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A week at Lago di Garda (Italy)
on my Tandem Technology Pinus Cembra

Original ride report as sent to Tandem@Hobbes, the international email list for tandem enthusiasts, on June 9, 2001:

"I'm back from a week of off-road cycling at Lago di Garda in the Italian Alps. I had driven down there a month ago to do a long-distance race on the tandem. Last week returned with five friends for a few days of relaxed cycling and enjoy the terrific scenery. Of course we had brought my new full-suspension off-road tandem along. Did you know that an ordinary Mazda 626 station wagon can fit two people, one tandem, four singles, 14 wheels, a few bags, and two more singles on the back without problems?

Like all Alpine lakes in Northern Italy, Lago di Garda is a long lake formed by ancient glaciers. It is situated in a very narrow valley, surrounded by steep, almost unsurmountable cliffs on either side. The main mountain biking area is on the northern end. The best places to stay are the villages of Torbole, Riva, and Arco. We had rented a small apartment in the oldest part of Riva near the harbour. The downtown location brought with it some problems as far as storing the bikes: We brought the bikes up into our appartment after every ride, and left the tandem in the car.

The valley is so narrow that the two roads running south on either side are literrally carved into the cliffs. In fact, the western one is closed right now because the brittle limestone found in the region recently burried several sections of the road. The region has for many years been a favorite spot for freeclimbers. It wasn't until the mid 1990s that Mountain Bikers discovered it. By now it has become a suburb of Munich of sorts, as it is only a three to four hour drive south of Munich. It is also a favorite vacation spot for wealthy Milanese, as it is about two and a half hours away from Milano.

The terrain is extremely rocky. I brought my FS single and tandem. If I were to live there year-round, I certainly wouldn't have bought a XC bike with only 3" of travel! The tandem has almost 6" of travel front and rear.

Good maps of the region are hard to find, but would be needed as most of the steepest trails are either not rideable at all or only in one direction. However, a German author has published two books containing about a hundred MTB tours. Several bike shops offer guided tours. My long-time stoker Evelyn who was also along on the trip worked as a guide for two summers. To get a first impression of the terrain look at the following pictures:

Passo di Tremalzo | Old road out of Riva

We had driven to Lago di Garda to enjoy a week of relaxed cycling and enjoy the scenery. We had neither set out to ride the wildest trails, nor had we planned to spend all our time testing fancy components. However, we did ride one long tour every day, and we didn't do much else besides ride, eat, and sleep. We didn't even have time to wathc
the Giro d'Italia coverage on TV but had to rely on reading the Gazetta dello Sport at breakfast instead. Luckily this sports-only newspaper contained about ten pages daily only about the Giro, so we didn't miss anything.

We had originally planned on trying sentiero (trail) 601, supposedly one of the toughest downhills of the region, on the tandem. I'm pretty sure nobody has ever done that on a tandem before. That's a trail I wouldn't even attempt on my FS single, but loan a long-travel bike with a more upright seating position instead. However, the Votec fork turned out to be rather scary on extreme descents. Despite new bushings it would shudder violently under heavy breaking. The legs are simply not really up to the task of hard-core tandem riding. I'm really looking forward  to getting the new Rond Mid Ego some time this summer.

We did ride some pretty gnarly trails, though. Looking up from Riva towards the West, all one can see is very steep mountain covered sparsely with trees. Most of seems to be way to steep to even walk up. Evelyn informed us that those trees did hide a great downhill trail, however, so naturally we set out to discover it. And what a downhill it was! Extremely steep and extremely rocky in the upper sections, and simply scary steep but paved in the lower half. The others couldn't follow us on the tandem, but they said they smelled our brakes the entire way!

