Cannondale Tandem

Just picked up this glorious cannondale tandem on ebay. Very very excited about it.

Not sure which model it is, or really anything about it. It's in Birmingham so myself and the co-pilot will be getting the train there and doing our first tandem ride over 100 miles back in a day... which should go well.

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Going to do quite a lot of work to it, want to turn it into more a light tourer/ racer in the style of this one below.

Also going to look for a 1 inch ahead fork as I can't be doing with threaded steerer..

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That's a beauty. Nice find and good luck with the build

Amazing find. Subbed

Looks like an MT3000 maybe?
Looks like a great starting point!

Always wanted one of these.

beaut

Looks like an R300. Awesome.

What size wheels are they?

Thanks :)

Not sure on wheel size or any details really, it was being sold on behalf of someones parents who sadly can't ride it anymore. This is the other picture below.

The Co-pilot and I are quite similar in height & build - will this create problems?

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Nice, tandems make you happy.

What do you mean by problems? As a rule of thumb, American tandems have more top tube on the stoker section, which should give you some flexibility in terms of fit.

Talking of flexibility, is that aluminium?

I've ridden one once before, a day spent cruising around Berlin and it filled me with joy, and in spite of it being a POC, it was RAPID, so excited to see what this could do.

I always (perhaps mistakenly) thought you want to have a bigger/heavier/stronger captain and than the stoker?

And yes... it is I think. So it won't be the most supple of rides, particularly with those Marathon tyres too.

d day is almost upon me, going this Saturday to collect the Tandem with the stoker from Birmingham, with a lovely 120 mile return journey!

Looks like a cracking tandem, no one does aluminium quite like Cannondale did, loads of room in the back and proper tandem wheels.

Have you ridden one before? I was in a somewhat similar situation to you when I bought mine 2 years ago, my brother who lives in Birmingham picked it up and the plan was for me to get the train up there and cycle it back the 20 miles from central B'ham to Leamington one evening.

Upon getting there, we found that 2 x 6'2" oafs thrashing about took a a fair while to ride in anything resembling a straight line. After an hours riding around the block barely staying upright, we didn't trust ourselves to be let loose in central B'ham traffic and so retired to the pub. I ended up taking it on a train to Milton Keynes and riding on to Reading solo. There are precious few services which take tandems but there is a specific type of 'Virgin Trains' class which take them and I believe they run between B'ham and London.

I don't wish to discourage you from what I'm sure will be a great maiden voyage. And I must say that when riding the tandem with novices since, no team seem to be quite as bad as me and my brother were. But it might be worth thinking about a plan B in case it proves too ambitious (God, I sound like my mum, sorry).

Thanks Michael, sound advice. I've spent a day riding one before so I'm fairly confident that it wont be a complete shock, but last time was also with someone half my weight, whereas like you my new stoker and I are both stout and 6ft +

We're going to be there and on the road by 9, the 120 mile route has only about 3,500ft of climbing, and we've got a forecasted tailwind so the conditions are as favourable as they could be - so we're going to give it a go. But yep, I think I might do a little bailout research just in case..

Good luck. Let us know you got home safely...

Thanks!

Worked out this route which looks alright, unless anyone wants to warn me off something unexpected..

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/13634813

The Chiltern 'mainline' trains from London Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street (via Banbury etc) have old style driving van trailers with plenty of luggage room - much more space than a Virgin Pendolino. These trains don't run on every service, mind you.

But they do explicitly state they won't carry tandems on their website. No idea why given they could if they wanted...

Thanks for this - looking very sorry for oneself often gets around bans on things like tandems.

I suspect that their tandem policy was written before they introduced these new (old) trains.

Most of Chiltern's normal services are run using class 165/168 DMUs which certainly wouldn't accept a tandem - hence the policy.

These 'Mainline' express services use old fashioned locomotives and coaches, and in theory would fit a tandem in the DVT... but yes it's true if you get a particularly officious jobsworth guard then they may not let you on!

This page has a list of services that the loco+coaches are running on.

I wouldn't rely on it, but it's a potential escape plan if all else fails...

120 miles = 240 miles in tandem years. Good luck.

Just FYI when I brought back my tandem from Southampton to London I just risked it and took it on a train regardless, and no one challenged me. Just in case, there's always the option to just risk it.

Was that on South West trains? Very useful to know, we want to go to the New Forest.

Good luck for the ride today!