Tammyhammer

Here's our story....
We bought our Spinergy Tx2's this past weekend at the Tandem Expo.
We waited our turn in line while the mechanics installed wheels on new customers bikes or on those
who brought there own (us, we have Co-Motion Supremo)
The Representative from Spinergy suggested riding our wheels first and then try the Spinergy's on the same route.
The ride was, in a word Amazing! And judging by how many folks we saw buying them we were not the only ones that felt that way.
I'm the stoker. My husband and I try to ride 2 to 3 times a week and tip the scales at 400lbs. He was more than satisfied with the information provided by the Spinergy man, plus to us, if Mel says it's good. It is good.

I hope I measure up.

diabloridr

Good data point which lines up with the consensus that these wheels are very comfortable.

Hoping you (and the others) report back in 1000 to 5000 miles so we can create a similar consensus on durability.

waynesulak

Those reports would be very valuable. I also would love it if we had people reporting on 5,000 to 10,000+ miles. We ride about 5,000 miles a year and plan on riding any wheels we buy for many years.

and on anther note:

you sound honest to me

twocicle

Seems to be you may be thinking all 29ers are not tandems? That is not the case. I was indeed referring to 29er tandems currently abusing these wheels as the ultimate torture test.

BTW, here's a pic of the trick "bombproof" 29er rear hub:

waynesulak

You are right. I thought you meant 29er mountain bikes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/29er_%28bicycle%29

Now I see you meant mountain tandems.

Its all 700C to me.

Tookool

Any updates as to how these wheels are holding up and performing?? Any new users and there thoughts on these wheels??

moonwalker

We have put about 1500 miles on ours. Not a problem and still love the ride. We added the wheelset and selle anatomica saddles at the same time. It seemed we went from ridding cobblestones to smooth concrete. Still feel we do not need the carbon fork since we added the wheels.

bikefor2

We have just over 2000 miles on these wheels. First we rode them for about 200 miles in March, then we took them off for a loaded tour in April. After touring for 700 miles we put the Spinergys back on when we got home. Neither time when we installed the spinergys did I, the stoker, detect a difference in ride quality. I thought this was due to the fact that we already have a Ti frame and a carbon fork. The captain said they felt more nimble. They did feel a bit lighter to both of us, especially when starting after a stoplight. There was one day when we had a rear tire blowout--the tire blew off the rim. We were going not more than 10 mph as we had just been stopped at a light. We stopped instantly within 15 feet or so and of course with the blowout had instant deflation. This event caused the rear rim to go out of true. We rode with the rear rim this way for another week before we knew it was out of true, as we only found out when someone following us brought it to our attention several rides later. We used the supplied spoke wrench to tighten some spokes until the wheel visually looked in true again. HOT offered to replace the wheel if the rim was bent, or send it back to Spinergy for retensioning. We chose not to do this because we wanted to use the lighter wheels for several summer events and the wheel is performing fine and still looks okay. We may have it trued or retensioned by Spinergy later this winter, but probably now now. The only thing I can add is that not all bomb-proof "meaty" tires such as the Panaracer RIBmo 700x28 work well on this rim. That tire is a bear to get seated anyway, and it was a bit more difficult with this rim, although we could do it if we took lots of time.

1tandem

We have 3500+ miles on the TX2's. No problems to date and they stayed as true as the day we installed them.
We are a 370lb team.

twocicle

No problems, nice ride. IMO, they are a good general purpose wheel for typical road riding. Combined with a Calfee frame we have no need for a stoker suspension post, which results in reduced weight (close to 1lb) and complexity. They do sag a touch on tight corners and will yield a "whoop" sound when stomping hard or in a compression corner, but these are non-consequential for our general purpose usage. The cost/weight ratio is very good considering these are tandem rated wheels.

If we were racing, I'd likely pick a laterally stiffer more aero wheelset (likely at a substantially higher price), but that is outside our tandem usage so for us does not factor.

DubT

How deep is the rim on these wheels? I ordered a set on Tuesday from Mel at Tandems East and forgot to ask.

twocicle

I do not have the specs, so all I can report is "not all that deep". As a convenience factor, tube stems as short as 4cm are long enough.

