Our Calfee Journal

What the...!? Yes, that's our now 1-year old Calfee sporting a rear disc, mud guards (aka fenders), a Tubus Fly rear rack and Ortlieb panniers sitting on our dormant Bermuda lawn in the autumn: touring mode, if you will.

Given this is the last update, I've decided to move my 'Final Thoughts' to the beginning of this last installment as these really will be my final thoughts. Below these remarks you'll find a few comments regarding components, accessories and updates to previously unresolved issues. With that, we now embark on the final installment....

Final-Final Thoughts

A Frame for All Reasons: I decided to use the photo of our Calfee in its touring configuration at the masthead for this final update just to underscore the flexibility of what is normally considered a 'racing' tandem. This flexibility demonstrates the enigmatic nature of our Calfee that allows it to morph from 'show to go to touring' while always delivering a solid ride without compromising the comfort. So, even with its go-fast racing pedigree a Calfee really is a tandem frame for all reasons.

A Plush Ride: The often touted and impressive light weight of the Calfee frames, their excellent handling, stiffness to weight ratios, durability, and other traits define them as high-end performance tandems and are worthy of note. However, what seems to separate Calfees from other outstanding tandems in the high-end performance category is that comfort is not compromised for the sake of performance and is actually enhanced. Moreover, even though folks who own and ride Calfees will routinely make mention of the comfort, it still doesn't seem to be what draws most buyers to a Calfee. Instead, it is the aforementioned things -- weight, performance, etc -- and of course the caché that are usually the discriminators. Of course, after taking that first long ride and almost to a person, it is the unexpected plush ride qualities that still catches first time riders and new owners by surprise. In fact, our good friends and the owners of Tandems East recently took delivery of their own Calfee Tetra and shared their observations on the back page of their annual catalog, where Barbara wrote: "Our wait was well worth it. We finally understood this love affair everyone seems to have with Calfee bikes. It's lighter, faster and so comfortable. Riding was easier. No back, neck or hand aches at the end. We both felt great." So, in some respects, teams who are looking for a more forgiving ride may be the ones who could benefit the most and who should include the Calfee on their short list .

Frame Weight = 1/4 of the Tandem Weight Equation: The subject of frame-only and fully assembled tandem weight continues to be an interesting one. There is no doubt a suitably robust, stiff and comfortable 6 pound tandem frame can be produced and that's been the benchmark ever since the Calfee Dragonfly tandem came upon the scene several years back. Before then, the previous benchmark was set by Calfee's own Tetra tandem frame at something just under 7 pounds at a time when titanium and aluminum frames at 8 pounds was considered light.

Calfee Dragonfly Tandem

However, in more recent years builders such as former Calfee employee Brent Ruegamer of Rue Sports (no longer a going concern) have continued to push the lightweight envelope with their own carbon designs while the folks at Co-Motion have introduced the super light aluminum Macchiato, Hammerhead and Robusta frames. Additionally, this past year R&E Cycles unveiled an amazingly lightweight True Temper OX Platinum Trillium tandem. There's also Paketa, a magnesium offering and Santana's Team Scandium is one of their lightweight offerings. As to the actual weight of the frames, it's a moving target subject to the frame size, add-ons like S&S couplers and even the size / weight of the team. Therefore, unless you're comparing a small size Brand X to a small size Brand Y designed for a 300 lb team, it's really difficult to compare apples to apples. For example, Calfee will use more material and a larger diameter top tube for bigger teams noting that once a team weight hits 385 lbs there's even a $250 up charge for the added material and work. Thus, you can easily expect a large-size Calfee frame made for a 385 lb team to weigh more than a large-size frame made for a team that weighs 285 lbs. Now, imagine how much less a small frame made for a small team might weigh. This also underscores the need for second-hand buyers to make sure they do a serial number check with frame builders so they can be sure the tandem they are considering is suitable for their weight. We recently encountered a team looking at a Calfee that was several years old with 130mm rear spacing. A simple call to Calfee with the serial number (all found on the inside of the right rear drop-out) gave them the information they needed to make an informed decision. Getting back to team size and weight issues, it's worth noting that Co-Motion will advise larger teams interested in the Macchiato to look at the Robusta instead. The point being, there comes a point of diminishing returns where teams would be giving up stability and performance for the sake of weight savings and that's just a short-sighted poor trade-off. Regardless, at least when it comes to the gram wars consumers now have several options. Once again, it also pays to do your homework to make sure you find the right builder for your needs, expectations and desires.