The other extreme trail worth mentioning was the steepest uphill I have ever ridden: A 4 km section with almost 600 m of altitude gain (2.6 miles, 2000 ft). Not particularly fun to ride, but we chose to do it because it is part of a beautiful tour with great vistas over the valley and also because it lead up to a place called Monte Velo. The name has nothing to do with bicycles, but still a great goal for a bike tour. We also wanted to ride it on the tandem especially, to really test the Rohloff Speedhub. Part of the reason why I outfitted the new tandem with this 14-speed internal gear hub, after all, was that I had seen so many freehubs fail under heavy tandem loads, and Rohloff promises that their Speedhub is better. And what can I say: The hub held up! We are prouder that our legs did hold up too, of course, but unlike the Speedhub our legs are not for sale.

The new bike and all components held up fine - with one exception. The new Magura Gustav M brakes performed wunderfully. They provided perfect one-finger braking even in the steepest sections. No fading, no squealing, just some ugly smells for the following riders. The new, larger 190 mm rotor in the rear did provide noticeably increased brake strength. And the new levers (which I exchanged just the week before because my brakes had been affected by the recall of the first-series 2001 Gustav Ms) did not leak.

The same holds for the Rohloff Speedhub, the other fancy component on the bike. The problem is between these two components: We warped the rear rotor, a special item to be used with Rohloff own mounting pattern. I suspect that the large-diameter 4-bolt mounting pattern can create problems on extended downhills. We will investigate this problem further.

We went to fatter tires with each ride. My original thinking had been: Dry rocky trails = semi slicks. Stupid! Lago di Garda trails require the fattest tires you can fit! The 2.35" Schwalbe Fat Albert up front and 2.25" Schwalbe Big Jim in the rear turned out to be fat enough. I probably cannot fit a larger tire in the back (the Fat Albert might fit, but it would be a tight squeeze), and we didn't have any larger tires for the front. A 2.5" tire might have been even better, though I should probably ride a fatter rim for that, too.

All I can say is: What a great week! I am still grinning ear to ear thinking back! Too bad I have students waiting for me to hold my seminars again Monday, otherwise I might not have come back at all!

Tech Report:

FRAME: 2001 Tandem Techology Pinus Cembra full-suspension

Excellent tandem frame - superb handling, excellent stiffness, long stoker compartment, cool color

FORK: '99 Votec GS IV OS/S with integral Votec XL stem and Votec bars

Decent fork for both tandems and singles. Some brake shudder under high loads. The bolt-on hub greatly increases steering control. I would not want to miss suspension in this terrain, though I can't wait for my new fork.

REAR SUSPENSION: Tandem Technology single-pivot design with Shock Therapy coil-over shock

Great suspension design; excellent shock. We will play around with various spring rates and damping settings some more before the next race.

FRONT WHEEL: 36 DT Competition 2.0/1.8 double-butted spokes, Magura Gustav M through-axle hub, silver Grünert rim

REAR WHEEL: 32 DT Competition 2.0/1.8 double-butted spokes, Rohloff Speedhub, silver Grünert rim

The Rohloff hub held up on the steep climbs. Due to the symmetric flange spacing, 32 spokes should be enough even off-road.

TIRES: 26x2.235" Schwalbe Fat Albert light up front, 26x2.25" Schwalbe Big Jimmy light rear

Excellent tires; Only the fattest tires survive Lago di Garda trails!

BRAKES: 2001 Magura Gustav M with 190 mm rotors front and rear

The larger rear rotor was noticeable. The brakes provided effortless one-finger braking top to bottom. See text above for more on the special Rohloff rotor in the rear.

DRIVETRAIN: Shimano 105 cranks (175 / 170 mm) with 39 tooth timing rings and a 42 tooth drive ring; 109 mm front BB, 118 mm rear (Shimano spline type); Rohloff Speedhub (14 speed internal gear hub) with Rohloff twist shifter

The large diameter BB spindles made for a noticeably stiffer drivetrain. The Speedhub continues to shift very well. A great hub!

PEDALS: Ritchey SPD

Cheaper and lighter than Shimanos, but by far not as good.

GRIPS: Biogrip Race front and rear

I love Biogrip for long rides with flat bars; great vibration dampening and better wrist position.

SEATS: Selle Italia Flite Alps front and rear"