sch
02-12-08, 07:12 PM
6 months of experience: We decided to order one in May, and after 4-5weeks of
back and forth questions the final frame size was set in mid June and checks
written. This is a double male team weighing about 375-380 with bike and water
bottles etc. The pilot ran into a biking GF the previous year, and when things
seemed to be going well he bought a Burley for cerca $1700. GF departed a few
months later and I volunteered to stoke and we put 1700 miles on the Burley over
the next 6 months. Burley runs about 45#. Tandemania ensued hence the
Macchiato. Co-Motion indicated they were cutting metal early in August and the
bike was shipped ~ 8/20 with first ride on 8/23/07. As I commented in Sept. it
is a very noticeable difference from the Burley in acceleration and hill climbing
especially. Macchiato weight is about 29#. FSA has been slow to put their
Carbon SLK megaexo tandem kits together so it was shipped with Gossamers.
I would think the SLK would be lighter but Tandemgeek suggests they are not.
The SLK tandems are apparently now available so we expect to get the promised
replacements 'soon'. Neither of us is enamored of the switch in triples from
52(54 on ours)-42-30 that has been standard to the 53-39-30 on 10spd triples
now standard to save the manufacturers the cost of extra tooling for triple cranks.
This leads to some shifting problems unappreciated initially.
The weight was a bit of a surprise, and I suspect 24# would require an extra $2-3k
in carbon/Ti bits to achieve. We specified a rear disk, which adds 9-12oz over a
caliper as previous experience showed alarming heating in the rear rim after heavy
braking down the hill approaching my house on the Burley. The factory weight is
sans pedals and bottle cages. The weight of 29# includes pedals and cages.
The only carbon on ours is the front fork (Alpha Q) and the seat posts. They shipped
a drop bar for the stoker when we wanted a cowhorn, but this was swapped out in
assembly. I like the flattened segments on the stoker bar, much nicer than the
round bar on the Burley and sized for my shoulders as well. I sometimes wish the angle
of the flat were a bit steeper and the stoker extension a bit longer but overall the
stoker compartment is nicer than the Burley, which is really short (2" shorter than the M).
We supplied our own saddles.
The wheels are Rolf, and we are definitely at the high end in weight (at 375#) for the Rolf wheels,
but they have held up ok thus far. We are upto 1600mi over the past 6mo, not bad
considering I work rotating shifts 7 days/week though only 15-17d/mo but typically 2.5
out of 4 weekends/mo are working so coordinating ride schedules can be a challenge.
The tires were Michelin Pro 2 and are marvelous. They are nominal 25mm but actual width
is 27.5mm so the front wheel has to be thumped to mount/dismount throught the calipers.
Don't plan to get 28mm tires if you have caliper brakes. There is also only about 6mm
between the stoker seat tube and the tire tread with these. Unless you negotiate with
Co-Mo, forget fenders. The rear triangle is a bit odd too so mounting a rack on the rear
will take some extra hardware to clear a flange above the mounting holes.
The Michelins grip the road very well and the pilot has become greatly enamored of them
and switched his Scott to the same in 23mm (which measure 23mm).
Pilot impressions: the M is twitchier than the Burley, less weight up front, and the bike
tends to under steer if I recall his description correctly. It is more stable in a tight turn,
and handles much closer to his Scott CR1 than the Burley, which had to be muscled a
bit by comparison. The twitchiness is most apparent when the pilot rides no handed for
some reason and wobbles more. Stoker is very careful not to move when pilot goes
no hands. Standing for hills results in a noticeable jump that the Burley did not have.
The Macchiato has a bit of up and down flex on bumps in the pilot compartment that
the Burley did not have. The stoker does not notice this at all and feels the bike to be
quite solid. Pilot weighs in the 190-200 range depending on season and is essentially
in the middle of the frame. Pilot does not feel this detracts from the M. Neither of us
has noted any side to side flex or flex under high torque, the M is stiff enough in normal
riding. We do not notice the absence of the lateral.
The brakes work very well. Front caliper is DA, disk is CoMo standard BB7 with 203mm disk.
We have not noticed any disk warpage. Pilot is satisfied with brake feel.
The water bottle on the rear of the pilot seat tube is a bit of a reach for the stoker, but no
worse than the rear WB on the lateral on the Burley. I put a tall WB in that cage, as I could
barely reach a short one. Distaff stokers might be unable to reach the WB.