Ruegamer Ying/Yang		Co-Motion Macchiato
Co-Motion Robusta		Rodriguez Trillium Tandem
Paketa Rocket V2		Santana Team Scandium

Surprisingly (or perhaps not surprisingly), the price point for the base models of these lightweight frames at this level are generally on par and not really a major discriminator. That is, UNLESS you venture into the realm of the domestically produced titanium frame options where higher material and fabrication costs drive a higher price point. As for off shore tandem frame production... domestic frame production is where I draw a line in the sand and tend to be pretty jingoistic. However, all of that said, unless you're: (a) an elite performance team looking for an edge, (b) have plans to attempt epic rides with epic climbs where every gram counts, or (c) are looking for bragging rights for having the lightest tandem in your circle of friends... the only true 'justification' for wanting a super lightweight tandem for the sake of being lightweight is pretty straight forward: it's because you want to and have the means to do so. 'Nuff said, eh?

The Other 3/4's = All That Stuff That Gets Attached To The Frame: It's one thing to have a lightweight tandem frame, but without equally lightweight components and wheels the net weight savings on a lightweight tandem frame is quickly wasted. After all, the frame still only accounts for about 23% of a fully-assembled 26 pound tandem and getting the weight out of that other 77% can get pretty costly. Moreover, adding couplers to a 6.5 pound Calfee Tetra frame adds 3.0 - 3.3 pounds; nearly a 35% weight penalty and something on the order of $1 / gram to get that weight back off. As you can see, a $4k frame can quickly morph into a $12k tandem. Therefore, if someone doesn't pay attention to component weights and other frame options, that hoped for or expected 26 pound tandem could easily grow to 33 pounds - 35 pounds. If you're gram counting you'll also want to cast a critical eye on all cited total tandem weights and be attentive to the size while also look for descriptions or caveats regarding what was and was not installed on the frame and included in the weight. Even our very light Speedplay Frog Ti pedals and Profile KK2 carbon bottle cages add 1.25 lbs to our Calfee. A pair of Campy Chorus ProFit pedals and stainless steel water bottle cages would add 2 lbs. Some of the superlight tandems will also be outfitted for limited use in very specific events where the parts selected for their lightweight may not stand up to long term receational use. And, finally, as noted for the frame weights, it would be critical to know if that small frame was built for a team that weighs 330 lbs or 230 lbs. So, my advice here is to go in with both eyes wide open if light weight is your primary objective. As noted above, there are several builders who can deliver a sub-30 pounds tandem. However, just remember you'll be attentive as you select your components to achieve those very light numbers.

Value for Money: As equipped, our Calfee continues to meet and exceed our expectations, which were frankly quite high. After all, we firmly believe our two Ericksons were among the best steel tandem frames anyone with an eye towards performance riding could find at the time they were produced and are still on par with some of the current frames that use more refined steel tube sets. The latter -- knowing where in the big scheme of things your current tandem sits in the hierarchy of offerings -- is important when trying to objectively answer questions about value for money in bicycle and tandem frames since, at the high-end of the market, the quantifiable differences become quite narrow. After all, if you're going to drop some serious coin on a tandem that costs as much as a SmartCar 'Pure', you really do want understand what 'good' means to you. More than one team has bought the wrong tandem and when that happens, the value for money is pretty darn low, as is the ROI at resale. Now, let me be clear: in my most humble opinion, paying 10 figures for a tandem bicycle is flat-out nuts unless your pockets are pretty deep. Given our pockets are only of modest depth, this puts us pretty darn close to the nut-job category. However, even so, given how much of our precious free time is spent together riding our tandems we believe the added-value of our Calfee's comfort, transportability, durability and repairability made for a sound buying decision.

