Bought my Cdale road tandem 8 weeks ago and did our first century yesterday. I'm used to the distance on a racing bike, but have to say it was harder on a tandem. I looked like Spartacus in the salt mine after about 75 miles... had to battle home from there. Was a real powerhouse for about 65 miles.... maybe 20mph. If you took into account the stops after 75 miles, I probably averaged 17 from then on. The stoker was fine, but she's not exactly Eddy Merckx. Marathon running women aren't known for their huge thighs.

My take so far:

The Cdale is a pretty nice frame. I fully expected to buy this thing and sell it in a short time, going to an upgraded frameset. I don't think I will. I snapped a couple of Kestrel frames when racing so can flex a BB pertty well (this can be read as a real indictment of their "no seattube" design concept!). But not THIS BB.

I have changed out the fork to a Reynolds and that was a hugh improvemtn in handling and comfort. Better still was going to a set of Bontrager tandem wheels w/ Gatorskin 28s. Not only are they a big difference in handling and aerodynamics, my stoker agrees with me they're more comfortable by a good bit.

Shedding the stock seatpost, saddles, bars, cassette, and stems for upgrades (which was conveniently sitting in my bins of racing gear), and adding a good set of aerobars has completed the deal so far. The thing has lost about 5 lbs.

If I can just keep some donuts in me, this will work out fine. I was thinking of putting a salt block between the aerobars to address the hyponatremia. It's been far more fun than I ever expected.