cornucopia72

We ordered our Santana Sovereign with V-brakes and Arai drum brake. As our confidence went up we replaced the Arai brake and the front V-brake with an Avid disc and a caliper rim brake. At the same time we also replaced the aluminum fork with a carbon one and the 40 spoke wheels with a set of sweet 16's. Do not know if any of those upgrades helped or if after spending 2K we just had to be faster... either way we got faster. The disc brake was very effective slowing the rig down but it was not as easy to modulate as the Arai drum brake. The disc also had a tendency to lock the back wheel if the speed went to far down. We thought about installing an inline lever to actuate the disc, we bought it, but never installed it. All along we were using 700x28 front and back. The front wheel was a little hard to install when fully inflated with the calipers in the way... we decided to change to 700x23 in the front and 700Xx25 in the back. Here the bike felt a lot crispier and our confidence while turning at high speed got a nice bust. Finally, for now, we decided to get rid of the V-brakes in the back and to rely on the disc. Last Sunday we came down a very nice, although not very steep, descent. The disc gave us so much confidence as in the first sharp turn, when we needed to slow down, one of those 300 degree turns, the bike handled so nicely, that from then on we just let the bike go in the knowledge that we could slow down at any point if needed. This particular descent we had done many times with the old set up. We enagaed the drag brake to different degrees for a good 25% of the time. This time we applied the brakes only a handfull of times and our average speed had to be 4 to 5 MPH faster. Mind you, our team/bike weight is down close to 25 pounds of what it was before any changes were made. In the coming weeks we hope to go up and down really steep inclines and we'll report back then.

Hermes

Nice upgrades…we bought our Sovereign equipped similarly to yours with upgrades and concur with your observations. Looking forward to your report.

Fenlason

yes Nice upgrades. I can see the wheel and tire change making a difference in speed. I would think a lot of it, is your weight loss. Not that .... as you say... spending a couple of grand.... often makes you "have" to go faster. What did you used for caliper brakes?

My Sovereign was a 92. I was looking to upgrade, but chose a new bike. Unforetunately we were not faster on it... despite a huge outlay of cash.

This year I did a few upgrades.... I took around 2 pounds of the bike....and 30 pounds off me[so far].

It is early season... so I am not fit yet... but we are climbing much better.

glenn

cornucopia72

At the recommendation of Mark (precision Tandems) we went with Ultegra.

Do not know exactly how many ounces we shaved with the brake changes but we went from two V-brakes and one drum brake plus cable and bar end lever, to one caliper in the front and one disc in the back. We also trimmed the bars one inch on each side... about 2 grams...

zonatandem

Upgrades are nice but can be expen$ive.
We normally do not upgrade our tandem . . . we buy the best we can afford at the time and as stuff wears out, we replace it.
Pilot/stoker are sort of fussy nitpickers on componentry, so we blow the $$ intitially, without thinking/needing upgrades.
We chose a custom c/f tandem for the comfort level/weight/fit, compared to others we've ridden/owned.
In our senior years we certainly don't 'need' that, but it sure is nice!

lhbernhardt

I enjoy doing just the opposite. I'll buy the cheapest bike or frame at the level of quality I want, then will continuously upgrade it. My circa-1980 Kuwahara tandem is a rolling testbed for my equipment philosophy and for evaluating comparative component reliability.

One thing I have found is that dual-pivot sidepulls will stop the tandem way better than V-brakes with compensators or cantilever brakes (my brake levers are the old-style Campag Record Ergo 8-speed). I've had both standard-length LX V-brakes and Tektro mini-V's with Travel Agents and braking was really abysmal, especially in the rain. And even with the quick-release in the brake lever and 23mm tires, I'd still have to disconnect the V-brakes to remove/install the wheel. I really think V-brakes with road levers and compensators are a dumb idea, and it amazes me that this is how most tandems today are sold. I'm not surprised that disk brakes are becoming more popular; they're probably the only brakes more effective than dual-pivots on a road tandem, and anything is better than V-brakes. (Note: none of this applies to off-road tandems with the proper levers for V-brakes.)

- Luis