swiss_toni

I am waiting for these bikes to be released. With some googling have found the following links that appear to have the full spec of the bikes

Road Tandem 2 - https://www.cannondale.com/deu/catalo.../category/986/

Road Tandem 1 - https://webcache.googleusercontent.co...&ct=clnk&gl=uk

Since the links may disappear the specs from the pages are as follows:
Road Tandem 1
Frame
Tandem Road, SmartFormed 6061 Alloy, 1.5 head tube, BB30
Fork
Cannondale Fatty Tandem, OPI, 1.5" steerer
Crank
FSA SLK Tandem w/ Gates Belt Drive timing, BB30, 52/39/30, 42t timing
Bottom Bracket
FSA Eccentric BB30
Shifters
Shimano Ultegra 6700
Cog Set
Shimano Ultegra 6700, 12-30, 10-speed
Chain
Shimano Ultegra 6700 drive / Gates belt timing
Rear Derailleur
Shimano Ultegra 6700
Rims
DT Swiss Tandem wheelset, 36-hole
Hubs
DT Swiss
Tires
Continental GatorSkin, 700x35c, folding
Pedals
Cannondale Reinforced Composite
Brake
Shimano R515 mechnical disc, 180/203mm
Handlebar
Cannondale C3 Compact, 2014 alloy, 31.8 / C3 bullhorn stoker
Stem
Cannondale C3 1.5", 3-D forged, 6 deg. / C3 extender stoker
Headset
Tange Custom 1.5"
Brake Levers
Shimano Ultegra 6700
Spokes
DT Swiss
Grips
Cannondale 3.5mm w/ gel backing grip Tape
Saddle
Fizik Aliante Delta, Mg rail
Seat Post
Cannondale C3, Alloy, 31.6x350mm front & 27.2x350 rear
Rear Shock
N/A

Road Tandem 2
Frame
Tandem Road, SmartFormed 6061 Alloy, 1.5 head tube, BB30
Fork
Cannondale Fatty Tandem, OPI, 1.5" steerer
Crank
FSA Gossamer Tandem, 52/39/30, 42t timing
Bottom Bracket
FSA MegaExo, w/ Eccentric
Shifters
Shimano 105 5700
Cog Set
Shimano Tiagra 4600, 12-30, 10-speed
Chain
KMC X10 drive, X9 timing
Rear Derailleur
Shimano 105 5700
Rims
DT Swiss Tandem wheelset, 36-hole
Hubs
DT Swiss
Tires
Continental GatorSkin, 700x35c, folding
Pedals
Cannondale Reinforced Composite
Brake
Shimano R515 mechnical disc, 180/203mm
Handlebar
Cannondale C3 Compact, 2014 alloy, 31.8 / C3 bullhorn stoker
Stem
Cannondale C3 1.5", 3-D forged, 6 deg. / C3 extender stoker
Headset
Tange Custom 1.5"
Brake Levers
Shimano 105 5700
Spokes
DT Swiss
Grips
Cannondale 3.5mm w/ gel backing grip Tape
Saddle
Prologo T2.0
Seat Post
Cannondale C3, Alloy, 31.6x350mm front & 27.2x350 rear
Rear Shock
N/A

Since the Shimano R515 have just been recalled I am guessing they may change on the spec

Ritterview

Geez, if a carbon fork is $500 MSRP, its cost to Cannondale would be much less. It would be so worth it for the tandem to be $200-250 more expensive and have a carbon fork. Now anyone wanting a true performance tandem much ditch the Fatty, and figure out what fork to replace it with.

This probably has to do with the dual disc. Cannondale didn't trust a carbon fork to take the braking load (although Co-Motion uses a carbon disc fork).

Now, if someone replacing the Fatty for a carbon fork with front caliper has to deal with the wheel being set up for disc.

rahill

Isn't the 1.5" steerer going to be problematic as well, at least in terms of upgrade options?

Ritterview

Possible ENVE replacements, none are straight 1.5":

2.0 Road....Race width....1.125"

Road Disc............1.5" tapered

Cross Disc......1.5" tapered.

Tapered road............1.125" -1.25" And 1.125"-1.5"

Its not like there are a ton of choices in carbon tandem forks.

All the carbon tandem forks at Precision Tandems are 1.125."

Not even the Cannondale cyclocross carbon disc fork is 1.5".


Is there a sleeve that can be used, that can convert fit a 1.5" tapered fork into a straight 1.5" head tube?

mstyer

A Chris King Devolution headset could be used to adapt a 1.5 upper race to a 1-1/8" upper steerer.

