Duo

and happiness. You two I have admired over the years, and were there when we first started getting serious riding. Seems you have some experience with almost every tandem made.

Weasel9

Do you gain some of that weight back by having to go to a 60t chainring?

Possum Roadkill

Haven't been on here for awhile, but here it is. "What's your tandem weigh forum post, still going strong." One of the tandems I ride is a Santana Team Scandium that weighs about 32 pounds, however a year ago my stoker and I purchased a Co-Motion Equator. This bike weighs 44 pounds but has couplers, belt drive, and a Rohloff hub. We're riding one day when another tandem couple passes us. We usually beat them up hills, but I'm thinking to myself. "Here it comes. We're going to be crushed on this hill climb today because of how heavy this bike is." Then the other teams chain came off.

geranimo57

Haven't been on this forum in awhile as well.. nice to see(or read) the originals are still contributing i.e. Zona, Merlin etc.. You folks got us going and we have been riding our Burley Duet from Mel at Tandems East since 2008. I'm sure it weighs at least 45lbs but we still have a KOM on one of our daily workout segments via Strava.

BNB

We started tandem cycling last October and it's all we ride on the road now. We like our Cannondale 2 a lot but now want to travel with a tandem. What is the lightest tandem with couplers? Oh, our Cannondale is ~40 pounds before all the added "stuff" like the thudbuster and rack etc.

chojn1

You can have your frame retrofited with the S&S couplers. Depending on how many couplers you need, expect a 2-3 lb weight penalty. The lightest frames I've seen with the S&S pre-installed is about 8lb. How much your bike weigh after that depends on the components/accessories you add. I think the average around here is about 30lb complete.

Either way, I think you will thoroughly enjoy traveling with that coupled tandem. It's well worth the effort.

CJ

BNB

Thanks, we're looking for both a very light tandem and couplers. Looks like @merlinextraligh's Calfee might be the best bet but big bucks. If we travel with this we want to travel as light as possible.

chojn1

Yes, Merlin's latest 25lb ride is very nice. I don't think his is coupled though. I am sure Calfee can build you one. Just add 2-3lb and a few more dollars. Of course you'll need to spend a few more pennies for the components to keep the weight down.

Still, it is money well spent if you enjoy it like most tandemers enjoy their bikes and can afford it.

CJ

Darth Lefty 

I was curious about our Roomba - er, Samba - so I took off and weighed some easy-to-weigh components (seat-and-stoker-bars, stoker seat and suspension, the wheels) and looked up some others (brakes, drivetrain).

What I don't have is an accurate total. But it's got to be much like the Duet in the first post. NOT light.

BNB

Yup, it's all about the tandem these days. I'll check out the Merlin too. Thanks for the tip.

merlinextraligh

Calfee does coupled tandems. It adds $2500 to the price, and a couple of pounds.

If I was getting a coupled Calfee, I'd likely get a Tetra, instead of a Dragonfly. The coupled Tetra is only $400 more than a non coupled Dragonfly. The Tetra is half a pound heavier to start, but with the couplers you're not going to have super lightweight frame any way.

Tandem Geek has a coupled Calfee, and there is a thread about it here somewhere.

For a coupled tandem, I would also consider titanium. I've got a single bike with S&S couplers. IMHO Titanium is great for travel bikes because you don't have to worry about scratches and abrasions in shipping.

Roger M

According to the digital bathroom scale, Joe McElroy weighs 51 pounds, with a rack, 5 bottle cages, and a kid back stoker kit.

