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I have been looking at the CoMotion tandems and was wondering if the softride beam really does give the stoker added comfort? Does it have any effect on the handling or performance of the bike? If anyone has had any experience in this area I would really appreciate any opinion you may have.
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Some like them, some hate them. When I shopped for our tandem, I looked at one but saw a few problems (in our case, anyway). Here are the plusses and minuses I have heard and observed:
– Some stokers appreciate the really plush ride, other don't like the "swinging"
– The saddle swings to a different angle as it goes up and down. I know I find my saddle angle critical and would have problem with saddle swing. Others don't seem to care.
– Installing a rear rack can be done, but it's a bit more challenging. I suspect a slightly less rigid rack because of the length of the stays.
– On the Co-Motion I tried, I noticed that adjusting the saddle height was much more difficult because one has to move the beam by minute angles. One of the bolts was partly mangled from the multiple adjustments done to the tandem (it was still at the dealer's shop). I would suggest that if you are one of those who want their saddle height at ± 1 mm, the Softride is not for you.
The beam also allows less adjustment in saddle height, which in our case was the deal breaker.
In the end, we went with a Co-Motion Primera.
The softride beam really screws with the handling of the bike. I REALLY noticed a side to side motion on the bike that just is not present on our Speeeeedster. It was probably due to our lack of smoothness while spinning. My wife also noticed it bounced too much for her liking, again because we were/still are not smooth spinners. She did say the ride was more comfortable than any other. There was no need to call out bumps either. I also think it will make it harder to sell should you ever want to offload it. Less demand for them.
Never ridden one myself, but have talked to a few owners and seen a few bikes.
Met one gentleman riding a softride single on a club ride. He and is wife have a custom-made *double* softride tandem -- captain and stoker. As you might guess, they absolutely swear by softride.
I know another couple with a softride Meridian. They ride very strongly and smoothly, maneuver quite well on and with the bike, and take it on multi-day tours. I watched as stoker was sitting up, no hands, adjusting her iPod, when captain stood without announcing to climb up a short hill. Never missed a beat, smooth as butter.
If there is any way you can swing a test ride, that might be best!
-Greg
Have ridden 'beemers' by Co-Mo and Burley.
Did not have a handling/performance problem. Did not have any stoker 'waggle', but Kay is a very smooth and non-wiggle type rider.
Kay did comment that at a high spin rate it created a bit of a bounce and she felt that she was not getting max effort out of her pedaling. However, that was quickly rectified by gearing it down one click on the rear cog. Excessive bounce ceased immediately.
Do not have to call out 'bump' to stoker unless it's a hole big enough to drop a VW into.
Adjusting the Softride is not a big deal; small increments are needed in height adjustment as the beam itself is basically a cantilevered carbon fiber beam that rider sits on. The beam goes down a bit after stoker gets seated.
In our opinion, it is the best suspension system for a stoker; beats any suspension seatpost on the market.
So if comfort is part of the stokers input . . . get a beamer.
The beam does add a bit of weight, but then so does a suspension seatpost.
Asides from saddle rail adjustability, the saddle can slide forward/backward quite a bit on the beam; great for taller/shorter than average riders that need more/less rear cockpit space.
If stoker comfort is a big issue, the beamer will certainly be a selling point.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem
doggus is probably right: the efects of teh beam on overall handling relate directly to how smooth one pedals. I raced a Softride single for a year or so and it was fine for me, but I'd been racing for a good while and my technique was well developed. When we bought our Speedster, we also rode the Co MO Softride model and the stoker hated it. A quality suspension seatpost is a good alternative.
We finally took a Co-Mo Cappuccino for a test ride a few weeks ago, and I could not tell any effect on handling. Stoker noticied an improvement in comfort, especially after riding our current tandem right after testing the Co-Mo. Many experienced riders have noted how well we ride together, so maybe that's why it felt so smooth and stable. Hope to order one soon!
A test ride will tell the tale!
Enjoy the new Co-Mo, whichever one you order.
We 'retired' (and sold) our custom Co-Mo with 58,000 miles on the odo. They build great tandems.
Best of both, I have a Ti-Boom, the reason I got it was that we were having a hard time finding a tandem to fit 6' and a 5-2" team Most bikes that fit me she had to have the seat so far down a suspension seatpost would have not fit. The ti-Boom has great absorbtion qualities, but is not as bouncy as a softride, and you can adjust the seat up and down like a regular seat tube.
