# Sea Otter XC upgrade



## Hollywood (Dec 30, 2003)

Aosty and I reunited this year for another run at the Sea Otter XC course on his beater Univega. Me reprising my role as uber-stoker. We pre-rode the course on a very warm Friday, flatted twice, wrecked once, sending me into a sh*tty mood about the whole idea :madmax:

On Saturday I strolled by the Calfee booth and noticed their full-carbon mtn tandem show bike. 29er with Zipp 303 rims, Chris King hubs, full Di2 drivetrain, White Bros fork and Calfee's one-piece bar/stem combos front & rear. Total weight < 30 lbs.

the price tag? $20,000. :eekster:

Craig Calfee was chillin' on one of his bamboo bikes. We chatted for a minute and I joked that he should let us race his tandem the following morning. And instead of laughing me out of the venue, he paused and said "Hmmm, what time is the race?" 

Huh?

Within 10 minutes he had made a few phone calls to check on the bike's status and commitments and cleared it for us to use. He was loaning it to us to beat up for 20 miles without so much as a drivers license. Craig rocks! (disclosure: we've met before so aosty and I weren't complete strangers, but still...)

We ran back to get our pedals and picked up the bike an hour later. Wow. That had an amazing effect on my mood too!

That was the good news. The bad news was that the bike had only really been show-prepped and not race-prepped. We suspect some loose chainring bolts, a new King hub that had some play and some other factors were the cause of us shrapneling most of the drivetrain by Mile 10 and ultimately needing a SAG truck to drive us back to the start. Bummer. We still had a blast, Calfee felt terrible and have promised us a do-over next year. Stoked!

Before & After pics


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## banks (Feb 2, 2004)

huh, no Gates Carbon Drive timing setup.


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

banks said:


> huh, no Gates Carbon Drive timing setup.


Bad idea on a mtn tandem. No field fix for broken belts, too much misalignment with frame flax under heavy torque. Call me a retrogrouch, but when they come out with quick links for broken belts, it'll be a viable option. 
Nice Calfee tandem though.


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## giff07 (Jun 7, 2010)

Why are the fork tubes sticking up through the top triple clamp. Shouldn't they be flush? At 20 grand I REALLY like my Ventana. Very cool of Mr Calfee to let you race it though. I assume it is a proto type.
Ed and Pat Gifford
the Snot Rocket tandem


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## malaclemys (Oct 22, 2010)

Good question about the fork Ed. WB recently asked us to replace the lower crown of our Magic 100T on our Fandango. Our LBS followed the detailed instructions to the letter and now our fork looks like the one on the Calfee. I guess they (WB) were able to raise the arch thus decreasing the required length of the fork legs. The only thing to do w/the excess is run it out the top crown. In the end I think it is a good thing for us since it decreased the height of the front end (@25mm) and increase the head angle. Considering 99% of our riding is single-track cross country in less than hilly terrain faster steering will not hurt.


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## giff07 (Jun 7, 2010)

Hi Jamie,
I had heard that WB was doing some mods to the 29er Magic fork. I didn't realize that would be the result. Of all the components on our Ventana the fork is the part that I am least happy with. I feel it is way over sprung for our team weight and we are not what I would consider a light team. It must be even worse for you and Jen. It will be the first thing replaced.
Ed


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## ebnelson (Oct 30, 2006)

giff07 said:


> Why are the fork tubes sticking up through the top triple clamp. Shouldn't they be flush? At 20 grand I REALLY like my Ventana. Very cool of Mr Calfee to let you race it though. I assume it is a proto type.
> Ed and Pat Gifford
> the Snot Rocket tandem


That is just setting the head angle a bit steeper.


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