RTR Special Issue
01-31-05, 08:58 PM
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RTR Special Issue
Recumbent & Tandem Rider Magazine dispatched a little eye candy to subscriber’s mailboxes last week: a four side, two page butterfly with 26 glossy color photos from Interbike. Interesting items that caught my eye were a photo of Co-Motion’s display area with a pair of Periscope tandems, a photo of Todd & Brian from daVinci Designs who were celebrating their 10th year in the tandem building biz, and one of the two custom Black Sheep convertible tandems used on the Peace Peddlers world tour – a full suspension tandem that could be converted to a full-suspension ½ bike (I seem to recall someone asking about these recently).
One of the more interesting product lines that keep showing up are the tandem retro-cruisers. In this case, I found it somewhat revealing that the “Limo” from Phat Cycles and the “Double Header” from 3G look like almost the same bike… Almost. While it would appear that at least one of the donors to their respective gene pool was the same, the frames are fabricated from different materials: The 3G being 7000 series aluminum while the Phat Cycles cruiser is high tensile steel; both are in the $750 - $800 range. Seems like a lot of coin for a cruiser but what the hey. After watching the 2005 Barrett-Jackson auction from Arizona while iced-in over the weekend everything seems cheap; Yikes! I’m glad I chose bikes as a hobby. Anyway, the question I have for our esteemed readers is, has anyone ridden or perhaps acquired one of these cruisers and, if so, what are your impressions.
Let’s see, what else looked interesting…. Oh yeah. Cane Creek has introduced a pair of “Ergo” stoker rests which, as the name implies, are shaped to replicate Campy’s Ergo lever contours. It’s nice to have an alternative to the ubiquitous DiaComp stoker rests. Now, I wonder if Debbie’s silver metal DiaComp brake lever stubbies are interchangeable with the stubbies in these Cane Creek models…. Hmmmm.
Santana’s “Beyond-based” Dual Moto full-suspension off-road two-fer made a repeat appearance. One of our DF off-road forum list members owns the second one of these Dual Motos produced and I believe they have already taken it off-road racing – definitely not a garage queen. Speaking of carbon, Calfee had a really trick all-carbon, one-piece stoker stem and bar fitted to one of their Tetra Tetras. There were also photos of one of KHS’ value-based offerings, Ellsworth’s full-suspension off-road Witness – this year sporting a dual crown fork instead of the single crown model seen in previous years – and yet another entrant in the off-shore, low-cost titanium tandem frame market: Titanikabike. Whereas a previous off-shore offering appeared to take it’s design cues from Litespeed’s Taliani, this one is more reminiscent of Santana’s Ti-700.
Well, that’s about it. I’ll leave the two tandem ‘bents to someone who knows something about tandem ‘bents.
Regards,
Mark
One of the more interesting product lines that keep showing up are the tandem retro-cruisers. In this case, I found it somewhat revealing that the “Limo” from Phat Cycles and the “Double Header” from 3G look like almost the same bike… Almost. While it would appear that at least one of the donors to their respective gene pool was the same, the frames are fabricated from different materials: The 3G being 7000 series aluminum while the Phat Cycles cruiser is high tensile steel; both are in the $750 - $800 range. Seems like a lot of coin for a cruiser but what the hey. After watching the 2005 Barrett-Jackson auction from Arizona while iced-in over the weekend everything seems cheap; Yikes! I’m glad I chose bikes as a hobby. Anyway, the question I have for our esteemed readers is, has anyone ridden or perhaps acquired one of these cruisers and, if so, what are your impressions.
Let’s see, what else looked interesting…. Oh yeah. Cane Creek has introduced a pair of “Ergo” stoker rests which, as the name implies, are shaped to replicate Campy’s Ergo lever contours. It’s nice to have an alternative to the ubiquitous DiaComp stoker rests. Now, I wonder if Debbie’s silver metal DiaComp brake lever stubbies are interchangeable with the stubbies in these Cane Creek models…. Hmmmm.
Santana’s “Beyond-based” Dual Moto full-suspension off-road two-fer made a repeat appearance. One of our DF off-road forum list members owns the second one of these Dual Motos produced and I believe they have already taken it off-road racing – definitely not a garage queen. Speaking of carbon, Calfee had a really trick all-carbon, one-piece stoker stem and bar fitted to one of their Tetra Tetras. There were also photos of one of KHS’ value-based offerings, Ellsworth’s full-suspension off-road Witness – this year sporting a dual crown fork instead of the single crown model seen in previous years – and yet another entrant in the off-shore, low-cost titanium tandem frame market: Titanikabike. Whereas a previous off-shore offering appeared to take it’s design cues from Litespeed’s Taliani, this one is more reminiscent of Santana’s Ti-700.
Well, that’s about it. I’ll leave the two tandem ‘bents to someone who knows something about tandem ‘bents.
Regards,
Mark
02-08-05, 09:48 PM
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Nice 'extra' for subscribers to R&TR! . . . and in blazing color, too!
The spring issue promises to cover more in depth on Interbike intros for both tandems and bents, including a prototype bent tandem by Bachetta.
In regards to stoker's handrests: remember the round handrests coming out of Japan years ago (which were actually a copy of the Italian round handrests)? There is now a carbon fiber version being roadtested. Kay has a couple thousand miles on a prototype pair and loves 'em! Cool looking too + light and competetively priced.
And there's also something out in a similar vein for flatbar riders by Ergon, a Swedish company. So keep your eyes peeled for the Spring issue of Recumbent and Tandem Rider Magazine!
The spring issue promises to cover more in depth on Interbike intros for both tandems and bents, including a prototype bent tandem by Bachetta.
In regards to stoker's handrests: remember the round handrests coming out of Japan years ago (which were actually a copy of the Italian round handrests)? There is now a carbon fiber version being roadtested. Kay has a couple thousand miles on a prototype pair and loves 'em! Cool looking too + light and competetively priced.
And there's also something out in a similar vein for flatbar riders by Ergon, a Swedish company. So keep your eyes peeled for the Spring issue of Recumbent and Tandem Rider Magazine!
