M and myself decidded to purchase a MTB Tandem. We got a Omega Vectra. I suspect it is a Kinesis Framed bike. The frame is aluminium with a Shimano Deore groupset and XT drivetrain. The bike will most likely be loaded on Friday and will be transported for 1600km through the bush and very bad Mozambique roads and should be here by next Monday.
Could anybody please advise on what suspension front forks are tandem rated. What to look for and what to use. Does anybody know the address for the RST website? The LBS where I normally buy has a double crown RST fork. The guy says it is elastomeric. I would like to obtain the specs.
I tried to get info out of chuckscycles but the silly old man seems to think South Africans are ogres and refuses point blank to do business with us. Odd and I find it dumb and silly. He should put a disclaimer on his website that he does not regard South Africans as people and wishes not to do business with them.
Keep those wheels spinning
Big H
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Could anybody please advise on what suspension front forks are tandem rated. What to look for and what to use. Does anybody know the address for the RST website? The LBS where I normally buy has a double crown RST fork. The guy says it is elastomeric. I would like to obtain the specs.
Keep those wheels spinning
Big H
It all depends how aggressive you want the forks to be. I ride offroad, and found difficulty in getting suspension forks that were man enough for a Tandem, and had strong enough springs available to take the all up weight of a Tandem.
Having tried both, Triple Crown forks are definitely the way to go. Had 3 forks now- First were an RST that came with the Dale MT when I got it. Heavier weight springs were not available and we were bottoming out at every pebble in the track. After a great deal of research, bought Marzocchi Freeride's, 2002 model, with extra heavy springs and these were fine except that we were pogoing when power went in on the uphills. Modified our riding style to correct, put on heavier weight oil and they were fine. Then we went to Rockshox Boxers in 2004. Triple Crown, 20mm Axle and also changed to Heavy weight springs, a stack of preload adjusters and 15 weight oil. These are fine but still have the problem of not being able to get out of the saddle for that final bit of power, as they do still bounce a bit if used in this way.
Both these forks are Warranted for tandem use, but I still get the feeling that there are better forks out there. Triple crown are stiffer on lateral movement than a single steeerer, and if you have discs, then I would definitely suggest going 20mm axle. I found the Marzocchi's fine initially, but as our speed got up, we felt we wanted something stronger. The Boxers fit this bill but still feel that a stronger spring would not go amiss with our all up weight of 400lbs, and the aggressive way in which the Tandem is ridden.
TandemGeek
Could anybody please advise on what suspension front forks are tandem rated. What to look for and what to use. Does anybody know the address for the RST website? The LBS where I normally buy has a double crown RST fork. The guy says it is elastomeric. I would like to obtain the specs.
Send an Email to Alex@mtbtandems.com with your question. Alex, to the best of my knowledge, is the only dedicated off-road tandem specialty dealer and he has established relationships with just about all the major fork manufacturers who offer tandem-rated products.
He'll need your team weight, riding style, etc... to make a proper assessment. There are some tandem-rated forks that are better and or more suitable for teams of different given weights.
Brian
I feel so left out. No offense to Stapfam, but the Marzocchi DJ series is probably a better choice than a dual crown. If getting parts is difficult, having the 9mm axle option along with V brake posts may mean the difference between riding, and waiting for parts.
stapfam
I feel so left out. No offense to Stapfam, but the Marzocchi DJ series is probably a better choice than a dual crown. If getting parts is difficult, having the 9mm axle option along with V brake posts may mean the difference between riding, and waiting for parts.
Will probably agree, and we found the Freerides fine until we got a little more agressive and the 200 mm disc's went on. The aggressive style we got before the discs, and we found a little bit of flex in the forks came with the aggression. When the disc brakes went on, the Marzocchi's were flexing a bit too much for comfort, and as we had also gone for 200 mm discs, felt that a 20mm bolt through axle was necessary.
