sid1707

Hi I was interested in people's opinions on the Tonino Lamborghini Viaggio Tandem as an entry level bike. I've never ridden a tandem and therefore have no experience with them at all. I was considering this bike because I've always wanted to try the tandem thing but they are really expensive, usually several thousand dollars. Seeing as this bike is only $450 shipping included right now on Amazon.com, I figured this would be a relatively safe way to try out riding tandem to see if I like it. If I purchase this bike I plan to immediately upgrade the front derailleur with an Ultegra triple and of course add the qbp travel agents to both front an rear breaks.

If I end up liking the whole tandem experience I then plan on replacing the bb's and cranks with sealed bearing types and maybe replacing the rear derailleur depending on how this factory one performs.

I would also like to replace the wheel set but I had a question about that. I have set of Rolf vector comps that are sturdy as all heck. I've only had to do the slightest amount of truing in the last several years and they are fairly heavy duty. So I was wondering if I could use these on the tandem or do I need to buy specialty wheels? I assume that the tires are wider to accommodate the extra weight but do the rims need to be wider as well? If so should I look for a set of mountain bike wheels?

Last question, I was just wondering if there was anyone here that has actually ridden this bike or has any real hands on experience with it. I just think for $450 and few hundred dollars in upgrades this could be a good bike.

I really appreciate anyone taking the time to respond to this thread.

Take care,

Sid

PS here's a link to the bike on amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Tonino-Lamborg.../dp/B000R7DND2

and on abikestore.com

https://www.abikestore.com/Merchant2/...Store_Code=abs

Stray8

Prior thread on this very bike:

https://www.bikeforums.net/tandem-cycling/490206-noob-question-lamborghini-viaggio.html

Last post is from an actual owner.


I think that it is a good starter tandem if it fits your needs. If you upgrade and customize it to your liking, then you should be fine.


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sid1707

thanks appreciate the info.

sid1707

Ok so I bought the bike.

1st let me say assembly was a snap. Although when I received the bike from amazon one of the nipples on one of the spokes was broken so I called them up and instead of having me send the bike back they offered me a discount on the bike. All said and done the bike cost $360 shipped to my front door.

After greasing the bearing on both the front and back hubs, adding QBP travel agents to both front and back V-brakes ($24 for the set), adjusting the front and rear derailleurs, and truing the wheels I took it out on it's maiden voyage.

All I can say is wow! My stoker and I had a blast!! I never knew riding tandem was so much fun!!! The bike performed way beyond any expectations I had. It shifted cleanly and handled well. To be honest though I don't know what a high end tandem would handle like so I have no real idea if it was good or not but I can say it felt fine. The ride was exceptionally smooth but I suppose that comes from the long wheel base and the 700x28 tires that came with the bike.

There are a lot of upgrade I plan to make to the bike, just to make it more comparable to my single road bike. I plan to make them a little at a time though as I find good deals on ebay and clearance sales.

The biggest purchase I believe is going to be the wheelset. I was thinking of going with a Velocity USA Deep-V rim with their hub. I saw this set in a 140mm spacing on everybicycletire.com for $323 shipped. I just wondered everyone's opinion on this wheelset. Has anyone had any experience with the velocity usa hubs? Also my team weighs in at 320 - 330lbs. Should I go with the 36 or 40 hole rims?

Take care all and I'll keep updating as I go.

Sid

Stray8

Hey, congrats and glad you're having fun riding a tandem with your stoker!

Don't know about the Velocity wheelset. You've saved enough $ to upgrade whatever you like to suit your riding needs.

I bought the Pacific Dualie mountain tandem from Amazon and added a Blackburn EX1 rack, dual Wald folding baskets, bar ends, mirrors, bells, lights, frame pump, water bottle/cages, seat bag, tool kit, LED pedals, high rise rear handlebars and stoker suspension seat post to suit neighborhood picnic/grocery run duties...

rishardh

Congrats and thanks for posting a review!!! A wheel upgrade and travel agents is a good idea. I would have done that too. Another good upgrade are kool stop or swiss stop brake pads.

Is the rear drop out 145mm? You had mentioned 140mm. Also, is the drivetrain a 9 speed triple?

sid1707

The rear drop out is a 135mm but measures 137mm so I figure I could put a 140mm spaced wheel without a problem. The drive train is a triple and I haven't decided to use a 9 or 10 speed cassette. I have a set of 9sp dura ace bar end shifter I could use or I saw a set of ultegra 10 speed triple sti shifters for $150. I think I'd like to go the 10 speed route just so it's similiar to my road bike.

rishardh

135mm spacing is standard for MTB. You could also consider a MTB 29er wheelset or the Mavic speed city provided they hold your team weight and the rim width can accamedate the tires you want to put on. We had Mavics in our ex-tandem. Our team weight was under 250lbs and got the nod from our LBS before I put it on. Ofcourse the safest thing to do is to get a tandem specific wheelset.

