Calfee Dragonfly Tandem 22.4 lbs ["Best Tandem" at NAHBS]

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Ritterview
Posts: 557
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 2:28 am
Location: Northern California

by Ritterview

We've had a tandem for 18 years, and now want a road tandem that we can take on centuries, group rides with fast singles, etc.

I wanted carbon, naturally, and so turned to Calfee, the premier (and only) maker of carbon tandem frames. Their lighter frame model is the Dragonfly.

I started with an Excel spreadsheet from Calfee of their usual build, and started making changes.

To equip an build the bike I turned to Fairwheel Bikes. Jason ‘Madcow’ Woznick was amazingly helpful, as he knows what will and won’t work. For example, he got the Campy 11 speed to work with the triple, which wasn’t supposed to be possible.

Because Edge Composites is such a favorite at Weight Weenies, I’ve used Edge everywhere possible. They made a prototype tandem fork from their 2.0. This bike will be in the Edge booth at Interbike.

Until now, their haven’t been any good tandem cranksets. The default crank has been an FSA SLK. I brought this dearth of cranksets to the attention of Tim Brummel at Lightning, and pointed out to him that he already had a triple. He responded by making this prototype tandem crankset, that is 1.25 lbs lighter than the FSA, which makes it the bike’s most valuable WW component.

The photographs are of the bike at Fairwheel last week, just prior to being shipped to Utah, for pre-Interbike fluffing. It will there get its Edge seatposts (and Specialized Toupes), not in the picture.

The weights are a mixture of the actual weighed items, the best weights available on the Internet (with links), and a few estimates. The bike hasn’t been weighed yet. Spreadsheets usually turn out optimistic, although I don’t know where that would be. So, it will probably end up heavier, and make this spreadsheet weight look like a boast. :oops:

The prices listed are full retail. Don’t ask me what I paid, it wouldn’t be polite. ;-)

Please see the build spreadsheet, which is a lot easier to peruse, it can be seen at Google docs, and downloaded as a full-function Excel file here.

Component................Make.....................Model................................Weight
Tandem Frame...............Calfee...................Dragonfly..............................2930
Paint...............................Calfee...................Cabernet Red.......................280
Fork...............................Edge.....................2.0 Tandem.........................380 (uncut)
BB Eccentric..................Calfee..................Calfee Eccentric.....................116
Headset...........................Cane Creek.........AER…….................................45
Captain Bar....................Edge ....................Road Bar..............................204
Captain Stem.................Edge....................Stem (120 mm).....................128
Stoker Bar......................Edge ...................Road Bar..............................199
Stoker Stem....................Calfee.................Adjustable Stoker................261
Captain Seatpost.............Edge...................Seat post...........................165
Stoker Seatpost...............Edge..................Seat post............................165
Captain Saddle................Specialized........Toupe SL Carbon.....................112
Stoker Saddle..................Specialized.........Toupe SL Carbon...................112
Grips/Tape.......................Lizard Skins......DSP (x2) .............................106
Timing Drive, Belt..........Gates................. Carbon Drive Belt..................105
Timing Drive, Rings.......Gates..................Timing Rings x2.....................190
Captain Crank.................Lightning...........Carbon Crank.......................439
Stoker Triple crank.........Lightning...........Carbon Crank Ti triple.............525
Chainrings…….............…………TA……….....……Hegoa 53, 39, 30……….......….180
Chainring bolts…...........………TA………....…….Bolts…………………..............……30
R/D.................................Campagnolo... ...Super Record 11……... ........193
F/D.................................Campagnolo... ...2006 Record Triple.............119
Shifters...........................Campagnolo... ...Super Record 11................338
Cassette.........................…Campagnolo ...Super Record 11 (12-27)…..…204
Chain .........................Campagnolo........Record 11…………................255
Front Caliper Brake….........ee cycleworks….. eebrake..............................91
Rear Caliper Brake........ ee cycleworks…... eebrake...............................91
Cables……………...........…..Nokon/Campy….…Alloy Housing........................231
Tires(2).........................Specialized ........ S-Works Turbo Race............400
Tubes (2).......................Specialized...... Turbo Ultralite....................100
Front Hub......................DT Swiss........... 240s Radial.........................109
Front Spokes..................DT Swiss......... DT Competition...................169
Rear Hub.......................DT Swiss........... 240S Disc............................276
Rear Spokes..................DT Swiss.............DT Competition....................169
QR Skewers (2).............KCNC................. Ti MTB................................47
Front Rim.......................Edge..................68 Clincher.........................470
Rear Rim.......................Edge...................68 Clincher.........................470
H20 Bottle Cages (x4)...Specialized….....…S-Works Carbon …....................93

Total Weight........................................................................10.38 kg/ 22.88 lbs

Add…

Pedals (2 pair)…………...Look.................Keo Blade……….....................380

Total weight ..........................................................................10.76 kg / 23.72 lbs

Add...

