madencbm

Any recommendations for a rear disc rim and spoke configuration for tandem team weight of 350 pounds?. We never do loaded touring, mainly recreational riding in hills of Seattle area. Also any recommendation for campy 10 speed compatible hub?

Thanks,
CBM

Ritterview

Welcome to BF Tandem Cycling Subforum!

The DT 540 tandem will accept a Campy 10 (or 11) speed cassette using a conversion kit.

TandemGeek

Road tandems fitted with discs typically use a standard road rim with machined sidewalls vs. a disc-specific rim, so you're options would include most of the 700c rims recommended for tandems, e.g., Velocity Dyad, Deep-V or Fusion, Mavic CXP-33, A719, etc... depending on what size tires you plan to run. Given the team weight, 36h laced 3x should be OK and give you a few more rim options than 40h laced 3x. As for hubs, as mentioned DT 540 can be fitted with Campy 10 freehubs, so can White Industries hubs. Beyond that, it becomes slim pickings... unless you don't mind running a hybrid set-up, i.e., Campy 10 shifters/derailleurs with Shimano 9 or 10 speed cassettes... which is what we do. It's not always 'perfect' shifting, but even with the pure Campy system you can sometimes get chain chatter that needs to be silenced with a little shifter paddle pressure.

madencbm

Thanks for the replies. I am leaning toward Deep-V 36 hole and Chris King or DT Swiss. Prefer CK but I know that shifting issues on tandem are exaggerated compared to singles so need to consider going for campy compatible DT Swiss.

CBM

TandemGeek

So long as you can live with a 13x29t cassette, that works. The hybrid configurations only come in to play when you find you need something like a 12x32t or 12x34t for the very steep stuff.

Also, note that every integrated systems where everything is fully compatible will still have shifting issues on tandems that you don't experience on your single bike due to derailleur cable stretch. You can typically dial it out with a small turn of the downtube or in-line cable adjuster on the fly: it's just part of the tandem experience.

madencbm

Great point about gear range, thanks!