TandemGeek

24mm

DubT

The new wheels came yesterday, they were on the front porch when we got home from our morning ride. They look really good, the front hub looks massive, it looks like it could be used on a small motorcycle. The wheels weigh 93 grams more than the Topolino's but with some careful juggling of skewer parts I was able to reduce the net weight increase to 82 grams, I used the rear Spinergy skewer and the front Topolino with the Spinergy nut. When my stoker looked at them her comment was they look like wheels and very similar to the ones that you took off. They will be OK if they are fast!

We took a short 13 mile ride this evening and wen give them an A+, they are smooth, comfortable and feel fast. (subjective I know but that is what matters to us).

So our initial impression is very positive.

Anyone want to buy a set of Bontrager wheels that only have around 2,000 miles on them, we do not need 3 sets of wheels.

Wayne

Tookool

Awesome "DubT"........ ours got put in the mail today and hope to have them for the weekend. What color of spokes did you get and what tires are you running on them??

Cheers!!
Joe

moonwalker

We have been to House of Tandems twice in the past 10 days and will be there again on Thursday. I must tell you each time we visited we had to move around the Spinergy TX2 wheel boxes that are ready to be shipped out or put on bikes. They seem to be selling like hotcakes.

DubT

Black with black rims, our bike is white. I am using the Schwalbe Ultremo ZX 25 X 700 tires with great success. Over 4,000 miles on the front and over 2,500 miles on the rear.

teamdonterri

Wasn't going to say anything, but we had sent our Topolinos back to Mike at Calfee as we were waiting on a set of True Blacks that were not available for our build and installed a set of Rolf Prima Tandem wheels instead. We didn't like the way the Topolino wheels seemed to move around laterally (side to side) when pressed hard into turns especially bumpy ones. We had a few scary moments on the Wine Country Century that is notorious for bad roads. It felt like the stoker was turning around and looking backward as we negotiated the turns, she thought I was inducing something at the bars since she was dead still...

Otherwise they provided an excellent ride, although I think now it may just have been the difference of going from an alum frame KHS tandem to the carbon Calfee... The Rolfs provide a more precise feel when bombing the downhills here and bumps don't set up any sort of wobble or movement in turns. Along with the Schwalbe Ultremo ZX tires which give the best feel and ride quality of any tire we have ever used I think we have the best possibe setup now for the type of riding we do here. Good luck with your new Spinergy wheels , we have several sets in our club and are holding up well.

twocicle

^^^ It would be great to hear your comparison feedback about the Spinergy. Perhaps you could swap for a ride with one of your club ppl and do a test ride.

the tandem wiz

Tandem east has the wheels for 899$ and gets all the spoke colors and fast shipping

DubT

We have now had the Spinergy wheels for 2 months. The rear has around 1200 miles on it and the front probably only has 100. After a few rides I came to the conclusion that the Topolino front wheel was more comfortable than the Spinergy. I have the non-disc front wheel which is laced radially. So I have been running a Sponergy on the rear and a Topolino on the front. As far as I can tell the Spinergy rear and the Topolino rear ride about the same. Stoker has not complained. The Topolino is still at Topolino because they are waiting on parts which should arrive later this month. A major down side to the Topolino wheels. I would be in a world of hurried they were our only set of wheels. Mel at Tandems East believes that the Spinergy will hold up much better than the Topolino and with the Spinergy you can buy replacement spokes and fix/or have it fixed locally. I just recently took the front HED 3 front wheel off of my Trek SC 9.9 and have been running it on the front of the tandem. I really like the way it looks, feels and handles, I was pleasantly surprised to realize that it actually is not excessively stiff. It is a tubular wheel/tire, that might be the reason. The down side is that I have to carry a tubular spare, it also weighs more than both the Spinergy and the Topolino.

if I were buying one set of lightweight semi conventional wheels today, I would go with the Spinergy and run 5 pounds less air in the front tire, they are within 100 grams of the Topolino and are field serviceable.

Wayne

twocicle

Interesting feedback Wayne.

I haven't ridden other wheels on our 2007 Calfee, so I don't have a direct comparison opinion to anything else on this tandem (on my single I ride stiff Mavic Ksyrium SSLs). The Topolino front wheel must be exceptionally compliant if you notice a difference between that and the Spinergy.

