Tetra Pro Our highest quality road racing frame made with high modulus filament wound tubes and gusseted laminated joints. 25 year warranty. 54 cm frame weighs 2.5 lbs.
Weaknesses: California sales tax to California residents.
Bottom Line:
Since my Tetra-Pro purchase carbon has come into its own and is now offered by most of the main marks. Construction techniques, materials, and country of origin vary dramatically offering the buyer a large selection of characteristics, purpose, weight, and style. In 2003 choosing a carbon frame was limited as many of these marks were experiencing design failure in both materials and ride characteristics. By this time the Calfee design was matured and race proven. Having ridden many, but no were near all the carbon offerings produced today, the Calfee has not been bettered in the combination of comfort and acceleration snap. There are other frames that can better the Calfee in these two areas individually but not together. Wheel design is easily distinguishable and is a key element in both of these areas. Much has been written about Calfee frames but what sparks this review so late in my ownership is the addition of Calfee's Bar / Stem. Within the first few meters of riding you realize you've been riding a hybrid using an aluminum bar nad stem. The Calfee Bar / Stem offer an obvious mechanical comfort and an amazing relationship between your hands and the bicycle. Cable routing and the shape of the horizontal portion of the bar are excellent. The bicycles ride now has a sense of oneness or a total system feel that the aluminum components simply cut off. Calfee offers a wide variety of off the shelf rises and lengths and widths as well as custom dimension and paint options. I'm sure opinions will vary but for me It feels like I have a new bike. Highly recommended!
Bike Setup: Tetra-Pro, all metal Campagnolo Record 10 speed groupo. Mavic Tubular Reflex SUP 36 spoke wheels by Chris Robinson, San Leandro, Ca., Selle SMP Pro saddle, Speedplay peddles, Fi'zi:k Microtex bar tape, Arundle bottle cage.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
tradesmith45
a Recreational Rider
from
Weaknesses: Weighed a little more than I expected. I’m dreading the first scratch in the beautiful fade paint job. It took some modification to the pump handle to get a full size Blackburn CF pump to fit within the left seat stay. This is the only possible location for a full size pump I can see.
Expensive
Bottom Line:
This is a review of a Calfee Tetra-Pro with S&S Couplers. I bought this bike to travel to challenging multi-day supported rides like the BTC or GABA and club riding at home. With Ti S&S couplers, Campy Record 10 drive train, levers & brakes, FSA Team Carbon triple cranks, K-wing bars, FSA Ti BB, Specialized Pave seat post, SLK Gel saddle, Rolf Élan wheels, Michelin Carbon Pro tires, Speed-play stainless spindle pedals, and paint this bike weighs 16.8 lbs. All the extra materials needed to secure the S&S couplers into the carbon tubes plus the couplers adds about 8-9 oz. to the bike. Still, this is probably the lightest coupled bike you can find. All the steel & Ti frames w/ couplers I considered weigh 0.75 to 1.0 lbs. more. If you are going to do lots of travel, an unpainted Ti frame may be a better choice with a little sacrifice in weight.
My previous ride was an old Vitus Carbon-3 with 28 & 32 spoke wheels and a mix of Campy & Shimano components. It was sub-20 lbs. It was a good climber but a squirrelly descender. The Calfee is an even better climber. The very light Rolf wheels give the bike a really light feel in descents and it has taken me awhile to realize the bike is anything but squirrelly – it will go exactly where it is pointed in turns and is rock solid. Of course the frame is plenty stiff enough for me at 150 lbs and does the usual job soaking up rough pavement – though not as well as the old Vitus.
Strengths: Stiff and smooth ride. Feels good from the start. Accelerates great. Definitely and upgrade from my Colnago CT1
Weaknesses: None so far.
Bottom Line:
Bought new never built up from Roadbikereview classfied ad. Bike is a beautiful Dark green with Black decals. Color changes in different lights to deep purple blue. Great ride light and stiff with a FSA carbon crank.
Strengths: Tremendous acceleration and a great climber. Wonderful finish and attention to detail. The ride is particularly smooth, and little vibration is transmitted through the frame to the rider. The bike is a great cornering machine especially when riding from the drop position. Every other rider looks at it and admires it.
Weaknesses: A little twitchy in high speed descents, i.e., 40 plus mph.
Bottom Line:
Tetra Pro with cobalt blue clear coat, and full Dura-Ace components. Mavic Kysrium SSC's and Fizik Arione saddle.
Submitted by
fbastos
a Triathlete
from Gainesville
Date Reviewed: March 26, 2003
Strengths: Lightweight, stiff, great craftmanship
Weaknesses: none
Bottom Line:
very high quality frame. I have been sponsored by many other frame builders, and the Tetra pro is by far the highest quality frame I have ridden so far. It is light, yet stiff, and very responsive. It also looks fantastic!!!
i just got an irs " by mail" audit, had a huge error in our 2003 return and now owe just over 8k in taxes, penalties, and fines.
Has haliburton not paid the gov't back or someth Read More »
Considering these two choices... Calfee Tetra Pro with Reynolds Ouzo Pro fork and King HS, or Look 585. They're both pretty close in price, so I was hoping to hear all of your op Read More »
i just wanted to drop a thread about my calfee tetra pro that i got a few months ago....i've been riding it few times now (a century and some 40-60mile rides) and it is truly a gre Read More »
I'm in no way associated or involved in this auction. Just thought it looked sweet. Some obvious wear but luv the finish. It's almost, but not quite, my size. [url]http://cgi.e Read More »