Monoborracho

Our coupled Seven TI weighs 36.4# with the Spinergy wheel set and 32mm Gatorskins.

jfarwell

Our true north titanium coupled tandem weighs about 36 pounds with pedals, cages, brooks saddles and 650b wheels and 42 mm tires. Our un-coupled calfee tandem, set up to ride, weighs a couple pounds less.

geoffs

Hi Monoborracho
Any idea what your frame weighs? 36.4 is a bit more than what I was hoping a Seven would weigh in at. I have a Seven Axiom SL and Marian has the Axiom SLX which are both great bikes are are pretty reasonable weight wise.
I was thinking the Seven tandem frame with couplers would weigh in at about 10 lbs and a complete bike could be built for around 30lbs or am I being overly optimistic. We sell Seven's where I work as a mechanic so I can buy one for a much better price than a Paketa which is the other tandem we're looking at

geronimo2000

New, our coupled steel Rodriguez Trillium with saddles and pedals weighed just over 36 pounds. Since then I've gone with a wheel set that has more spokes and added a rear disc brake so It's likely over 40 as currently configured. This compares to our '93 Ibis where the bare frame (with couplers) weighs 14 pounds and the full bike (with saddles and pedals but without tool kit or water bottles) weighs almost 46 pounds. It cost about $10K to get that 10-pound reduction!

Mandeville

Serious question. Given the above doesn't that suggest the importance of more watts over less weight? Or to put it another way the high importance of power for performance?

By the way I've never ridden a tandem but as a spectator I find them very interesting as well as something admirable about tandem riders/riding.

Monoborracho

I don't have a weight on the frame. Keep in mind that our bike has six couplers which weight 2.5#. Our seat posts are Thompson alloy, as is the captain stems. Our stoker stem is cobbled from our other tandem but is similar to a Control Tech with lots of adjustment. Also, we have the Ultegra tandem triple, with a 36 rear cassette. We have a Woundup fork with cantilever brakes front and back as well as an Avid disk. We also have fender and rack mounts on the back, five water cages, and a pump peg,all of which adds up bit by bit.

Our only carbon to speak of is in our Profile Design Canta road bars front and back and bottle cages (don't ask why we have carbon cages, just don't).

And finally, our tandem is L O N G. Mrs. Mono is 5-10 with a 32" inseam and runs a saddle to BB of over 30". She has plenty of room to stretch out, probably a bit more than needed, but if you're going custom its all good. Stoker top tube - level geometry- is over 32", wheelbase is 74".

For traveling we also have a stainless steel back rack, a wheel set of 48 spoke Phil Wood hubs with Velocity Dyad running either the 32mm tires or some 40mm Schwalbe Duremes, and fenders.

waynesulak

Components make a big difference. My Santana 650B converted frame weighs 9 lbs but we have chosen components that fit our use and the complete bike is 36 lbs including rack, and Brooks saddle. The frame only adds a couple pounds compared to a Calfee Tetra at 6.8 lbs (per website).

Monoborracho

+1

geoffs

Sounds like a good choice of components. We are doing a fair bit of cc touring with or Mocha Co-pilot which weighs in at around 44 lbs with Ultegra triple, Spyre brakes and 7 bottle cages.
I once made the mistake of presuming a customer would like King titanium cages on his new Seven and wasn't he upset

Trsnrtr

Just received our new Co-Motion Supremo in size small. Tandem with Shimano SPD pedals and plastic bottle cages comes in at 30.64#.

zonatandem

Our custom c/f Zona tandem weighed in at 26.5 pounds when new 13 years ago.
After 40,000+ miles the weight is a tad lighter with Topolino wheels.
At ages 83/81 we don't foresee another tandem in our future . . . this one is still GREAT!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

pbr2424

I just weighed my Burley Duet and it is 40 lbs even, with heavy seats water cages etc. and I am not complaining. I would have to get my body fat around 12% before I was worried about the weight of the bike. I had a Cannondale and I think the weight was very close.

ksisler

Building a new bike is always fun. Building a lighter bike can be more fun as long as it doesn't disappoint...then it can really be a downer.

Having witnessed several couples go through the process over the past 15 years; Have to say that most are highly impressed with it each time they move up to faster, lighter, more expensive bikes. What I really notice the most is that with each spend they are mostly benefiting from another year of improved fitness, reduced team weight, better riding and pedaling skills, increased team cohesion, etc. Yes they are clearly happier, but probably would have been so even without the new ride. I also notice that many with newer bikes still tend to reach back and ride the older one rather regularly....

Just some thoughts
/K