turbozinke

My wife and I have an old Santana tandem. The old Santana weighs in at 49 lbs. We're looking to upgrade to a newer/lighter bike. My dad has a Litespeed Taliani he bought new back in 2000. It has thousands of miles on it and he loves it. Still rides it almost every day. I found a Taliani for sale, but the frame design is different. Unlike most tandems it does not have a tube that from from the headset to the stoker derailleur. We are a light team, about 275lb total. I'm 6' and she is 5'2". This tandem is 58cm from and 54 rear so that should work, but I am concerned that it has some kind of weird from design that might not be good. What do you think??? THanks!

Dean V

Frame looks too small in the front for a 6' person. That isn't 58cm.

chojn1

Most new tandem designs eliminate the lateral tube completely.
I haven't seen a Calfee with one in a long time.
My titanium doesn't have one either. Don't miss it. But it does have larger tubings.
My aluminum tandem has that same design as that lightspeed with the lateral tube from the stoker's bb to the captain's seat tube. Works perfectly fine.

Monoborracho

Designs come and go. There is nothing wrong with that design. A few years ago one of the major manufacturers of tandems had words on their website deriding those who took out the lateral tube from their bikes. Now that's about all they sell. Another pushed good vibes about 26" wheeled tandems, then quit building most all models. And now you all need disk brakes or V brakes instead of cantilevers.........you get the picture.

If the Litespeed fits get it, tighten the timing chain, maybe get a set of lightweight wheels or an upgrade to two, then go ride it like you stole it.

You'll get more admiring looks at a tandem rally than the guy on a new shiny Co-Motion, which says something.

turbozinke

I think you may be right. It looks smaller than 58cm to me, and I'm 5' 11.75"(I think anyone my height would round up to 6!) Here is a pic of my wife and I on my Santana. This Santana fits me perfectly. I don't want to buy a bike that is too small for me

shlammed

I wouldn't be worried about it. the design looks plenty stout.

sch

Agree that design is fine. Bike fit: you really need to get on that bike and fiddle with the saddle height
and see how it feels. From your pix looks like you both like saddles a bit on the low side.
You must have a body fat in the 10% range. Stem angle and length on the Ti frame may be a problem
as well. At one time (when I was your age) saddle was comfy at ~3-4" above the bars, now it is
best fit at level of bars. Your wife looks to have her saddle at or slightly below bars. 54cm rear is
a bit of a stretch for 62" person. On a singleton 62" high means 48-50cm frame size in bike with
level top tube. Sure the saddle can be dropped and may work out fine, which appears to be what
you have done with the Santana.

merlinextraligh

Frame design interacts with the frame material, and the size of the tubes.

So while Calfee's are lateraless, they use very stiff oversize carbon tubes.

You take the lateral tube out of a frame and it's going to be less stiff, unless you comprnsate, such as larger diameter tubes.

Titanium in general does not make a super stiff tandem frame, and that bike that does not have oversized tubes is likely not terribly stiff.

The double diamond design of that frame is likely less stuff than the direct internal design of your fathers bike. (One reason double diamond frames fell out of favor).

My bet is that bike is less stiff than many modern tandems, and less stiff than your father's.
Given your team weight, it may not be an issue. The answer is ride the bike and see if it works for you

StephenH

My Primera doesn't have the lateral tube, either, works fine.
Removing that tube may affect vertical stiffness, but should have minimal effect on torsional stiffness, and making the main tubes a little bigger can counteract that. Anyway, if it fits and works, all is well.
Note that on older single bikes, a double top tube was common, but went the way of the dodo.

Artmo 

Looks to me like front and rear frame sizes are the same, and they are certainly not 58 cm.
Measure from top of seat tube to center of BB axle, in case you don't already know this. As someone else mentioned, 58 cm, which it is not, would be a real stretch for your stoker, who would need 18" (46 cm) or less.

mkane77g

Ti works just fine for spinners. Mashers can forget about it.