Cycling in and around Union County, NC
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No new news, but we didn’t really expect any. I knew that Brent was going to show some stuff, including a new Mountain Bike frame at Interbike in Las Vegas. I am sure he has been busy, now I hope he will get started working on our tandem.
Decided not to use the Easton bar on the tandem and instead put it on Nicole’s single bike. In the mean time there have been a few other upgrades to some of the existing selections.
report
With so many things decided, it is time to discuss some of the other “build kit” for the new tandem.
Stems, two of them. When designing the tandem we wanted to use as many non-tandem specific parts as we could. Using two road stems was one area we could get away from using the adjustable stoker stem. We will be using Ritchey WCS 4-Axis 44 stems. The front Captain’s stem is a 120 mm and the rear Stoker stem is 130 mm. The Ritchey stem is light and strong and a good looker too, especially in the new “wet black” finish.
The last post spoke about most of the drive train components this time we are going to discuss some of the other parts that go into building a bike, particularly wheels.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that knows Nicole and I that we always look at performance first, then light weight, then ease of maintenance when it comes to wheel choices. You might also be aware of the fact that although I have a few clincher wheel sets in my possession that I ride and love tubular tires. This tandem will be shod with tubular wheels.
While the rest of the country tries to decide who they will vote for for President, Nicole and I are making much more important decisions. These decisions will affect our riding and training for perhaps years, well after our next president has come and gone. We are making choices about the component selection for our next tandem!
I had an opportunity to talk to Calfee’s Sales Manager and Brent Ruegamer directly. They were both very engaging fellows. They do take slightly divergent paths to accomplish the same thing.
Calfee seems very content building stock bikes in standard sizes and charges a premium for any kind of custom work. This is understandable and I am absolutely fine with that business model, As long as it fits what difference does it make really how you get there.
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