Building a Custom Tandem: I've touched on this in earlier updates and will only mention once again that commissioning the design and fabrication of a custom bicycle or tandem is not for everyone, even folks who use a seasoned tandem specialist as their agent. In fact, having had several custom bikes and tandems made over the years the one thing I've learned is that each experience is unique and filled with its own nuances and issues. In fact, it's not at all unlike having any custom work performed in that no matter how hard you try to get everything down in writing and know for certain that you and your builder are on the same page, some things will simply not be as you expect while a few things may exceed your expectations. The devil's in the details and all bicycle builders are at the mercy of their suppliers and subject to their own whims, therefore you can almost always anticipate that some aspect of what you envisioned in your mind's eye will be different. Moreover, one-off machines like custom or semi-custom / built to order tandems are subject to incremental design changes (usually improvements) or material changes due to supplier substitutions and work arounds for shortages. However, at the end of the day and assuming you did your homework before selecting your builder, chances are you'll be pleased with your special tandem... even though it was delivered late or needed a little rework. Welcome to custom bikes. If it was easy and cheap everyone would have a custom bike.

Dealing With Calfee & The Other Key Suppliers: I touched on the outstanding support we received from everyone involved in this project back in the closing paragraphs of Update #11. However, it bears mentioning again that the folks at Calfee were great. Yes, there were some issues but they were all addressed in a win-win manner. Yes, our tandem frame was a bit late, but I knew it would be... all our custom bikes and tandems have been late. Through it all the key to success and what I feel is a positive long-term friendship and relationship was communication, communication and communication. Email has its limits and I actually tried to see if I could negotiate & build this tandem frame using nothing but Email and Snail mail correspondence. However, you just reach certain points where you need to pick up a phone and talk through things and such was the case with this tandem frame. Through it all Craig, James and the James Gang were a pleasure to deal with and I would not hesitate in recommending Calfee as a builder of choice. However, I would caveat that recommendation by reminding any would-be buyers to recognize not everything will be perfect. If you expect a custom tandem to be flawless on day one you'll be disappointed. Heck, very few production tandems are flawless on day one. However, with a little perseverance you WILL get to enjoy that perfect ride that only a custom tandem can provide.

What's left to be written that hasn't already been addressed?

Although my penultimate update back in August tied up many loose ends regarding open issues with creaks and squeaks and the little tweaks that were made to dial-in our Calfee, there are still a few open ends and other things to address in this final installment.

I'd like to say, "I'll be brief", but that will ultimately end up being far from the truth if past history is any indicator. Anyway, what follows is some commentary and photos on the rear disc installation and performance. Obviously, some commentary on the touring configuration and is called for so I'll touch on the Tubus rack, Ortlieb panniers and SKS fenders as well. Finally, there was still an open issue with regard to the Topolino wheels that I will address toward the end of this update plus one new observation that prospective Topolino owners will want to be attentive to regarding the cassette carrier.

Avid BB7 Disc Brake

With the fall weather is upon us, I finally did a full-fledged installation of the Avid BB7 Road rear disc brake on our Calfee in October so we could run the disc compatible 36° White Ind / Deep-Vs until spring '09. As in the past, installation was a no-brainer because of the caliper positioning (CPS) bolts and add-on compression spring. I make note of this because I'm often perplexed when I hear from folks who had the Avid BB7 fitted to their tandem, often times by a shop, where they were compelled to use brake boosters or compression-less brake housing to make the brake perform as designed. As mentioned in my numerous postings over the years, the only thing I've done to enhance the performance of the Avid discs we've had on our tandems is the insertion of a compression spring over the brake cable between the caliper cable stop and actuating arm. The purpose is to provide some additional pre-loading on the cable to remove excess slack from the very long brake cable run so that the first few millimeters of brake lever pull isn't wasted on pulling up slack. It also helps to ensure the brake caliper's actuating arm returns to its full pulled-back position and that seems to eliminate rotor rub.

As for performance, on our first day back on the Calfee with the Avid rear disc I intentionally over-used the rear brake to accelerate the bedding-in process over our 30 mile / 2,300' regular loop ride from the house. By the time we were headed down the 8% grade into our community I was able to get the rear wheel to lock using only the rear brake. The following weekend we did an in-town ride with three other couples. For those who don't know, the city of Atlanta and its surrounding communities north of I20 are actually quite hilly in many areas. Anyway, as I did yesterday, I intentionally overused the rear disc brake and by about 1/2 way through the ride the stopping power was well on its way towards what I would call "normal" for an Avid BB7 with 203mm rotor. It had been over a year since we'd ridden our Avid BB7 equipped '02 Erickson and it was nice to have a really grippy rear brake back on the tandem. While we really don't need it for most of the rides we do locally, it's wonderful to have when we head up to the regional mountains.