Water bottle cages (x4)...Specialized……S-Works Carbon ….......................92

Total weight .....................................................................10.85 kg / 23.92 lbs

Image


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Last edited by Ritterview on Fri Mar 12, 2010 8:11 am, edited 9 times in total.

Raxel
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Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2008 3:41 pm

by Raxel

Wow, I have never seen such a thing like WW tandem bike in my life. :shock: :shock: :shock:
What it feels like to ride a good tandem road bike? Can you easily smoke all other riders on the trail?

But I cannot see the pic...

by Weenie


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Powerful Pete
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by Powerful Pete

Raxel, the pics don't work. I have already pm'd Ritterview about this as I am desperate to see the pics too!
Road bike: Cervelo R3, Campagnolo Chorus/Record mix...
Supercommuter: Jamis Renegade...
Oldie but goodie: De Rosa Professional Slx, Campagnolo C-Record...
And you can call me Macktastik Honey Pete Kicks, thank you.

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FACT
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by FACT

Gotta see this! :o

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Ritterview
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by Ritterview

A thousand apologies on the pics. The gmail pics looked great on my computer, not so for anybody else.

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Powerful Pete
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by Powerful Pete

Ritterview, we forgive you. And congrats. That is a hot bike. We would, however, appreciate a few additional close-ups of all the luscious bits you mentioned in your first post!
Road bike: Cervelo R3, Campagnolo Chorus/Record mix...
Supercommuter: Jamis Renegade...
Oldie but goodie: De Rosa Professional Slx, Campagnolo C-Record...
And you can call me Macktastik Honey Pete Kicks, thank you.

mrfish
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by mrfish

This is about as cutting edge as it gets in tandems. Carbon frames aren't common - Calfee has produced about 200 to date, others only a handful. Then you can count on a one or two fingers the number with Edge rims, Campag 11 speed triple, belt drive and a full set of light carbon cranks. It's lovely, and also built for riding not as a show-only pony.

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Ritterview
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by Ritterview

Powerful Pete wrote:Ritterview, we forgive you. And congrats. That is a hot bike. We would, however, appreciate a few additional close-ups of all the luscious bits you mentioned in your first post!


The tiny pics lost some resolution, I'll post a better view later. I don't have any more pics, because I haven't had the bike. Hopefully some more people will be taking and posting high quality pics of it September 23-25.

gamma_ray
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by gamma_ray

Nice to see a tandem here on WW!! But 2 91 gram brakes for a tandem plus 2 people :shock: that must be at least 150 kgs to deccelerate... Looks good nonetheless 8)
I hurt myself today
To see if i still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing thats real.

my introduction here:http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=63830&start=0 UPDATED!!

Geoff
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by Geoff

Amazing. Love the cranks...

klingej
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by klingej

Amazing bike, everything about it rocks!

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djconnel
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by djconnel

FANTASTIC. Wow -- that's drop-dead gorgeous. Davis Double? :)

The_Dude
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by The_Dude

That thing is super bitchin. The stoker has gotta have long arms to reach that front bottle, though. And I would like to see disc brakes.

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Ritterview
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by Ritterview

I've cropped and substituted higher resolution pics from Flickr.

gamma_ray wrote:Nice to see a tandem here on WW!! But 2 91 gram brakes for a tandem plus 2 people :shock: that must be at least 150 kgs to deccelerate... Looks good nonetheless 8)



Fear not the brakes for our 305 lb team, these are ee brakes, which are the only tandem worthy sub-200 gram calipers. Check out the Velo News Review. I entered their data into a spreadsheet. Then I made a scattergram with Excel (and that not very well).

Anyway, the scattergram shows that the eebrake (circled) is all alone in its quadrant of light (<200 gm) but strong (deceleration >8 m/s/s).


Image

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djconnel
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by djconnel

I'm sure the brakes will be adequate. Still....
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by Weenie


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