dust cap and put the stem directly on top of the headset. I've made a CAD drawing and ordered a 3D print of a 3mm high dust cap which shall go in there to accommodate shorter pilots like my brother. When I'm myself pilot I can get sufficiently low with the stock dust cap.

The law here in Sweden mandates reflectors so I've used red (seatstays), white (fork blades) and orange (rims) reflective tape for that.

In the back I've replaced the seat post for a Shannon Hardcore 430mm (to become 500mm, out of stock at the time of order) as the original post is only 350mm and thus cannot support taller stokers. In the pictured setup the rear post is close to the max extension (32cm extension for the 43cm seatpost), yielding 74,5cm saddle height (BB center to saddle top). The stoker handlebar sits about as close as possible to the pilot without colliding with the legs. While you with the 500mm seatpost will be able to fit even taller stokers than myself, they must then sit a bit more upright to not collide with the pilot.

In the front I currently use the original back seat post, that is 27.2mm with a shim, to get a wider choice of stoker stems than you get with the original 31.6mm seatpost. To support taller pilots I'll need a longer seat post also there.

The stoker stem I've replaced with a Thorn 170mm 17 degree stem intended to mount another stem on so I can get a riser position, useful when the pilot is shorter. However, in this setup it should be possible to use a standard fixed stem, which I have on order. Minimizing the number of interfaces that can slip for the stoker bars is a good thing.

As our stoker bar was defective (skewed) I replaced it with a Somafab Urban Pursuit 25.4mm bar, as you can see in the image it's the same type of shape as the original bar, but a bit longer. The original bar has about 17cm reach, this has about 21cm, which I think is an improvement as it can support taller stokers. I've replaced the pilot handlebar too with a Bontrager VR-C Elite to get 20mm more reach than the original bar, to make the relaxed geometry somewhat more aggressive.

Saddles are swapped out depending on who sits on top, so each team member get their favorite saddle.

Here I run with GP5000 tires, the tubed version, setup with vittoria latex tubes. Fast rolling and comfortable. We run them at 100 psi for a 130 kg (286 lbs) team.

The front brake cable is way too long, I'll fix that eventually, I promise. I need to have the cables long enough to support the other end of the fit spectrum though, which is +20 degree 12cm stem with all spacers below it.



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Old 07-28-19, 03:55 PM
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torger
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Yes, it's probably a good idea to avoid heavy inexperienced riders in the back with such a long seat post extension. I haven't yet had anyone taller than myself in the back (I'm 178 cm 67 kg / 5'10" 148 lbs). I'll get that 500mm seat post too so I get longer insertion into the frame which should make it a bit stronger. The Shannon Hardcore seatpost is very strong though (designed for mountain biking) so I'm not sure what would break first... I just hope it doesn't break :-).

I've seen a number of Cannondales run with long stoker seatposts, as the sizing is the way it is. Even with the XL front size the rear is still S with only 43 cm seat tube, but the rear top tube length is relatively long so you can fit in much taller riders than the short seat tube suggests. I'd expect that I would have stumbled across something on the 'net about broken seat tubes in my research if it would have been a problem. But still, I'll make sure to keep the stoker weight reasonable if a long extension is required.
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Old 07-28-19, 04:10 PM
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Edit: Torger, sorry, I didn't see your reply before I posted... some thoughts in my post are redundant now...


It's really fascinating how flexible those tandem frames are (or have to be) when it comes to different captain-stoker combos. And I really admire what torger makes possible here through different setups. The given setup to me looks also extreme in the "stoker compartment". The seat post seems to be longer than the seat tube, that's a tremendous lever trying to bend the clamping area. It obviously works out for the team... I would try to get some "extra insurance" by a more massive seat clamp - not really knowing whether that actually helps...
The stoker stem is a good base for adjustments too but -with it's thorn- a possible injury risk? Finally a nice frame/bike, I like the fact that Cannondale takes some effort to smoothen the welds and the optical result of that.
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Old 07-28-19, 07:11 PM
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Originally Posted by Son_Rising
Your rear seat post is so long (or rather tall)! Hopefully when you have a tall rider in the rear they are either light and/or aware of the vulnerability to the frame in that clamp and weld area. If it were me I'd choose a post that would give before the frame did and would never ride an inexperienced heavy-tall rider back there.
This is also something that I have been confronted with multiple times already and I'm insecure. We're riding an L/S frame and on multiple occasions there could have been 180cm / 80kg class stokers. I really do wonder where the limits for the rear are as that will present an enormous leverage once I miss avoiding that one large pothole or we just work hard. Do minimum insertion depths increase with seat post length, too?
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Old 07-29-19, 01:38 PM
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Minimum insertion for 35cm seatposts is usually 8 or 10 cm. For 40-43 it seems to be 10 cm. For the Shannon Hardcore 500mm it's 11cm, so yes I guess you can say that minimum insertion tend to go up with length. I intend to get that 50cm seatpost (sold out, but a new batch is coming from the factory in 2 weeks I've been told), and keep 15cm or more inserted. That gives me up to 35 cm extension, and I think it doesn't make sense to fit taller guys than 185cm or so there anyway due to the top tube length.

