Our new Serotta CSI Tandem

[Too Tall]

http://www.ahealinghand.com/images/general/CSItandem.jpg

[RABikes2]

Sweet...absolutely a sweet looking ride! :)

Wishing you both many happy miles on her!

RA

[bulliedawg]

Oh, my...

[weisan]

Fine looking machine!

Is that an adjustable quill stem you are using over there?

[quattro]

Too Tall, when you say new, you don't mean NEW do you? I mean, I own a 12 year old Santana tandem and it has a second down tube between the captain and the stoker to provide more lateral strength and resistance to flex. Most newer tandems I have seen, from any company, have added another down tube to account for flex. It seems that the Serotta build must be awfully flexy. So, what is its vintage?

[Too Tall]

This is a really old Serotta tandem and I WISH it were mine. The tandem belongs to a stalwart group of Blind riders who created a non-profit group that recycles tandems and used equipment for use by other blind riders paired with sighted captains. The fellow holding this is "Nino" and he was among the non-sighted racers "blinks" at a recent Olympic Training Ctr. Paralympic Development camp where I was fortunate to attend.

Pretty darn neat bike if you ask me.

So who was it said Ben won't build a tandem? Seems he just does not talk about it ;)

[M_A_Martin]

There's a Serotta tandem somewhere in our club here in Michigan.
I seem to remember a tandem showing up in a Serotta catalog.

Speaking of catalogs, on the cover of my most recent Title9 (title9sports.com for all you Chrismas shoppers out there) catalog there's a girl carrying a Serotta...mountain bike.

[cinelli]

Very cool bike! I would be a bit leary of the tandem without a lateral downtube for a seriously hilly ride, but it still looks great. Any ideas how many Serotta tandems there are in existence?

[cpg]

Too Tall,

Very cool. The rear drop outs look like track ends and yet there's provisions for deraillers. From the camera angle it appears to have very little drop like a track tandem but it has brakes and ders. What's up with that?

Curt

[fjaws]

Saw a very Hi zoot Serotta Ti tandem in Maryland two years ago.

[Too Tall]

Dunno the answer. I had the same questions..why? You have to appreciate these clever builders who were way way out there on a limb when designing that bike. I mean golly, road brakes on a tandem???? Could you feel the earth shake???? That was pretty darn smart and advanced thinking at the time.

I can only surmise that rearward track-like dropouts were a nod to anticipation of MOOSE-ive power of strong riders. In retrospect unnecessary but still a good thought. With a same side drive setup this bike probably could serve as a decent pursuit bike. According to "Nino" the bike feels plenty stiff and he says the boom tube is ovalized. "Nino" also said to apologize for the DORK bars as the bike is normally fitted with drops. For the record ol' Nino has ridden a few tandems so I trust his seat-o-the-pants assessments.

No kidding? Serotta had a tandem in their catalogue at one point???

That's it than!

Ben pls. build me and Queen a track tandem.

[M_A_Martin]

I'm sure they would, for a slight upcharge. And you might have to wait a while for it...

:banana:

[zap]

tt, i have a serotta catalog with a tandem in it. Also have an article on the serotta CoMo ti clone with Mavic Zap gruppo and other interesting bits attached to it.

Ever see a Hooker tandem. Now that would have made a sweet track tandem ;) Hmmmm, wonder if the jigs and BoM are still for sale :rolleyes:

Smiley, i believe, knows the guy who has/had a serotta ti tandem.

funny thing though. this guy who just got the serotta ti saw our CoMo tandem at a local shop prior to us taking delivery, and purchased a CoMo to compliment his serotta tandem.

last i heard, ben does not want to build a tandem. but that was at least a year ago and i heard it from smiley

[Too Tall]

It's really a mystery to me why Serotta would not build an uber-tandem...or two.

Yikes! I just got an e-mail from Nino who says this neat Serotta tandem is infact looking for a new home. Doh. Anyone interested pls. PM me here and I'll get you in contact with Nino.

[dbrk]

May we wax a bit about tandems? It is winter here. Our first snow cover on the mountain this morning.

Sometime around 1972 my brother and his buds at a shop on the Jersey shore built a tandem. The model they copied was a Gitane which I vividly recall being so noodle-like that it scared the wool off me. I rode stoker on both the Gitane and the Brooks Bros. He sold the bike for a pittance, as most used tandems are sold.

Every summer there is some sort of tour that comes through the Finger Lakes that is all about tandems, usually couples. So, in answer to Andreu commenting on our "new" 650B Mariposa, many of these bikes have larger captains and tiny stokers. Our Mariposa is a 61/50. Mike Barry says it is actually easier to build a bike with a bigger drop front to back than not. He knows a thing or two about building them, having done "oh, more than I can count..." and that with all the usual humility for which he is renowned. Mike has a photo of him riding a ten-er in England. He said it was hard to get going and that turning was, well nigh impossible. He has also built several triples and restored a quad for a fellow a few years back. The quad ---get this---was lugged! I remember seeing all the fittings laid out on the work bench; this bike was taken allll the way apart.

The most famous tandem of recent times has to be the Rene Herse that was ridden by Jan Heine and Jayne Hayworth (I think that is correct...) at the last PBP. I think the bike had been made in the 1940s. Their first in class showing was a tesitmony to beautiful bicycle design and to their great effort.

Among modern bikes the Spectrum tandems catch the eye, no? How about a tasty Vanilla? A Kirk with terraplane? Could terraplane be helpful on a tandem? Dave? A Goodrich (cause anything that fella' builds is remarkable)...Oh so many and my look at DaveP's Co-Motion single makes their offering very appealing. Gosh, palCraig localwise here has a Canondale mtn tandem that is a _blast_ to ride. And, oh, those old Ibis...(R.I.P.)...Serotta with those BIG tubes...whoa, no noodle there!

Moving one of these badboys is a major reason that resale is so very hard. We have no idea how we will ride anywhere but from our driveway. It's not worth it to me to invest in some huge rack and there's no way it will fit in the station wagon. Guess we will just have to ride it everywhere!
I've not been this excited about riding since the last great bike showed up. Gosh, I love bicycles.

dbrk

[Too Tall]

Wax on. I never get tired of all things tandem :) Jan's bike still kills me in a good way, just the thought of it. Such a beautiful design and function for the long (FAST) haul. It all makes sense. Maybe even the howling brakes too?

One of my racing pals calls me a tandem specialist. 'Suppose after all these yrs. racing I iz one....dam n things are addictive magical rare elevating :)

Dgls - Our CoMotion is too big for the Yak rack so I made an extended tray from some junk trays I found in the trash at a sporting goods store. The tray is attached on both front and rear bars. Use a long cinch strap with hooks to secure the seatpost to the rack end. Fork clamp and straps are all you need. I can snap a pic if that helps.

Last month we did sell our Santana and it fetched about 1/2 it's new 1990 price. It goes to a nice man who is driving down from Chicago to fetch it. He was very happy to get a tandem with 180 cranks :)