The large chain stay and 'vintage' triple (54-42-30) on a 10spd means the FD is a bit of a
problem. There is a lower limit that is unusual, as it was set up the bottom of the FD cage
actually scraped the mylar chain protection tape off the chain stay, so we raised it 1-2mm.
The chain is tossed off the 54t sprocket periodically in upshifts and fiddling hasn't changed
this. About one in 4 or 5 upshifts results in chain fall off and the stoker has become adept
at reaching down to put the chain back on. I no longer wear my blue shorts on the tandem,
black shorts only. We became accustomed to a 12-25 on the Burley and use a SRAM 11-26
10spd cassette on the Macchiatto, as we really like the close ratios, and the 54-11 means
we can spin out at 42mph on gentle hills, though aerobic considerations dictate speeds in
the 35-37mph range more usually. We have been told 10spd FD are optimized for 53-39-30
and will not work as well with 52(54)-42-30. CoMO, Jack Goertz and FSA have all had this
opinion. We would really like to have a 54-44-30 but apparently this will never be. Do not
think we are motors, at a combined age of 126, we are but shadows of our former selves
and the muscle recovery is slow after effort. We can bounce around a 5 hr century, but
haven't gone below 5hrs yet. The racer wannabes drop us like rocks but are happy to sit
in at 24mph for as long as we will pull them or until the next long hill.
Interim opinion: we are quite pleased with the bike, but probably could have done just as
well with a highend Periscope, and gotten a bike that would adjust to a lot wider range of
riders for $3k less and 4-5# more weight. I suspect the pilot would not be as pleased with
such as it would not be as optimized for him. Pilot is ~76" stoker is 66". Other than the
occasional FD problems the bike has been trouble free, and NO NOISES. The Burley seemed
to delight in throwing out a new noise every few weeks to be tracked down and exorcised.
The Burley has a problem eccentric also. The M has a noticeable clunk in down shifting the cassette,
probably frame amplification of the shift noise when the chain seats. On 3-4 occasions when
shifting into the 30t ring, the chain would not seat on the CW but spin freely above it necessitating
a dismount and fiddling. It has never derailed to the inside ever (another Burley trick). This stopped
in October and has not recurred. One other note, the tubing is thin..... I may post a photo sometime.
Prior photos set: http://picasaweb.google.com/sch1943/Macchiato
back and forth questions the final frame size was set in mid June and checks
written. This is a double male team weighing about 375-380 with bike and water
bottles etc. The pilot ran into a biking GF the previous year, and when things
seemed to be going well he bought a Burley for cerca $1700. GF departed a few
months later and I volunteered to stoke and we put 1700 miles on the Burley over
the next 6 months. Burley runs about 45#. Tandemania ensued hence the
Macchiato. Co-Motion indicated they were cutting metal early in August and the
bike was shipped ~ 8/20 with first ride on 8/23/07. As I commented in Sept. it
is a very noticeable difference from the Burley in acceleration and hill climbing
especially. Macchiato weight is about 29#. FSA has been slow to put their
Carbon SLK megaexo tandem kits together so it was shipped with Gossamers.
I would think the SLK would be lighter but Tandemgeek suggests they are not.
The SLK tandems are apparently now available so we expect to get the promised
replacements 'soon'. Neither of us is enamored of the switch in triples from
52(54 on ours)-42-30 that has been standard to the 53-39-30 on 10spd triples
now standard to save the manufacturers the cost of extra tooling for triple cranks.
This leads to some shifting problems unappreciated initially.
The weight was a bit of a surprise, and I suspect 24# would require an extra $2-3k
in carbon/Ti bits to achieve. We specified a rear disk, which adds 9-12oz over a
caliper as previous experience showed alarming heating in the rear rim after heavy
braking down the hill approaching my house on the Burley. The factory weight is
sans pedals and bottle cages. The weight of 29# includes pedals and cages.
The only carbon on ours is the front fork (Alpha Q) and the seat posts. They shipped
a drop bar for the stoker when we wanted a cowhorn, but this was swapped out in
assembly. I like the flattened segments on the stoker bar, much nicer than the
round bar on the Burley and sized for my shoulders as well. I sometimes wish the angle
of the flat were a bit steeper and the stoker extension a bit longer but overall the
stoker compartment is nicer than the Burley, which is really short (2" shorter than the M).
We supplied our own saddles.