I need to make note that my previous installation was simply fit checks with the Rolfs and the White Industries MI6 when we first took delivery of the tandem. Those who have followed this journal may recall the MI6 rear hub with the bolt-on rotor made for a tight fit up against the Calfee's rear chain stay, in part because White Ind. seems to have a hard time maintaining I.S. spacing tolerances. I'm pleased to report there's more than enough room now that I'm back to using a thread-on DT adapter with the White Ind Daisy hub. This tight-fit between the rotor and rear stays has been noted by several Calfee owners and is something to be mindful of when ordering a Calfee. Craig Calfee has advised that so long as the rotor isn't touching the stay there is nothing to be concerned about, i.e., rotor rub or heat transfer. However, from a practical standpoint a tight fit will usually cause the rotor to nick and mar the inside face of the left chain stay during rear wheel installation and removal and that's clearly not desirable. So, as a lesson learned: Future Calfee buyers who intend to fit discs to painted frames should specify that at least an extra 1mm of clearance be added to the inside left rear chain stay to accommodate rotor installation and removal.

Of course, now that spring is upon us the disc has once again gone back into storage and been replaced by a rear rim brake caliper so we can use our non-disc compatible Topolino wheel set. The only thing I will make mention of here is after having the Avid rear disc on the tandem I was quickly reminded how poorly matched Campagnolo's 'Differential" caliper brakes are for use on tandems.

For those who don't know, Campagnolo sold its caliper sets with front & rear dual pivot brakes up and until 2001, at which point it decided a single pivot was more than adequate for single bike rear wheel braking duties. In fact, the single pivot was heralded -in as a way to mitigate rear-wheel brake lock-up while reducing the rear brake by 40 grams. While this was a prudent move for single racing bikes, it short-changed caliper brake-equipped tandems that benefit from the added braking power given the long wheel base and increased gross weight. So, when you hear the expression 'differential' what it means is the front brake is a dual pivot caliper and the rear brake is a single pivot caliper.

Anyway, I digress. The new data point and change here was making a decision to acquire a second set of Record skeleton brakes so I could modify the mounting bolt on the front dual pivot brake to allow for its use as a rear brake caliper. The modification required the disassembly of the caliper and then shortening and cutting new threads further up the mounting post. While I wouldn't recommend this modification to anyone who hasn't previously rebuilt brake calipers (after all, these are the things that stop your tandem), the results have been worth the effort. Having the dual pivot back on the rear wheel made for a noticeable improvement in rear braking power over both the single pivot skeleton brake and the '00 Record dual-pivot model. Of course, I'm now left with an excess pair single pivot Record skeleton calipers.

Travel & Cases

Fortunately or unfortunately, with all but the Santana Stowaways™ & the optional SafeCase™ you're left to come up with the best packing solution for your travel tandem. To become proficient at packing and unpacking it usually takes a few hours sitting there with your disassembled tandem to figure out the best way to make it all fit.

Fair warning - travel tandems aren't for everyone. In addition to being a very expensive option that adds upwards of 35% to the cost of a tandem, it takes patience and mechanical acumen to disassemble, pack, unpack and reassemble these machines. Therefore, unless someone plans to do a lot of traveling and is willing to spend time at the front and back end of their trip building-up and tearing down their tandem, a travel tandem may not be a prudent choice.

Note: Speaking of the cost of couplers, Calfee recently finished development work with S&S machine on a more affordable aluminum coupler to be used with carbon frames. When we bought our Calfee the Titanium couplers were the recommended material of choice and carried a hefty $2,875.00 price tag on what was already a fairly expensive $3,995 frame (fork not included), making it a 72% up charge on what was then a $6,870 frame. The new aluminum couplers are now a $1,995 option on the slightly increased $4,295 Calfee Tetra frame reducing that up charge to 46% for a total frame cost of $6,290, a $580 net cost reduction.