The bike frame also has a minimum insertion. It's not specified for this frame as far as I know, but it's usually 8 or 10 with a 35cm seatpost, ie it matches typical seat posts. The outer diameter of the Cannondale tandem rear seat tube is 31.8mm like on most (all?) Cannondales with 27.2mm seatpost, so I suppose one can assume that it as least as strong as any other and those usually have 10 cm minimum insertion. Going up over 35 cm seat posts it's probably wise to increase insertion so get an even longer seat post to keep more in the frame.

I guess if one is worried one could use a suspension seat post to soften the forces from any bump. I feel okay with this though, I'll use plenty of insertion and avoid the combination of tall and heavy stokers. I don't think a more massive seat clamp will help with bending forces, the seatclamp basically just avoids slippage. To spread out the bending load more insertion helps, and to soften the load peak a suspension or flexible seat post will help.

Some mountain bike frames have short seat tubes so long extension on seat posts is not unheard of. But sure, it wouldn't hurt with some better look into it than "I guess that it's fine" :-). Maybe I'll dust off my old mechanical engineering education and make some calculations, or even better find some actual mechanical engineer that can look into it.

When riding as stoker I have had the stoker bar accidentally slip in two ways - one is to turn the seatpost at the seat clamp due to too little seat clamp force (with the shim I needed to increase the torque to 7Nm, I'd like the seat post shim to make a tighter fit than it did, I may look for another one), the other is to twist the adjustable stem. With the Thorn stem there's no additional slippage interface added, as the stoker adjustable stem is replaced, but instead you get a stem-on-a-stem which means that there is some leverage which should in theory make it easier to slip. I find that the clamp of a standard forged stem is more even and better quality than of that Cannondale branded stoker stem (probably same type of quality as the original stoker bar) so it's actually less prone to slip. But I do recommend to tighten it down with a torque wrench to the max spec anyway.

I will use fixed stems whenever I have one that makes a fit. I'll get three stems in different lengths in the post tomorrow :-). It's not only for minimizing the risk of slipping, but also to make it easier to align the stoker bar, which is a bit of a pain with adjustable stems that can twist.
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Old 07-30-19, 07:46 AM
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Got my stems in the mail today. Sorry for being a bit off topic but just wanted to show these. Procraft SL stems, ~€20 each, maybe is harder to get in the US though, it's a German Taiwan-made budget brand with perfectly good quality. The top one is a 130mm 40 degree stem with a 25.4mm bar clamp (no shim required for my 25.4 urban pursuit bar), then two 35 degree stems with 31.8mm clamp, 150 and 180mm. Those stems were made to be used as a normal stem on a steerer tube, but as they are available in extreme lengths and angles they are useful as stoker stems too. And being made through forging and CNC they are lighter and cleaner than than most stoker stems as they are usually welded. I'm going to use these fixed stems instead of the variable stoker stems whenever suited for the required fit.

Another advantage of a fixed stem compared to the adjustable ones is that the stem clamp cannot twist as there is no adjustment joint, so the stoker bar is guaranteed to be setup perfectly level, and there is one less interface that could slip.

The 130mm 40 degree stem yields about 100mm horizontal distance to the seat post, and I'd say that is the reasonable minimum amount, closer than that and it's likely the stoker bar will touch the legs of the pilot. However it depends on saddle setback and at which height the stem is mounted at. This stem will replace the Thorn stoker stem setup shown in the previous photos.

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