Another thing to note is that if you put in a wheel wider or narrower the derailleur hanger will have to be adjusted/bent to get a good chain line for ideal shifting. It might not be that significant for a 5mm difference but if you have shifting issues this is one place to look at.

sid1707

Thanks I really appreciate the advice. I will look into the kool stop and/or swiss stop brake pads. I plan to talk to a local wheel builder this weekend to see what they recommend as well.

Tsuru

After many failed craigslist & ebay attempts to find a good valued tandem for joy & group rides with my lovely, I think we are pulling the trigger on this bike today....

WOOT!

The reviews seem like it's a great value and a perfect entry level for those not willing to spend 2 G's or spend the next half a year becoming a pro-craigslist/ebay competitive shopper......

I'll let you know how it goes!

merlinextraligh

Just so you understand, you realize Sid was in all likelyhood a shill who's sole pirpose on bike forums was to promote the sale of that bike. So take the reveiws for what they are worth.

tandemnh

Good point. I had originally looked at the bikes advertising and it seemed entising at the time for a new-bee. Ultimatley after considering all the upgrades and my need to save money, we went with a Cnndl for $2.6k (wanted disc brakes, lots of hill riding) and have been very happy. The only upgrades to date have been the seats to fit our individual personal choice.

Buyer beware... it looks good on paper...

Tsuru

Of course.... but for $500 and free shipping, I've got an entry-level tandem coming my way. I'm no noob (nosiree, I'm gonna live to one hundred and three!) to road cycling, cycling renovations & repairs (I've ridden and still ride with bikes & parts that would make this bike actually seem like it WAS made by Lamborghini), and online shopping, nor am I willing to spend over $2,000 on my FIRST tandem (not yet, at least).... for that money, I rather by a new road bike!

I tried to weed out all the reviews that seem a) fake sales pitches and b) complaints about the company they ordered from and not the bike and c) from people who don't know much about cycling as best as I can, but after test driving a 78 Bob Jackson yesterday, with the summer fast approaching, with the Granville farmer's market that's about 30+ miles out up and running on Saturdays (seriously, think about 30 beautiful miles tandem with your baby, a little farmer's market picnic, then the ride back... Mmm... happy sigh), with the relatively small price tag for what you are getting (cheap components, noted), and my desire to ride with my baby (we never laughed and smiled so hard as we did cycling together at a snails pace of 12mph on the steel vintage tandem for those 2 miles of test riding), really........ I see nothing to lose!

Worse case...... get a few miles out of it, become unsatisfied, turn around and sell it off whole or in parts. And that's the WORSE case. Most likely though, I'd probably either upgrade parts or pimp it out to a townie tandem cruising bike before I did that.

When we get it and when I put it all together and get a few rides in, I'll let you know how it all went. Photos & all from a experienced cyclist giving tandem cycling a go. I'm a real person who's interests lie in music, photography, cycling, & sweet, sweet lovins (just go to my website(s), you'll see)..... I could care less if "Lamborghini" (man, I'm going to need some decals to cover that **** up) sold another bike ever again.

Anywho... I'll let you know how it goes! As you can tell, I'm pretty excited to dip a few toes into this subgroup of cycling!

yeamac 

If they are anything like the Caddie Up tandem I recently bought, the stickers are also cheap so they peel right off.

I am sure your Lamborghini will work well for you. These el-cheapo tandems do serve a purpose and enable people to ride TWOgether instead of not at all. Used, high quality tandems at a low price are difficult to find.

Tsuru

lol! I hope you are right! Lamborghini... lordy.

I have to admit, I'm ridiculously excited to share some miles with my baby! "Microshifts" and all!!!

conspiratemus

Don't *EVER* *BEND* a derailleur hanger! What are you talking about?

Ritterview

I don't think there is enough profit in a bike that cheap to justify the time/skill needed for a shill to plausibly imitate a customer on a tandem forum.

Stray8

I agree. He even posted a Facebook link to dispell that notion. A very non-charitable reception by tandemers apparently so anxious to prevent rank newbies from buying inexpensive tandems that they would probably prefer that they avoid tandems altogether if they can't afford a "decent" used one. As if riding tandems isn't rare enough in some areas to seem almost goofy.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...01#post8194101

Onegun

If you spread the stays on a steel frame, you have to re-align the dropouts and the der hanger. If any bike falls over on the rignt side you often need to re-align the der hanger .... if you crash on the right side, etc, etc.

Campy, (link is to Catalog 13, 1955, see page 22, Fig. R), Park Tool and others have been making tools to do just exactly that for at least 55 years.

What's the problem?

merlinextraligh

And have we heard from him again? He posts 8 posts all relating to a specific product, then goes away.

It's the classic shill pattern. It happens all the time in the road forum.


And it can be profitable. It moves up the links that you are touting in Google ratings. And it leads to people finding favorable reviews when they google the product.

And just because the guy has a Facebook account, doesn't mean he didn't have an agenda in posting about the bike.

