The
Touring Bike
Our touring bike is a Co-Motion
Mocha with S&S couplers,
26 inch wheels, racks, fenders, and lights.
We are using Paul's Neo Retro
Brakes, DiaCompe BRS500 brake levers,
DaVinci V22 Rims, Phil
Wood rear tandem hub, Schmidt
SON front hub, Ritchey tandem cranks (175 front, 170 rear) and
a Shimano drivetrain: 9 speed
DuraAce barcons, DuraAce front derailleur, XT rear derailleur, Ultegra
12-27 cassette. We have SKS P55 fenders, Tubus
Tara front and Cargo rear racks, and Ortlieb
panniers, bar bag and bike box racktop. We also have an Arai Drum
brake operated by a barcon shifter on the stoker bars.
Contact points are very important and also vary according to personal
preference. For the front, John has Nitto
Dirt Drop Bars, a honey Brooks
Pro Saddle, and SPD-R
pedals. On the back, I have Profile Stoker bar, a Terry
Butterfly Saddle on a Cane
Creek Suspension thudbuster seatpost, and Speedplay
Frog pedals.
We use Nitto
Bottle cages, and a Topeak
Morph pump. The Schmidt hub is our power sources for lights.
The photos are an attempt to show it fully loaded, with lights and
packed. But actually I seem to be showing that we like to explore
a lot with it!
The
Offroad Bike
Our Offroad machine is an older Co-Motion
Bofus. This frame takes a fork with a 1 1/4 inch steerer, which allows
us to use a Zzyzx tandem suspension fork that we got through Santana.
We aren't gonzo mountain bikers, but we do occasionally impress folks
we meet on trails with what we can get over and through. It is great
on really steep stuff, with almost no danger of doing an endo on a
descent, and the front wheel stays firmly planted on steep climbs.
Aside from building new wheels (with bombproof Sun
Rhyno Rims and Hope tandem hubs), we used parts we had lying around
the house to build up this bike. The bike sports Specialized tandem
cranks, Tektro linear pull brakes, with 287 V levers, an 8 speed Shimano
drivetrain with barcons. We use the same type bars as on the Mocha
I'm also using the Thudbuster suspension seatpost on this bike. We
abuse this bike as a mountain bike should be abused, so parts are
replaced as they are destroyed.
I have to brag a little bit and say we were the first tandem on the
Rainbow Rage Adventure
Ride in 2003, riding this bike!
The
Lightweight Go-Faster Bike
We indulged ourselves a while back by getting a Co-Motion
Robusta. We don't always need lights and racks and loads of gear,
and decided to get a dedicated machine for supported tours and fast
clubs rides. After having it for a year, we loved the way it flew
up hills, and wanted to use it on supported mountain rides in places
like the Swiss Alps, with very twisty technical descents. We wanted
a third brake, and decided on an Avid disk. After a conversation with
the folks at Co-Motion about taking apart and rebuilding the frame
to take a disk brake, we decided it would be most economical to sell
the one year old bike and just have a new one built to take the disk.
The
Robusta comes with a Woundup
carbon fibre fork designed for tandem use. It has mostly Shimano Ultegra
parts: brake callipers, cranks, rear derailleurs, and cassette. We
use a DuraAce front derailleur since it handles a wider difference
in front chainrings. All our geared bikes have barcon shifters (might
as well have the shifters where your hands expect them, plus they
work!) John selected Campagnolo brake levers, since they have a quick
release in the lever, and combined with the quick release in the caliphs,
gives us enough quick release in the brakes to use wider tires. The
Gold Chris King headset gives us a splash of colour on the pearl white
bike. It has a Phil Wood rear hub, Avid disk brake, and Velocity Rim.
The front wheel pictured is a Schmidt hub and DaVinci rim (from our
old 700C touring bike). The lightweight front wheel sports
an oh-so-boutique DuraAce hub and Velocity rim. Despite my saying
we don't always need lights, we did put them on for ChCh to Nelson,
and haven't actually taken them off yet!
My initial impressions of our first Robusta can be found here.
We used that bike for PCT,
and lots of fast club rides. The new bike's first real ride was Christchurch
to Nelson. We love to find long steep twisty paved roads and put
it through its paces. It is an awesome climbing machine.
Back to Tandem FAQ
Back to Bikes for Randonnees
