Tandem Cycling - Carbon cross fork O.K?

I've got a 1993 Santana . Nashbar has a 700 gram carbon Cross bike fork that can be had for $100 on sale. I'm looking for opinions on the pro/cons of adding this . Weight savings? Rake is 45mm. Too short? Disc brake a good idea?
Thanks, Tom and Linda

I can't think of any pros...

Cons? IMHO, rake is way off (Santana uses 55mm), fork crown will be a bit lower which will lower front end of tandem 1-2cm (most tandems use between 395mm - 400mm, single bikes are closer to 380mm), disc brakes on this fork would make a bad idea even worse. Oh yeah, chances are, it wasn't designed to deal with the weight and loads of a tandem team.

Again, IMHO, a fork is not something to cut corners on. If a fork isn't explicitly designed and marketed for use on a tandem ALWAYS contact the manufacturer or US distributor to ascertain their recommendation on suitability for tandem use.

NOt a good idea. It's a cross fork, not a tandem fork, for a reason. That reason is most certainly related to strength. And therefore safety.

I heard that the Nashbar cyclocross fork might be identical with the Winwood muddy disc cross fork ( http://www.winwoodbike.com/muddydisc.html ). The Winwood muddy disc cross is "Designed and tested for tandem use with 6" disc rotor" according to Winwood's website.

Disclaimer: I won't guarantee those forks are identical. This is only personal opinion. If you want more information, talk to Nashbar and/or Winwood about this. Use of the Nashbar fork for a tandem is at your and your captain's/stoker's own risk!

I think the Nashbar and winwood forks are probably the same. A number of other cyclocross & hybrid forks used under other manufacturers' names also look a lot like the Winwood.

FWIW, here's what I think:
-I used a winwood muddy carbon cross disc fork on my cyclocross bike. There were no quality issues and it is very beefy (that is, the legs are beefy), BUT, it gave a very harsh ride. If it failed under tandem/disc use, my bet is that the failure would likely occur where the alu steer tube meets the crown.
-The winwood site says it will work ok with a 6" disc rotor. But for tandem use, I don't think a 6" rotor provides adequate stopping power. It certainly won't be any better than canti brakes, and will probably be worse than v-brakes. I use 203mm rotors on my tandem, and my avid mechanical disc brakes really shut things down in a hurry with 203mm rotors.
-I considered using this fork on my tandem, but decided against it. The thought of a fork failure during a high speed brake application is not a pleasant one, and I knew that not only my safety, but that of my stokers' would be involved in such a decision.

I ended up buying Nashbar's steel 700c fork, which has both disc tabs and canti-studs. I also questioned whether it was up to the task of tandem use, but when I looked at it, it was MUCH beefier than the fork on my old Burley.

Rich