My original point, and the one I stand by is that in evaluating the worth of someone's review of a product in a online forum you need to look at that person's participation in the forum. If they open their account for the purpose of touting a product, do nothing but tout that product and then disappear, you shouldn't put much stock in their opinion.

My purpose in pointing that out was not to be unkind to the original poster, but to flag the issue for people that will read this thread for the next several years, without having seen how it developed, and therefore would otherwise be unlikely to pcik up on the credibility issue.

In the other thread were there was such offense taken to the shill word, I told the OP I though he was a shill based on the pattern,and the limited posts. I said at the time if he participated in the forum on other subjects he would prove I was wrong.

Now months later, he's never posted on anything else. So draw your own conclusions.

merlinextraligh

How much profit do you think there is in a Bikes Direct bike? There was a constant repeated problem with BD shills in the road forum.

Onegun

Here, let me fix that statement for you:
... tandemers apparently so anxious to prevent rank newbies from buying tandems that won't stand up to the riding they intend to do with them that they get turned off to the whole idea of tandeming.

Trust me, if any of us could get a performance tandem for $300 or $500, we'd ALL be buying them and singing their praises.

And frankly, there are people and riding habits that lend themselves very well to the cheaper tandems. If your longest ride is 10 miles or so ... if your highest speed is 10 miles per hour or so ... if you just want a "knock around the town" tandem ... if you're a competent mechanic and intend to tear the bike down as soon as you get it to build it right and so on, then OK.

But for the majority of people who are looking to get into the sport, the cheap tandem is not a good fit, in which case they simply lose whatever they invested, and we, (the tandem community), often lose the team because they think "they" can't do it when it's really the poorly-sized, ineffecient, poorly equipped and improperly assembled "cheap" bike holding them back.

Oh, and as to the shill issue, I agree with Merlin's assessment.

Stray8

Yeah, but he had a pretty contentious reception here, I'm not sure if I would have stayed around if that had happened to me.

Yes, but that's part of my point: that this is not the road forum. There are waaaay plenty of people riding roadies...not so true of tandems...


I remember that, but I found it doubtful at the time that having been received in such a manner he would stick around anyway even if he wasn't a shill, since it would have been made very clear to him at that point that there would be essentially no point in posting nor sharing anything further about his cheapo tandem any more since the tandem nation has already derided both him as shill and his vehicle of choice.

I wouldn't like shills for Bikesdirect either. And I don't have the Lamborghini (i.e. I have the even cheaper Dualie), but it seemed to me to be available from multiple sources so unless he worked for the actual importer it was relatively unlikely that he was a shill.

In any case, unquestionably there exists a segment of the population interested in tandeming who consider the expense of top end tandems to be somewhat exorbitant--just like for single bikes. I don't think there's anyone here who doesn't envy someone with the newest, fastest, lightest bikes made. But even when/if I can ever afford a Calfee DaVinci tandem, I'd still be happy to see just about anyone get into tandeming - cheap, new, old or otherwise.


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Stray8

Ah, the consumer advocacy aspect. You just want to protect them from themselves.

And just how many tandem riders immediately go to time trialling or 100 mile road touring? Imho, most of the tandem questioners who mention cost are rank beginners who want to try it out with their wives or kids. These won't need racing wheels and carbon fiber parts. But hey, why let them get turned off by tandeming on a cheap tandem when they can get intimidated from even starting by initial cost alone? The only alternative being getting a tandem that everyone laughs at or reviles in this forum? A kind of upgraded laughing at the kids wearing "skips" when you have brand name Nike or Adidias sneakers...


Performance? No. One would think that true for tandeming in general, but then they'd be wrong here.

I disagree. Those who want serious road machines or touring rigs will presumably know the whole bike cost vs. quality equation from transitioning from riding singles. Those who don't (imho the vast majority) and just want to see how tandeming feels like are better served with stiffer new cheap imports than the old flexy noodle rental tandem frames. In time, they may enjoy so much that they will upgrade (and then pass on their initial tandem to other new riders). Most serious veteran tandemers probably all come from riding cheap used tandems first. What was your first bike? Your first tandem?

By the kneejerk deriding of all inexpensive models (a "spandex weenie" trait), the tandem community stands to lose the team even earlier anyway by either deterring them from even trying or by putting them off from sharing about the thrills they get riding their "cheapo" tandem. It's kind of like saying if you can't buy a Mercedes Benz AMG then don't even bother telling us about a Corolla.

And to me, that is a shame.


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merlinextraligh

If you will recall the context, this discussion started in this thread and another where the OP was touting the Lamborghini as a good bike with which to do loaded touring.

I think the absurdity of the suggestion that one should spend $300-400 on this bike, put $500 in upgrades in it and go touring (as oppossed to looking for a good used Burley, Trek or Cannondale for comparable money) is what got several of us to respond as we did.

I don't think anyone told the OP if you can't afford a new Co-Motion forget tandeming. Several of us said at that price point you're better off looking used.