gudoldboy

We have a road tandem with pretty low end parts. They made it through 1500 mi last year. I want to upgrade the derailleurs and crank this winter. 8spd rear and triple up front. It has an altus front and tourney rear. They just don't shift that great with STI Brifters. I only have the middle and big ring on the crank. The shop couldn't get me the little ring. I think that has to do with mountain front components and brifters. What would you recomend for replacements/upgrades?
Thanks!

Bill Kapaun

You might post your desired gearing ranges etc. to give an idea of where you want to be. Road or mountain cassette?
What FDER do you currently have?
Is it currently 8 speed?

Andrew R Stewart 

Agreed that Shimano ft shifting on an STI equipped tandem can be challenging. That's why many use Ergo or bar ends. If the needed gear range allows consider a road crankset and maybe swap out the inner ring as needed, then get a road ft der. For the back I'd consider a Deore der. One of the issues with index shifting is the cable runs and their friction. On a tandem this is even worse. So high quality cabling that is kept clean and lubed is essential.

Would you be happy with bar ends? This would ease the ft shifting issues a lot. Andy.

gudoldboy

Its an Altus ft der. What front der should I look at? Would 105 work? The triple is 28, 38,48. Cassette is 11-30. The gearing works well for us although a larger big ring wouldn't hurt. We can spin out on the flats on good days. I am also putting jagwire pro cables on it this winter so that should help some. I would really prefer to keep the brifters. I like having all the controls right at my fingertips.
Thanks guys!

Bill Kapaun

I think you have an incorrect FDER.
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but-
IIRC, brifters pull a different amount of cable on the front than "mountain" front shifters and require a "road" FDER.
I'd probably opt for Deore on the rear, although Alivio & Altus seem to work OK on my 9 speeds.

bradtx

Touring bikes often have a drivetrain like yours. For use with integrated shifters the Tiagra triple FD has proven itself, the 105 will also work. Premium derailleur cables and housing should be mandatory with a tandem, the Jagwire is a good choice.

Brad

Andrew R Stewart 

I'm no Shimano expert but i had thought that the road chainring C-C dimension was a little different from mountain. So if you have a MtB crank and put a road ft der with it the brifter will still not pull the correct cable for rub free shifting. I thing this is why many touring bikes that use a MtB drivetrain otherwise run bar end levers. The Trek 520 is an example. It use to be all road equipped with brifters but went to MtB cranks, ders (and cassette, not that is matters here) and bar ends. Andy.

bradtx

The pull ratio for road and mountain FDs are slightly different. The popular Tiagra has worked with mountain crank sets. Bicycling tourists often prefer bar ends to integrated shifters matter of factly for their perceived reliability over integrated shifters.

Brad

fietsbob

Thing is RD on a tandem is a long ways from the indexing detents on the lever on the front handlebar..

have to be using the smoothest cables, and the low compression housing ie wires on end very low helix

or the Segmented bead aluminum stuff like Nokon.