Originally Posted by
LelandJT
What's the lightest tandem you've seen with a dependable, realistic build? I'm starting a project based on a large or X-large Santana Beyond that I want to get under 20lbs with reasonable parts. I'm gonna do a few versions of the build starting with a fairly stock Santana build kit and then replacing parts as needed till I get it under 20. However, I'd like to stick to reasonable parts that you'd want to ride and won't cause problems so no single chainrings, allen key skewers, thin tires, delicate wheels, ect. I'm even gonna try to avoid using Speedplay pedals
Besides the Beyond frame which is 2900g for XL, I know Paketa and Co-Motion claim to offer light frames but I couldn't find actual weights.
I started out with a similar idea 5 years ago, I started by
looking at cranksets, and inveigling Tim Brummer at Lightning to produce a tandem version of his lightweight crankset. You might be able to get a tandem down to around 20 lbs, it might be
somewhat dependable/realistic, but I don't think optimal. Its useful to go through the exercise of looking
at components on a spreadsheet and taking into account the weight of each.
Many a little makes a mickle.
You'd have to start with a really light frame. You might want to find out what
Landshark carbon frames weigh as a reference.