Once you've figured it out it's a pretty good idea to create a step-by-step photo show illustrating how you've decided to pack your travel tandem to use as a guide in the future. In fact, I do just that using PowerPoint and then tape the photos to inside lid of our travel case. Having those pictures eliminates the guesswork and always insures your tandem gets packed correctly with no stress and in the least amount of time.

Now, having lived with a travel tandem prior to taking delivery of our Calfee, I found using the padded Velcro™ stuff seemed to be more trouble than it was worth when it came to packing and unpacking. I would guess that working with the Velcro™ covers probably consumed more time than the actual disassembly and assembly of the tandem, noting I'm pretty good with erector sets. On the other hand, the Velcro™ does a really good job of protecting the frame during the disassembly / assembly process (assuming you tailor it such a way that it can stay on the frame throughout the process) and when the frame is packed in the case. Conversely, and looking back at the SafeCase™ or similar packing methods where foam sheeting is used, extra care must be used in handling the frame during the assembly and disassembly process as it's very easy to mar the finish of an unprotected, painted tube. The latter is again one of the reasons that I found the unpainted carbon to be an attractive option for a travel as are the unpainted titanium frames.

But I digress.... Again, I've yet to decide if I'll buy some more of the padded Velcro™ material for our Calfee, or if I'll do my own SafeCase™ foam inserts as previously mentioned. At present, all I have are the cases I acquired for our first travel tandem, noting I opted to hold onto those when we sold our beloved Erickson travel tandem.

By the way, you can find a plethora of information about how we packed the Erickson, photos of the entire process and packing cases HERE.

Mud Guards, Panniers & Racks.. oh my!

One of the last things I needed to do to put the finishing touches on our Calfee before doing the final wrap up was to make sure it would be able to support our future touring needs. Installation and check out of the rear disc brake ­ an essential part of our touring kit ­ was already addressed. Therefore, the things left to be addressed are mud guards, rear racks and luggage. Now, it goes without saying that hanging all of this 'stuff' on a fine machine like a Calfee tandem could strike some as a blaspheme; however, for us it was all part of the package.

Mud Guards: The mud guards were something of a trick since we purposely didn't ask for mudguard clearance or mounting hardware. Instead, it was my intention to double-up on the luggage rack mounting hardware spec'd for our Calfee (i.e., Calfee's threaded seat stay 'spuds') and then do some 'customizing'.

I should note, I've successfully installed mud guards on several racing bikes that didn't have any eyelets or other accommodations for mud guard brackets through the use of special zip ties and using caliper brake posts. This approach worked fairly well with the Calfee, although the very narrow opening I the Alpha Q fork and at the rear brake bridge did require some serious cobbling on the SKS fenders. In fact, my initial effort on the rear fender mount may still require some rework. In short, the front fender had to have a 3" section removed that was replaced by an aluminum bracket to connect the two halves and to attache the fender to the brake post. For the rear fender, a similar arrangement was used; however, zip ties are used to attach the fender to the rear brake bridge (noting the mud guards are only used in concert with the rear disc brake) and to the seat post. All in all, the installation scores about a 7/10 which while still well below a true touring bike installation made using hard points all around, is far better than the 4/10 solution that SKS Racer Blades score with their partial coverage and strap-on mounting.

Tubus Fly Rack & Ortlieb Panniers: I started doing my homework on racks and luggage in mid-November and after checking out the usual sources here in the states I decided to see how the pricing was at some of the European Etailers. I was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled onto the Wiggle site and found the Tubus racks and Ortlieb panniers I'd been looking at for prices well below anything I'd found thus far ... even in light of what was at that time still a strong British Pound. So, on November 26th I decided to pull the trigger with Wiggle and ordered up a Tubus Fly rack for £37.58 ($56.01) and a Tubus QR Kit for £16.47 ($24.54) to support a work-around to accommodate our short rear stays and the rear disc. I also ordered up a set of Ortlieb Back Roller Plus panniers for £79.65 ($118.72). The icing on the cake was "free shipping" and, as it turned out, no sales tax or duty. My order arrived in a mere week from Germany and while the Tubus racks and Ortlieb bags are really pricey, the engineering, materials, fit and finish are superb.