-Darren
We have had two soft beam bikes, and my stoker has loved them both. No bobbing, even at the very beginning. For slicing through corners, we both unweight ourselves from the seats and put weight on the outside pedals, as we do on our single bikes. Maybe becuase of this, we haven't noticed any handling problems. We're both believers in the "beams".
I've got two sets of personal friends who tried softride beams on tandems. Both used them for one season and hated them. I've also got a personal friend who rides a softride single bike. He can't understand why anybody rides anything else. Which of those examples are you?
We've had a Burley Rumba Softride for about a year and 600 or so miles. The day we bought it, we first tried a Trek 2000 tandem. My wife/stoker thought the Trek was too rough of a ride. She loves the comfort of the beam and her favorite exclamation on a ride is "What bump?"
It's possible that the beam affects handling when she rides no hands taking pictures, which is most of the time. I've noticed that when riding over open bridges on windy days, I need to ask her to hold on to the bars and stay down in order to make handling more manageable.
Overall, I think it was a good choice for us, because she's happy. BTW, I heard that this might the last year Co-Mo will make their beam tandem, at least partly because of a temporary stop in beam production.
As a fyi - it's possible that these beams won't be for sale anymore - parts of Alsop the company who I think makes them is up for sale. I have several friends building custom coupled tandems next year and the builders have warned them. Of course the molds maybe bought by another manufacture and everything just goes on. Some are also being held out for warranty work that may be eventually up for sale. Again I am just passing on a rumor from a conversation with a bunch of Tandem geeks.
I heard this same info directly from Co-Mo and Allsop.
We are currently on our third softride. The first was a Burley Duet. The second was (actually, still is -- until we sell it) a CoMotion Cappuccino. The third is almost identical to #2, but has S&S couplers. Before we bought the new bike, we took a 30 mile ride on a friend's CoMotion with a traditional frame and a premium Tamer Plus shock seatpost. My wife's opinion at the end of the ride was that the shock post was better than she had expected, but nowhere near as comfortable as the SoftRide. The beam does add a little weight, and adjustment takes a little bit of finesse, but neither of these is a significant issue. The price difference used to be significant, but no longer is between CoMotion's Speedster and the Cappuccino. I think it may be $300 or so at this point.
As for the mentioned issue of tearing up the pivot bolt, that is the result of lack of knowledge. You don't have to do much more than snug the bolt because of the design. You don't have to tighten it up the way you do a regular seatpost binder bolt.
The bike handles pretty much the same as a traditional frame. The movement is only in the up/down plane, not laterally.
The only real issue, I think, is whether or not your stoker has a nice even pedal stroke. Beams do not work for "masher" type pedalers. That style results in significant pogo-ing on a beam.
If you are interested in a beautiful, used Cappuccino in great shape, all the info can be seen at:
http://skp.sosoft.com/files/bike/CappuccinoForSale.pdf. The pdf is 400k, so give it time to download and open.
- Seth
Hiya,
we rode a Meridian with softride beam for stoker for 1.5 years. Very nice bike, had s and s couplers, but, gradually, I decided the beam was flexing sideways, and the bike didn't fit either of us perfectly, so we bought a custom (Steve Rex) non-soft ride tandem. Try this: hold tandem steady, tug on beam side to side. It does move and you will feel it. It's not a big sloppy thing, but after you've got some tandem experience and are happily cruising along, you'll started to feel the wandering and if you're like me and others in the Davis Bike club, it'll bother you enough to eventually start looking for another non-beam tandem. However, if your stoker won't ride anything else, you're stuck. For us, at higher cadences, there was some bouncing.
folks who are more hard core riders than us tried to talk us out of the beam, but my wife thought the beam was a requirement for her. Eventually, to get a better/more comfortable position, and more stable bike, we opted for non-beam.
YMMV,
Best of both, I have a Ti-Boom, the reason I got it was that we were having a hard time finding a tandem to fit 6' and a 5-2" team Most bikes that fit me she had to have the seat so far down a suspension seatpost would have not fit. The ti-Boom has great absorbtion qualities, but is not as bouncy as a softride, and you can adjust the seat up and down like a regular seat tube.
-Darren
Ti-Boom? Never heard of it! Bike Friday uses titanium beam as does TitanFlex (single bike only), but this is a new one for me. I was a die-hard Softride guy for a few years, until carbon frame ride quality and weight made the beam bike seem heavy and out of date for me.
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