I'm not sure of the specs on the new C'dale forks, but the ENVE cross disc fork has the same axle to crown length as a '10 Fatty fork. The rake is a little less at 47mm vs. the Fatty's 53mm.

Dean V

57cm top tube for the captain on their smallest frame (M/S). That will be a bit on the long side for a lot of riders.

Ritterview

So, this then would be the CHRIS KING 1.5 NOTHREADSET™ in the DEVOLUTION™ version.



It looks like FSA makes a headset too...

FSA Big Fat Pig Reducer Headset


Reducer headset converts OnePointFive frames to accept 1-1/8" forks.

rahill

I would be thrilled with that top tube, it's the 39.7cm rear seat tube (unless you get the XL or Jumbo size, in which case the captain top tube is even longer) that would be a showstopper for us. At least it takes a 27.2 seat post (in the rear at least) so you have lots of choices.

Chris_W

Hi Swiss Toni. I work at a Cannondale dealer in Switzerland. Unfortunately the Road Tandem 1 will not be available in Europe, only the Road Tandem 2. We have a large/medium version in our pre-order; I think we've only scheduled that to be in our Spring delivery, but we could try to move that forward if you wanted to come test it sooner than that. We're located in Lausanne, here's the website. You'll have to wait until I'm back in the store next week to tell you what the Swiss retail price will be.

Ritterview

A few questions, C_W, that only you can answer!

• Does Cannondale have a greater selection overall of its bicycles in North America than Europe, or has the Road Tandem 1 been singled out?
  
  
• Any idea why C'dale would keep the Road Tandem 1 out of Europe?
  
  
• Is there another means by which your bike shop could obtain the RT 1, and thus have exclusive European availability?
  
  
• If a customer wanted to purchase his C'dale tandem with a carbon fork, would your bike shop do the conversion? If so, what fork and other components would you recommend?

Chris_W

The N. American and European offerings differ for many brands of bicycles, this is nothing unusual. Since Cannondale is an American brand, it's normal for them to offer the complete range in their home market, and a slightly restricted range elsewhere. The same occurs for European brands not offering all models to N American dealers. It's mainly driven by volume and partly driven by what sells best in different markets.

Tandems are a hard sell to our regular clientele - I expect that we'll be happy to sell the one RT2 that we've pre-ordered within a year or two, so we'd have no motivation to try extra hard to obtain any RT1's. I'm told that the decision to offer the RT2 instead of the RT1 was because (in addition to the lower-priced model probably being the model that's going to have higher sales anyway) if people want a higher-specced tandem then instead of giving them a fixed build like the RT1, they can buy the standard RT2 model and upgrade the parts that they want.

One of those upgrades could certainly be a carbon fork. As to what model, I don't have experience with any carbon tandem forks except for the Wound Up model that is on our personal tandem, so I'd probably go with that if the length and rake/offset are similar to the stock model. As mentioned above, there are several solutions to running a standard fork in a 1.5" head tube - we've done this on some single Cannondales before.

Ritterview

No big deal here or new info, but the Road Tandem 2 is listed here (page 106) in the Cannondale Italian catalog. No RT-1. It does look very official, though.

rahill

And they're finally on Cannondale's website:

https://www.cannondale.com/catalog/ca...-urban_tandems

Prices seem to have climbed a bit

swiss_toni

Quick question. Does anyone know if it would be possible to retrofit a rear rim brake to this frame?

I am thinking of getting a rear wheel built to accept an arai drum brake so would like to have a rim brake on the rear as well if possible

dfcas

The specs seem to be mixed up. The head tube is slacker on the road than the 29, and the Bottom brackets are higher on the roads than the 29.

Ritterview

Yes, its finally up. It looks like they let the intern write copy for the website. Maybe its Chinglish. It makes no sense, its redundant, ungrammatical, and has nothing to do with Cannondale tandems.

Intern: What should I put there?
Cannondale website guy: Write anything. It doesn't matter, its only the tandem.


It takes two to make thing [sic] go right. It takes two to make it out of sight.

Chris_W

You mean that you don't recognize the lyrics from the 1972 funk hit "Think (About It)" by Lyn Collins (YouTube), or the 1988 rap classic that heavily sampled it by Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock "It Takes Two" (YouTube).

Cannondale did miss out the word "a". The lyrics should be:
"It takes two to make a thing go right. It takes two to make it out of sight."

I think the musical reference might be lost on a lot of people, though.

NoTrail

Only a bit? You didn't use the sarcasm font so I was confused.