All said and done, I was quite pleased with the installation. I'd thought about buying the Tubus Disco rack designed to work with disc-equipped bicycles; however, Wiggle didn't carry that particular model and I just wasn't sure it would work as designed given where the rack mounts are on our Calfee. Therefore, I rolled the dice and hoped that with a little farm-boy engineering I'd be able to get the Fly to work and, well, mission accomplished. We rode our local loop with the Calfee in touring configuration a few times just to be sure everything would stay put under normal light-duty touring mode (i.e., jackets, street shoes and a change of clothes in the panniers) and it did just fine. I would also note we already have a very nice trunk bag that with the addition of a solid shelf on the Tubus rack will also work quite well when the panniers aren't the preferred choice for luggage.

Topolino Wheels

Back in my May 11 update I mentioned we were experiencing some hub / axle noise on the front wheel of our Topolino AX 3.0-T wheel set on hard, out of the saddle climbs. The support from Topolino was outstanding and Rafe Schlanger, Topolino's founder and president, even went so far as talking me through the front axle repair procedure over the phone -- essentially being his hands -- just to be sure the change was made per spec. The new axle ends added a small recess around the skewer hole and that seemed to solve the creaking noise associated with the slight fork slippage we experienced with the original flat faced axle ends.

However, once the original fork drop-out / axle end noise was silenced it became evident there was something else amiss with the front hub. Rafe had me send the front wheel to Connecticut for some quick-turn rework. After getting the front wheel back and confirming the second axle related noise was resolved, a bearing click had now developed. This necessitated a second return trip to Connecticut for the front wheel. Although they did not have a tandem at their disposal to use as a test bed for replicating the noise and could not replicate it on a single bike, the folks at Topolino went ahead and replaced the original front wheel with a new one under warranty.

With only a few hundred miles on the wheel before it was put away for the winter months it was rock solid and quiet. Fingers crossed, it will remain that way when we slap the Topolino wheels on here in the next month or so as the one-year limited warranty will soon expire.

Now, I did hint at a new 'discovery' with regard to the Topolino wheels. Prior to hanging up the wheels for the season I opted to go ahead a give the Calfee a try in 10 speed mode. Again, you may recall our Calfee was set up using Campy Ergo 10 shifters and a Campy 9/10 speed rear derailleur running Shimano 9 and 10 speed cassettes. The spacing has proven to be 'close enough' to work so long as you use the more narrow Shimano 9 and 10 speed chains. We'd logged over 3,000 miles on the Calfee in 9 speed mode over the balance of the first year and before putting the Topolino wheels away for the winter I went ahead and swapped out the 11x32t 9 speed XT and 12x27t Ultegra cassettes we'd been using for a 12x27t Ultegra 10 speed cassette that we used for about 200 miles.

The most significant difference in these cassettes is how the high-torque generating, taller sprockets (the ones with more than 17 teeth) are grouped together. As you can see in the photo above, the XT / mountain bike cassette has the 5 tallest sprockets attached to a one piece spider that distributes the loads on any one of the 5 sprockets over a large portion of the hub's cassette carrier. The Ultegra 9 speed clustered the 3 tallest sprockets together and then the next 2 tallest together which accomplishes almost the same thing and, in fact, makes the 15t sprocket the first single load bearing sprocket to sit on the carrier. However, as you can see the 10 speed Ultegra only groups together the 3 tallest sprockets and lets 19t and 17t sprockets individually bear the full brunt of the drive train loads on the cassette carrier through a very narrow 1.6mm contact patch. If that weren't bad enough, the individual Ultegra (and DuraAce) cassette sprockets are also missing a few spline teeth which exacerbates the loading on the remaining six. If the loads are big enough, the individual sprockets will be pressed into the standard lightweight aluminum alloy cassette carriers and create small indentations or dimples in each of the cassette carrier's splines.

