Opinions on this Dolan Frameset
#1
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Bikes: 2010 Carrera Volans, 2015 C-Dale Trail 2sl, 2017 Raleigh Rush Hour, 2017 Blue Proseccio, 1992 Giant Perigee, 80s Gitane Rallye Tandem
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Opinions on this Dolan Frameset
I'm looking to move on from my current Gitane tandem, basically I've gotten distrustful of a 1" threaded steerer on a bike that weighs a lot with a team that, despite my best efforts, keeps going up in weight. This has me looking at https://www.dolan-bikes.com/tdr-frameset/
I'd considered getting a new fork but estimates seem to be in the 400-500.00 range which just seems like a lot just for the sake of keeping a 40 year old french tandem running. Mostly I'd swap over the newer parts I have; Velocity disc wheelset, truvative elita crankset, microshift 3x10 shifters. This would let me use less flimsy old aluminum bars. and have better stem adjustment than trying to find a french stem of the right dimensions. I'd need to/want to get disc brakes which has me thinking of going to a 2x12 system with hydraulics with the obvious issue of trying to figure out the crankset, main solution I can think of is grind down the spider enough to put 12sp chainrings on it and have proper spacing which wouldn't be too hard to do. Either way, I'd suspect it has to be an improvement over old french steel but also open to other reasonable options.
I'd considered getting a new fork but estimates seem to be in the 400-500.00 range which just seems like a lot just for the sake of keeping a 40 year old french tandem running. Mostly I'd swap over the newer parts I have; Velocity disc wheelset, truvative elita crankset, microshift 3x10 shifters. This would let me use less flimsy old aluminum bars. and have better stem adjustment than trying to find a french stem of the right dimensions. I'd need to/want to get disc brakes which has me thinking of going to a 2x12 system with hydraulics with the obvious issue of trying to figure out the crankset, main solution I can think of is grind down the spider enough to put 12sp chainrings on it and have proper spacing which wouldn't be too hard to do. Either way, I'd suspect it has to be an improvement over old french steel but also open to other reasonable options.
#2
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Reasonable Option #1: Buy a mid-late 90's-early aughts Burley or Cannondale rig. Customize (minimally) to suit. Bob's your Uncle. Reasonable Option #2: see R.O. #1. Reasonable Option #3: see R.O. #1.
#3
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What do either of those options gain me? I've had a Burley and really didn't like the BB setup, tried modifying a cannondale mtb tandem but couldn't get good positioning on it being the wrong size, but either I'm looking at 1000.00 or more, c-dale seem to be 1200+ most times. Both are going to be old with unknown levels of use vs new frameset and mostly lighter used parts fitted out with new parts as needed. Can you explain why they would be better?
#4
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What do either of those options gain me? I've had a Burley and really didn't like the BB setup, tried modifying a cannondale mtb tandem but couldn't get good positioning on it being the wrong size, but either I'm looking at 1000.00 or more, c-dale seem to be 1200+ most times. Both are going to be old with unknown levels of use vs new frameset and mostly lighter used parts fitted out with new parts as needed. Can you explain why they would be better?