The wheels are Rolf, and we are definitely at the high end in weight (at 375#) for the Rolf wheels,
but they have held up ok thus far. We are upto 1600mi over the past 6mo, not bad
considering I work rotating shifts 7 days/week though only 15-17d/mo but typically 2.5
out of 4 weekends/mo are working so coordinating ride schedules can be a challenge.
The tires were Michelin Pro 2 and are marvelous. They are nominal 25mm but actual width
is 27.5mm so the front wheel has to be thumped to mount/dismount throught the calipers.
Don't plan to get 28mm tires if you have caliper brakes. There is also only about 6mm
between the stoker seat tube and the tire tread with these. Unless you negotiate with
Co-Mo, forget fenders. The rear triangle is a bit odd too so mounting a rack on the rear
will take some extra hardware to clear a flange above the mounting holes.
The Michelins grip the road very well and the pilot has become greatly enamored of them
and switched his Scott to the same in 23mm (which measure 23mm).
Pilot impressions: the M is twitchier than the Burley, less weight up front, and the bike
tends to under steer if I recall his description correctly. It is more stable in a tight turn,
and handles much closer to his Scott CR1 than the Burley, which had to be muscled a
bit by comparison. The twitchiness is most apparent when the pilot rides no handed for
some reason and wobbles more. Stoker is very careful not to move when pilot goes
no hands. Standing for hills results in a noticeable jump that the Burley did not have.
The Macchiato has a bit of up and down flex on bumps in the pilot compartment that
the Burley did not have. The stoker does not notice this at all and feels the bike to be
quite solid. Pilot weighs in the 190-200 range depending on season and is essentially
in the middle of the frame. Pilot does not feel this detracts from the M. Neither of us
has noted any side to side flex or flex under high torque, the M is stiff enough in normal
riding. We do not notice the absence of the lateral.
The brakes work very well. Front caliper is DA, disk is CoMo standard BB7 with 203mm disk.
We have not noticed any disk warpage. Pilot is satisfied with brake feel.
The water bottle on the rear of the pilot seat tube is a bit of a reach for the stoker, but no
worse than the rear WB on the lateral on the Burley. I put a tall WB in that cage, as I could
barely reach a short one. Distaff stokers might be unable to reach the WB.
The large chain stay and 'vintage' triple (54-42-30) on a 10spd means the FD is a bit of a
problem. There is a lower limit that is unusual, as it was set up the bottom of the FD cage
actually scraped the mylar chain protection tape off the chain stay, so we raised it 1-2mm.
The chain is tossed off the 54t sprocket periodically in upshifts and fiddling hasn't changed
this. About one in 4 or 5 upshifts results in chain fall off and the stoker has become adept
at reaching down to put the chain back on. I no longer wear my blue shorts on the tandem,
black shorts only. We became accustomed to a 12-25 on the Burley and use a SRAM 11-26
10spd cassette on the Macchiatto, as we really like the close ratios, and the 54-11 means
we can spin out at 42mph on gentle hills, though aerobic considerations dictate speeds in
the 35-37mph range more usually. We have been told 10spd FD are optimized for 53-39-30
and will not work as well with 52(54)-42-30. CoMO, Jack Goertz and FSA have all had this
opinion. We would really like to have a 54-44-30 but apparently this will never be. Do not
think we are motors, at a combined age of 126, we are but shadows of our former selves
and the muscle recovery is slow after effort. We can bounce around a 5 hr century, but
haven't gone below 5hrs yet. The racer wannabes drop us like rocks but are happy to sit
in at 24mph for as long as we will pull them or until the next long hill.
Interim opinion: we are quite pleased with the bike, but probably could have done just as
well with a highend Periscope, and gotten a bike that would adjust to a lot wider range of
riders for $3k less and 4-5# more weight. I suspect the pilot would not be as pleased with
such as it would not be as optimized for him. Pilot is ~76" stoker is 66". Other than the
occasional FD problems the bike has been trouble free, and NO NOISES. The Burley seemed
to delight in throwing out a new noise every few weeks to be tracked down and exorcised.
The Burley has a problem eccentric also. The M has a noticeable clunk in down shifting the cassette,
probably frame amplification of the shift noise when the chain seats. On 3-4 occasions when
shifting into the 30t ring, the chain would not seat on the CW but spin freely above it necessitating
a dismount and fiddling. It has never derailed to the inside ever (another Burley trick). This stopped
in October and has not recurred. One other note, the tubing is thin..... I may post a photo sometime.
Prior photos set: http://picasaweb.google.com/sch1943/Macchiato