As you can imagine, a tandem can easily generate 1.5x to 2x as much drive train loading as a single bike and for this reason most tandem-specific hubs use steel, stainless steel or titanium cassette carriers instead of the lighter-weight aluminum alloy carriers. However, for whatever reason, Topolino decided to use the same hard-anodized aluminum alloy cassette carrier on its AX3.0-T tandem-rated hubs as they do on their single bike hubs. Now, while the hard-anodizing makes the cassettes more resistant to dimpling, as you can see in the photo of the Topolino carrier (at right), it was no match for the super narrow, individual 10 speed cassette sprockets used for only 200 miles. Contrast the Topolino alloy carrier with the titanium carrier used on our Rolf wheel set (at left) that saw nearly 2,000 miles of use with the 9 speed Ultegra and XT cassettes.

Getting back to the Topolino hub, the 19t sprocket was actually embedded in the carrier when I attempted to remove the 10 speed cassette last fall. At first I was somewhat dumbfounded when only the 12t through 16t sprockets slid off the carrier as expected while the 17t was a bit stubborn and the 19- 27t sprockets remained firmly affixed to the hub. After looking at it closely I saw the 19t sprocket had become embedded in the carrier and used a soft plastic mallet to knock it loose. However, even after the 19t sprocket was loose it took some effort to get the rest of the sprockets past the displaced material around the dimpled cassette carrier's splines.

While the folks at Topolino acknowledged this was a known condition, it was not seen as a issue. While I don't necessarily agree with that assessment the only 'fix' I'm aware of is making sure I use cassettes that have at least the 5 tallest sprockets either fused together or that attach to the hub's cassette carrier via a spider.

Update: I was recently turned on to a solution for Shimano's 10 speed cassettes offered by American Classic . The folks at AC offer a set of shims and pins called "clip / pins' that slip into the three large spline openings where the three spline teeth have been removed and spread the loads on the high-torque generating loose sprockets over a large portion of the hub's splines. These little suckers only cost about $15 + $2 for shipping and can be bought directly from the very nice folks at American Classic. You can find more information on the clips at American Classic's web site "help" page (just search on clips). You can also see the instructions for how they are installed on an Ultegra cassette HERE. Finally, here is a photo of the clip-kit and a partially exposed clip installed on our Ultegra 10 cassette and Rolf wheelset. (click on photos for larger images)

Again, this is just something to keep an eye on for anyone who acquires a set of these highly desirable, uber-light wheels. Speaking of which...

That said, and aside from the issues I've already addressed, the Topolino AX3.0-T wheel set is still one of our favorites for some tangible and intangible reasons. Tangible reasons include the wonderful ride qualities, particularly on less than smooth roads and their insane light weight when faced with a lot of heavy climbing. Interestingly enough, neither of these characteristics are traded-off against a loss of stiffness or stability. On the intangible side of the equation is the bling factor: they simply look great on an all-carbon Calfee tandem.

However, the real question remains; are they worth $1,350.00? Unfortunately, much like the cost of a Calfee tandem, each prospective buyer will need to figure that one out based on their own value system. I only ventured into what I still consider the dark side of tandem wheels by acquiring the Rolfs and Topolino wheel sets to educate myself and gain some first hand experience with them so I could temper my intuitive assessment of their suitability for tandems.

At present, I still think a good set of conventional wheels is still the best value for money that anyone with a performance tandem can buy. However, if the budget allows for a second set of performance or "special purpose" wheels that may give a team a sight performance edge or make them enjoy their tandem a bit more, then these high-end wheel offerings are a good choice. They deliver sex appeal in a big way and do seem to offer a very slight performance edge. That said, if someone was looking for true racing wheels then that's what they should go and buy, e.g., HED or a Zipp 404 wheel set for time trails and other non-technical racing events. Push come to shove, for fast centuries or road racing the Rolf's with their slight aero advantage probably get the nod over the Topolino wheels. For supported ultra-distance rides over less than ideal roads or events with lots of climbing the AX3.0-T from Topolino would be a good choice, particularly if you're riding a steel, aluminum or magnesium framed tandem.

However, for any of these wheels that can't be fixed in the field, always give them a good looking over whenever you hear or feel something out of the ordinary, after they've taken a hit or on a regular basis during a monthly bike cleaning. And, well, I strongly encourage having a second set of wheels for every day use that can also be called up for duty in the event your go-fast wheels need some attention.

Thanks for sharing OUR adventure...