Tandem Cycling - Suspension Forks

Just wondering whats available these days for off-road tandeming. I've looked at the MTBtandems.com site, so I've seen all of those. Are there any others available, or any other choices?

There are some older Cannondale MOTO FR's around, but there are no rebuild parts available.

I also have a question about axle-crown heights, and offsets. Is there a common spec for either one, or do you just not worry about this on an offroad tandem?

Thanks, dan

Just call or Email Alex at MTBTandems; he'll know what's currently available and will also have most of the specs on the forks that have come and gone. It's been a very fluid market that's left a lot of us owning unsupported products once the manufacturer's folded or pulled out of the market.

It depends how aggressive you want to get. There are several solo forks that are suggested for Tandems but they seem to have a common problem in that there is not a sufficiently heavyweight spring available for Tandem use.

The first fork I tried was a Marzocchi Freeride and the Concessionaire warranteed this fork for Tandem use. Problem was that even with the firmest spring fitted- it used to pogo uphills when we really went for it and out of the saddle was not possible. I did look around the specialist Tandem versions but to be honest- they were not suitable for our use. Not enough travel and very expensive.

Had a chat with my LBS and decided to try a Rockshox Boxer Race fork. This was a double crown fork- heavyweight springs were available and on top of that- This versiom only had 150mm travel. We wanted between 120 and 150 so fitted the bill. Tried it and still not quite good enough- but there was a mod we could do. The sag adjustment could be set quite high by inserting spacer. We put the maximum possible in- Changed the oil to 20w and overfilled it just a bit.

I also have a question about axle-crown heights, and offsets. Is there a common spec for either one, or do you just not worry about this on an offroad tandem?

Thanks, dan

Never worried about these as the way we throw the Tandem about- They will be changing at every hit of rock or rubble and--so far-- we have not had a problem.

We use our tandem aggressively and currently use Rockshox Boxer race with the heaviest weight springs fitted and the maximum of Sag adjustment spacers inserted. Still have minor problem in that aggressive out of the saddle riding uphill cause some fork bounce and hence power loss- but we don't do that very often.

It does depend on how aggressive you want to go- but we have found that this fork suits our style of riding, the terrain we ride on and the speed downhill we can get up to. And last strip down last year--all parts were still available such as seals etc, but if I hadn't stripped it down- They would not have needed replacing.