If you really compare apples to apples, you'll notice that they downgraded the 2014 Road Tandem quite a bit. In fact, the 2012 Road Tandem 2 ($3549 SRP) has almost the exact specs of the 2014 Road Tandem 1 ($5420 SRP) ... minus the Gates timing belt. But for over $1800, I'll add that myself.

Basically the 2014 RT2 costs $21 more than the 2012 model and you get downgraded from full Ultegra to 105 with a Tiagra cogset and a frame made overseas. I guess it was a lot cheaper to make them in the USA.

Bad choice Cannondale. Very glad I picked up a 2012 before they disappeared.

merlinextraligh

The pricing does seem rather high on the RT1. For that money you've got a number of options from Co-Motion and Santana.

The new Cdale might stack up with other tandems at that price point, but they definitely face more competion now, than with the previous Cdale Tandems.

Pic

+1 If I was in the market for a C'dale, I would buy a lightly used one and add all the after market options I wanted and still come out way ahead compared to a 2014. There can't be any measurable performance difference between them.

ct-vt-trekker

Are the specs correct? 700x35C tires on both models, that's huge! These are road tandems not off road bikes.
I agree about the prices , big increase for what you get. There should have been considerable savings for the offshore build vs USA, I guess Cannondale is keeping the difference.
They'll still probably sell more than Co-motion and Santana due to the dealer network Cannondale has but I'd buy Co-Motion if I was looking for a tandem in this price range.

rahill

Apparently not only don't they proofread those bits, they missed this little gem as well (in the page source):

<meta name="description" content="Learn more about the Schwinn Road Tandem. &lt;div id=&quot;bikePromo&quot;&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;featureBlurb&quot;&gt; &lt;h3&gt;INCREDIBLE PERFORMANCE:&lt;/h3&gt; Steel tandem frames simply can't match the power transfer of Cannondale's tandems. A redesigned boom tube, oversized pilot seat t" />

Schwinn?

Wouldn't be too much of an issue except that the Google search captures it:



(tiny image - click for bigger)

Perhaps when you own too many brands it's hard to keep them all straight.

brons2

$5420??? You can get a full custom bike for that amount, made by a skilled craftsman who makes wages and have work conditions to western standards (US/EU/Japan/Australia). Why bother with Cannondale's chinese crap at those prices?

Ritterview

More info at the Cannondale website, including a more detailed pic.



Specs:

FRAME....TANDEM ROAD, SMARTFORMED 6061 ALLOY, 1.5 HEAD TUBE, BB30
FORK....CANNONDALE FATTY TANDEM, OPI, 1.5" STEERER
CRANK....FSA SLK TANDEM W/ GATES BELT DRIVE TIMING, BB30, 52/39/30, 42T TIMING
BOTTOM BRACKET....FSA ECCENTRIC BB30
SHIFTERS....SHIMANO ULTEGRA 6700
COG SET....SHIMANO ULTEGRA 6700, 12-30, 10-SPEED
CHAIN.....SHIMANO ULTEGRA 6700 DRIVE / GATES BELT TIMING
FRONT DERAILLEUR....SHIMANO ULTEGRA 6700, 31.8 CLAMP
REAR DERAILLEUR....SHIMANO ULTEGRA 6700
RIMS....DT SWISS TANDEM WHEELSET, 36-HOLE
HUBS....DT SWISS
TIRES....CONTINENTAL GATORSKIN, 700X35C, FOLDING
PEDALS....CANNONDALE REINFORCED COMPOSITE
BRAKE....SHIMANO R515 MECHNICAL DISC, 180/203MM
HANDLEBAR....CANNONDALE C3 COMPACT, 2014 ALLOY, 31.8 / C3 BULLHORN STOKER
STEM....CANNONDALE C3 1.5", 3-D FORGED, 6 DEG. / C3 EXTENDER STOKER
HEADSET....TANGE CUSTOM 1.5"
BRAKE LEVERS....SHIMANO ULTEGRA 6700
SPOKES....DT SWISS
GRIPS....CANNONDALE 3.5MM W/ GEL BACKING GRIP TAPE
SADDLE....FIZIK ALIANTE DELTA, MG RAIL
SEAT POST....CANNONDALE C3, ALLOY, 31.6X350MM FRONT & 27.2X350 REAR
REAR SHOCK....N/A

Is it the front rotor that is 180 mm? They appear identical size in the photo.

Nice to have a Gates Drive.

The rims appear to be the DT Swiss RR585 with an Outer width of 19.5 mm, which can accomodate tires 700 x 19 to 35. The 35 mm tire spec must be a mistake, however, as Gatorskin's largest size is 32 mm.

Dean V

The frame looks quite similar to the previous model. Mainly a few tweaks rather than completely re engineered.