I am not trying to boost my energy performance in anyone's eyes, but we are fast- mainly down to a strong pilot that leaves his brain at the top of the hills and a team that has done 5,000 miles together. There are not many downhill tracks that we think twice about, except to find out how fast we can go even if it is a bit lumpy. In the extreme downhills that we do ride, we have found that the triple crown forks do have less flex, and I have confidence in that 20mm axle.
In fairness to others contemplating suspension forks, I should think that there are very few offroad Tandems that are ridden as aggressively as ours and we never had a problem with the 9mm axle, and never had a QR even so much as remotely come loose. Now all I have to do is keep the speed up on the uphills, and we will then find out that the weight of our front end is the deciding factor on why we can't get above 13mph average on our 30mile offroad training run. (Hopefully doing that tonight, but too hot to set any records)
TandemNut
A lot depends on your team weight. I typically put customer teams over 300 lbs on a double-crown fork such as the ATC T-5, White Brothers TM-1, or similar. Lighter teams can run single crown forks such as Manitou's Stance series, Marzocchi's VF 66 or FR series.
The biggest issue with an off-the-shelf suspesion fork is that the travel is too long for most tandems. They raise the front end, take away most of the standover, and make the tandem hanle like a pig in the rough stuff. That's the biggest drawback to the Boxxer series, as well as Marzocchi's double-crown offerings; most tandme frames aren't built to accomodate 6+" of travel.
We have Manitou build us an 85mm version of the Stance Static, with air assis, thru-axle, and XFirm springs, that will handle most teams in moderate use.
ATC builds tandem forks to order for us as well, with spring rates that are high enough without an air assist to hold up the heavier teams.
We also have some lighter teams running the Maverick DUC 32 on their tandems. A nice lightweight (lightest for a tandem) option for the chi-chi bikes.
Check out our website (MTBTandems.com) for some options. Feel free to email with questions. Don't know about any shops in your area, though.
Thanks
Brian
Good to see Alex checking in on the forums. I'll chime in again that the ATC T-5 is a good choice, as that's what we're using, so I can speak from experience. You can't get parts for it at your LBS, but it's totally user serviceable, and the owner of ATC Racing is a genuinely nice guy. He's a cyclist too, and knows a thing or two about machining parts.
stapfam
A lot depends on your team weight. I typically put customer teams over 300 lbs on a double-crown fork such as the ATC T-5, White Brothers TM-1, or similar. Lighter teams can run single crown forks such as Manitou's Stance series, Marzocchi's VF 66 or FR series.
The biggest issue with an off-the-shelf suspesion fork is that the travel is too long for most tandems. They raise the front end, take away most of the standover, and make the tandem hanle like a pig in the rough stuff. That's the biggest drawback to the Boxxer series, as well as Marzocchi's double-crown offerings; most tandme frames aren't built to accomodate 6+" of travel.
Thanks
The travel side was something we were worried about, but it has not affected us. We started with a 100mm travel fork that was way too soft, so that had to be ditched. The marzocchi freeride we had was 135mm travel, and was a big improvement over the 100mm, but as they were useless in any case, even the rigid fork we tried for a while was better. The problem we found with the single crown marzocchi's was as we became more competent and more aggressive, they became too flexible. When the disc brakes went on, the pilot was getting worried about the twisting force that was going on, so went to the boxers for a triple crown and the 20mm axle. OK, they are 150 mm travel, and we have possible lost a little control on rough tracks uphill at slow speed but our speed uphill has increased, and is not a problem we relate to. What we have though is a fork that takes all the punishment we can throw it at, over the most tricky terrain and at a speed that makes even my XC solo riding partners wonder about. I may have a fork that is a compromise, but it definitely works for us.
Standover height is not a problem by the way. Of course the Top tube has been raised, and the CofG is higher, but once on the saddle, Standover does not come into the equation till you put your feet down. With us, that is not very often. On the standard fork side, this fork has the strongest springs fitted, has the full amount of sag adjusters in it, has 15 grade oil, and is set a little low in the frame to keep the head angle somewhere nearer to the original.