I was suprised to find a harsh ride with such a long wheel base. Those large aluminum tubes do not move ... for better or worse. It makes for a stiff frame but a fairly rough ride. I would recommend going with steel or, if you can afford it, titanium.
Similar Products Used: None. This is my first tandem.
Bike Setup: Ultegra
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Submitted by
jrbutcher
a Recreational Rider
from Newark
Date Reviewed: February 3, 2002
Strengths: Weight, efficient frame, nice paint, Ultegra crank set, great value, good component spec.
Weaknesses: 1) I would like to have some options with regard to a rear disc brake that can be actuated via the standard road lever. I'm still waiting for Hayes to actually sell the brake that was featured in an article in Velo News last year. {and presented as being available} 2) I have not been able to locate a tandem approved carbon fork with a 1 1/8 steerer. (Wound Up and Reynolds have models for 1 1/4 steerers) As light as the Cannondale is, I'd like to upgrade the fork and lighten the bike a bit at the same time. 3) I'll replace the Cane Creek headset with a Cris King this later this year. 4) Finally, purchase from a quality dealer like Exeter Cycles to avoid any potential customer service problems with Cannondale. This sounds like an advertisement for Exeter Cycles, but what can I say, they took great care of me and my purchase. I'll travel from Delaware to New Hampshire to purchase my next bike from them. They're that good. Thanks John, Eric & Ed!
Bottom Line:
This is an update of a March 2001 review that you can read below. The tandem now has over 4,500 miles on it. The bike has been ridden through most kinds of weather except snow. All of the corrections listed below have held up well. No problems have been experienced with the wheel set. No problems with the stoker seatpost that was replace under warranty.
This is a fun tandem to take on hilly rides with single bikes. It turns a lot of heads when we can stay with a fast moving group in the hills. Has good road manners when both riders are climbing out of the saddle.
Similar Products Used: Tested: Santana (steel & aluminum models), Co-Motion.
Bike Setup: Stock with Shimano SPD pedals, two different models of Selle Italia saddles, Flight Deck, Profile Ai
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Submitted by
Simon
a Recreational Rider
from Pittsburgh, PA USA
Date Reviewed: June 1, 2001
Strengths: Light, stiff, very good value for the spec, awsome shifting from the Ultegra/XTR mix, flexible frame sizes, cool color changing chromalusion paint, comfort, secure.
Weaknesses: Occassional pinging noises from the rear brake housing impacting aluminum tubes (tape fixes it).
Bottom Line:
Much better price/performance ratio than any other tandem looked at. Set up performed by West Liberty Schwinn was perfect -- shifting and braking perfectly dialed in and it has stayed that way. XL/S sizing sorked great for me (5'11' up front and my nine year old daughter in back, plus its adjustable enough in the rear for a 5'10" adult to still ride it just fine. No problems at all experienced with wheels, shifting or anything else referred to by other reviewers. This bike gets an unreserved 5 stars from me (but then we've never had to go to cannondale for service).
Weaknesses: None that weren't corrected. A wet ride resulted in a frozen suspension seatpost. The dealer replaced the seatpost with a new unit fitted with a seal kit at no charge. No further problems have been experienced with the seatpost after over 1,000 miles traveled in a variety of weather conditions.
Bottom Line:
Like some of the other 1999 Cannondale RT3000s reviewed here, the bike arrived with Shimano rather than Hugi hubs and rigid rater than suspension seatpost for stoker. Exeter Cycles provided a lower spec suspension seatpost for the stoker as a temporary fix until the Coda suspension seatpost arrived and let us keep the lower spec unit resulting in a spare seatpost. Exeter Cycles, in conjunction with the Cannondale Representative, arranged a fair credit with regard to the hub issue. We have had an excellent experience with our tandem for the past 18 months. Contrary to other reviews at this site, we have had a good experience with our drivetrain and wheel set. I suspect thorough preparation of the bike by Exeter Cycles resulted in the excellent reliability we have experienced. The bike even survived a bad fall with only minor cosmetic damage to the shift levers, left side pedals and small scratch on the frame. John Gromek, the owner of Exeter Cycles, was extremely proactive in solving the few minor problems we had. He made direct contact with Cannondale unnecessary. His service was great as usual!
Bike Setup: Stock Setup -w- Shimano SPD Pedals and Flight Deck, except we replaced the seats at the time of purchase. The bike shop gave a fair credit when we upgraded the seats to our preferences.
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Submitted by
Louis Du Brey
a Recreational Rider
from Klamath Falls, OR USA
Date Reviewed: December 14, 2000
Strengths: Stiff Frame, long top tube for the stoker, great paint job--Chrome Illusion paint
Weaknesses: This bike was one of the largest production tandems made in 1999. Big people ride this size of frame. Our team is over 400 lbs. We had a terrible spoke job on the wheels. The Shimano shifters were not reliable. The frame was noisy. The brakes would not stop us adequately. The manuals and support documentation were poor.
From the very beginning we had problems with both wheels coming out of true. There was poor tension on the spokes. The rear wheel was a nightmare: coming out of true, breaking spokes, and finally pulling eyelets out. This was a Mavic T217 rim. I had to pay a LBS to replace the rim and am still waiting to find out if Mavic will warranty the rim. I was out the cost of the removal and installation. The Shimano shifters failed frequently. I replaced the right lever 2x and the left 1x. The right lever would stick and quit shifting. The left lever shifted fine, but wouldn't update the flight deck computer properly with chain ring info. The frame would creak. Many hours were spent trying to find out why. The brakes were not adequate for anything but slower speeds. Even with the addition of the drag brake, we ended up getting ride of the XTR's with the knock off traveling agent. They simply were not able to stop us. There was a video welcoming the new user to tandeming. I thought that it might have some maintenance tips or riding tips. In reality this was a promotional tape for the Cannondale factory and had little valuable information to the tandem user. Going to the Cannondale web site was not better.
Bottom Line:
Unfortunately we bought our bike 300 miles away from where we live, which was the closest dealer that had large frame tandems to ride. Part of my frustration with this tandem was the drive back and forth to the dealer with warranty issues. The dealer was not sensitive to this and installed incorrect parts and failed to do a good job diagnosing problems. Calls to Cannondale were meet with indifference. Cannondale did not care that I was unhappy with the dealer support. Better yet, lack of support.
The initial out of pocket expense for this tandem made me feel like it was a great value. However, it is unlikely that I would purchase another Cannondale tandem no matter how good the value. Dealer support was poor as well as Cannondale's customer service. If you are reading this review because you are considering a new tandem, find a good LBS and have them order your tandem. If your are not sure of the size, take some time and travel to a larger city and ride different bikes. If you can, avoid buying a Cannondale. If you buy a Cannondale, I hope you have better luck than we did.
