Letoll

We bought the best tandem we could afford at the time which is a Burly Tamberello Alum. frame. It does not have any disc mounts but the dealer we purchased from said they could be brazed on if we wanted to upgrade. Has anyone does this to their bikes? Any frame damage horror stories? I'd love to have a disc on the front if nothing else, considering 85%+ of your braking power is there anyway. Any links to a good tandem fork with mounts? Thanks

PaMTBRider

I am sure others will have an answer to your specific question about adding braze-ons for disc brakes. Kepp in mind that this will also include the cost of a new front wheel that is disc brake compatible. The figure of 85% of available braking from the front wheel really isn't true for a tandem. I don't know what that exact amount would be but I would guess it is much closer to 50 / 50. On a single bike as you increase front braking force more weight is transfered to the front wheel which increases traction of the front wheels and lightens the rear wheel. Because of the longer wheelbase and the added weight over the rear of a tandem you will not get the same weight transfer.

TandemGeek

Unless I'm missing something, brazing on disc tabs to the rear triangle of an aluminum frame normally requires that the frame be re-heat treated after brazing and, as a result, repainted: not cheap to do but doable none the less.

As for putting a disc brake on the front of your road tandem, if I could only have one disc on a road tandem it would be on the rear wheel. But, that's just me. I'm familiar with the dual discs on road tandems and they seem to be working quite well, but I'm a bit of a trogludyte when it comes to front brakes on a road tandem: I'd rather have my trusty caliper and conventional wheel, what you very much. It's a personal taste / comfort thing at the moment so I won't say that I'd never add a front disc brake to compliment the rear disc on our tandem, but at this point the rear-only disc is doing exactly what I want it to do and I have no need for a front disc. Note: 285lb team that prefers aggressive descents.

Off-road use of discs is a completely different story as brakes are used quite differently off-road vs on.

Letoll

Thanks for the replies. We are new to tandeming so this is a great place to learn. We have a drag brake on the bike and that works fine for controling speed down the large hills around here but I just do not feel like the cantilevers brakes can get our 350lb team stopped quickly in an emergency. Basically I'm saying the only thing I hate about tandeming is feeling like I have a loaded trailer hooked to my truck and the trailer brakes aren't hooked up. I don't feel that on my mtb's and I don't feel it on my single road bike so that tells me I don't have good enough brakes. Obvious solution is to slow down and be more cautious but that's no fun. Now that we're hooked on tandeming we'll probably end upgrading to a dual disc bike in future anyway. Thanks.

Old Hammer Boy

We have dual discs on our C'Dale, and I love 'em. They give me a real feeling of security. I sense that the industry is headed in that direction as more and more manufacturers are offering them. Honestly, it was a large factor our decision to purchase the C'Dale vs others. If you find a fork you like, I'd suggest the Avid BB7 as your brake choice. OHB

rlong

Go to Precision Tandem website and look down the list for disk break adaptors. It can be done, but only on aluminum frames for some reason and the dropout has to be big and flat. It looks pretty simple, but lookin ain't doin. Good luck, and post what you find out. My Burley is steel and the adaptor appearantly is not available for me
rlong

ricardo kuhn

man that Precision tandem site is the most confussing and complicated site i ever see, i'm also interested on a simple none welded option for my tandem but i was unable to find the parts.

Rincewind8

It's the A2Z disc brake adapter that also shows up on e-bay all the time (usually for about $35). On the Precision Tandems homepage, go to "Brakes Disc Kit" and then click on the pink "DON'T HAVE THE ISO MOUNT? CLICK HERE!".
It's the first article on that list.

Richbiker

I used an A2Z adapter on a half-bike: a dual suspension Jamis Dakar Team. It worked ok, with the following issues:

1. The left dropout must have a pretty good sized, flat profile to clamp the adapter onto--you need a lot of surface area. Most alu frames fit this criteria, but some don't. The adapter attaches with a series of bolts that squeeze it against a relatively wide, flat dropout. It also uses the squeezing force of the rear quick release

2. You have to remove the rear quick release entirely to remove the rear wheel. On my Jamis, I always had difficulty getting the wheel in and out of the dropout / A2z adapter combination. That may have had something to do with the shape of the locknuts on the hub I was using, or it may have been the adapter. I couldn't tell. The hub was a Magura Louise pro.

3. I got a random rubbing, ringing sound of the disc rubbing on something as I rode. I could not tell if that was an issue with the wheel, any play in the frame, or the adapter. It was random in the sense that it started, then stopped randomly, under various conditions, and there was never any particular pattern to this annoying behavior.

Rich

ricardo kuhn

thanks i try again.

Letoll

Thanks for the info guys. I checked out the site. https://www.precisiontandems.com/cat_...cmountinfo.jpg but my stays are not shaped anywhere near flat enough to mount one of those. I'll keep looking though.

TandemGeek

Yes, it is... Mark created it in HTML a few years ago and put EVERYTHING in his splash-page on one web page with tons of photos and animated .gif objects and also put his ENTIRE on-line catalog on one web page. Even with super-duper DSL or a T1 line it takes forever to download; forget about dial-up.

Best bet is probably calling and just asking... Great guy with lots of knowledge and great stuff.

TandemGeek

Yes, it is... Mark created it in HTML a few years ago and put EVERYTHING in his splash-page on one web page with tons of photos and animated .gif objects and also put his ENTIRE on-line catalog on one web page. Even with super-duper DSL or a T1 line it takes forever to download; forget about dial-up.

Best bet is probably calling and just asking... Great guy with lots of knowledge and great stuff.