Our 1000 mile experience with the Spinergy wheels is that they are very plush, dampening most every vibration. At a team weight of 260lbs, we have been running mostly 25mm Continental 4 Season tires @ 120psi. These are not the plushist tire around, but they have stood up well so far (though the rear tire is already squaring off).

We recently did a two week supported tour in France where we traversed a lot more surface variety than at home. That included some cobbles, dike roads that looked like they were bombed in WWII and never repaired, and pea gravel bike paths. We thought the wheels handled and felt great. On the biggest and nastiest cobbles we went slow and stood for the most part to ease the bouncing - no shockposts installed. Upon returning home the wheels appear to be unscathed - round and no wobbles. As a side note, there were other teams (with other wheels) that experienced broken spokes and a Gatorskin tire blowout. I think in future trips we will upsize to 28mm tires which would be more appropriate for the variety of surface types likely to encounter on such tours.

Also for the above trip, we used only rim brakes as I didn't see the need to risk bending our rear disc rotor in transit. I am very happy with the grip and feel of the Spinergy rim surface which worked as well as could be expected on one very heavy rain day. Back at home, we have been buzzing CDA terrorizing the townies with our late dusk blitz sessions. I'm leaving the rear rim brake on for now as we have no need for more stopping power in our home area. As it stands, we can skid the back tire if I really want to for effect, ie: scare the stoker

merlinextraligh

Putting in a plug for Rick at the House of Tandems. He was at STR with a bunch of these wheels. He was great providing SAG support, and a good source of information.

One cool thing about the Spinergy wheels is that you can do custom spoke colors with them.

Also talking to Rick, he believes that these wheels would exceed the durability of a 40 spoke Deep V wheel. And they are very easily field repairable. Hence, we're thinking about picking up a pair for light touring.

twocicle

On a side note about skewers (revisited), the supplied Spinergy (ti rear, steel front) weigh 106gm on my digital scale. In spite of having the Ti rear skewer shaft (a nice touch from Ric at HoT), the levers were the one component on our tandem that my local bike shop friend pointed out as a somewhat "generic" product with plastic pivot bushings, . Hmmm, the need for more "trick" componentry got under my skin.

Last week took delivery of a set of Salsa tandem skewers (https://salsacycles.com/components/flip-offs_tandem) which weighed 104gm on same scale. These are the "Salsa Pair Stainless Tandem Flip-Off Skewers 145mm Black $40.99" from SageCycles (bikepartsexpress.com) who are a little slow on delivery, but I have ordered from them a couple times and they do deliver eventually. Interestingly, the front skewer from this Tandem (confirmed is printed on the Salsa) package is a Ti shaft at 46gm (rear steel is 58gm). Looking at the Salsa component "Flip-offs" page, the single bike Ti skewer description says 40gm and "Recommended for Road Use or Rigid Front MTB Use only.". Not sure why the single bike front Ti wouldn't be recommended for suspension forks - just wondering. Obviously we don't have a susp fork on the front of our road tandem but I would extrapolate the reasoning to consider factors that might be related with tandem usage. Any ideas?

On a side note, the description of the Salsa skewers on this Amazon page (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...MJZHS7EYS8NEM3) shows much higher weights and specifies both shafts as steel. However the item photo shows a Ti looking front shaft.

So now I have the Ti rear skewer shaft from the Spinergy teasing me, making me wonder how these come apart and if that can be swapped into the Salsa rear skewer without tempting the grim reaper to visit?



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slowriders

We got our wheels from Ric & Marsha @ House of Tandems after months of me being too cheap to spring for them. Once we test road them Stoker Mom says you can have them back after you pry my cold dead fingers off of them. We are heavy and slow - pushing 500lbs and avg 12 to 14 mph, before TX2's, on our carbon DaVinci (Our 4th tandem and second DaVinci). Chip N Seal roads, expansion joints are no problem but smooth roads are a dream. Don't know if we are lighter are better but we are now up to 14 to 16 mph and ain't getting any lighter. The difference in these wheels is beyond our ability to explain other than how did we ride without them. We are casual riders that average maybe 1500 miles per year and we don't know squat about the equipment on the bike but how to use it. We care about comfort, reliability and fun and these wheels have bumped that up quite a few notches. Ric & Marsha have been our dealers for over 7 years and we only let Ric work on our bike. We have come to trust them without question - if Ric says we need it then we need it Period.