I bought a Cannondale tandem for almost £2000...it arrived and I just felt stupid...so much money spent, so I didnt ride it at all and managed to sell it on for what I paid !!...but I still wanted a tamndem, a vendor had this Viking advertised and the spec lookes good, so I bought one
OK...I weigh 14 stone and my son is about 8 Stone, and we have used this tandem extensively with no issues...the frame is superb, alloy and lightweight...it has all the required bosses for carrier, mudguards, front carrier and most importantly front and rear disc mounts AND AND rear mounts for canti/Vbrakes...so in my case I have an additional Magura HS33 hydraulic rim brake which is operated by the stoker
The only thing that was not good enough for our purposes is the supplied disc brakes...they are rubbish BUT, I dont mark the bike down for this as the bike can easily have better discs fitted with hardly any fuss and how could a manufacturer supply high end brakes at this price ?...everything else though is top notch
In our case we have a shimano Deore front hydraulic disc, and I used the existing cable and changed the rear for a Avid cable disc, with nice big discs....added to the Magura HS33 rim brake on the back...its superb now
All the fittings are alloy and good quality,the bars , stems..specialist items for tandems are expensive...so these are a bargain
Transmision is Shimano Acera with a decent pair of twistgrips...all works well
Now Wheels...they have been fine even under heavy use..it used to be the case that you had to pay way way more for tandem parts, but these standard mountain bike wheels have been excellent...off the peg mountain bike parts are now well up to the job
This is a brilliant high quality tandem..I am 6Ft.00 with a 33` inside leg and I can ride this bike OK, its very comfortable, I have the seatpin extended, and I fitted a longer stem (takes only minuites these days with front loading stems)
With the exception of the brakes, this bike is good to go...fit some mudguards, a rear carrier and upgrade the braking ...the frame is just as good as tandems costing three times as much...fantastic fun
This is a proper proper tandem frame..eccentric bottom brackets, all the fittings, its NOT a cheap compromise, I might just add that Viking also sell a touring version of this tandem with 700C wheels, which also looks superb, Highly recommended, dont listen to all this stuff you will hear from people who want to get £1500 out of you, for most purposes..even keen riders like us, this tandem is the business
Reviewed by: Amazon Reviewer Rating:  Date Reviewed: 30Jan2009 |
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