Tandem Cycling - First Tandem in the garage, Thanks for the help

Hello all,

Just wanted to write a quick note to say thanks for the help in our purchase of a 2005 Co-Motion Primera. Even though I didn't ask specific questions, I was lurking and burning up the search feature. My daughter, who is almost 8, and I have logged just under 1800 miles with a trail-a-bike. We've even done 2, week long tours here in Ohio (GOBA), 1 in 2004 and just completed another in June. The old trail-a-bike is wearing out, plus she's out growing it. My wife and I decided to get a tandem in time to train for next years GOBA, say by next March. We new we wanted the Co-Motion Primera and thought to take a look at the 06's and maybe beat out the price increase of an 07. To our fortune, we found a local Co-Motion dealer and he had a Primera in a L/S left from 05. It was already marked cheaper than the 06's and he wanted it moved, so he accepted our much lower offer.

I've ordered Ride 2 crank shorteners for my daughter and she can hardly wait. She wants to try a centry by the end of the year, her idea as her GOBA friend did one with her dad last fall. Mean while, my wife and I have done a few miles close to home. She's not a cyclest and while I would love for her to fall in love with riding the tandem, it's not something I'm going to push. To my surprise, she really enjoyed it. She's already saying that I may have to have 2 different stoker setups.

I'll try and post a few pics but the beautiful pearl white paint just dosen't come across right in photo's.


http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f287/gransport/tandem1.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f287/gransport/tandem6.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f287/gransport/tandem2.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f287/gransport/tandem5.jpg

thanks
Shayne

Very nice looking bike. Tandems are joy to ride with your special stokers.

Congratulations! We also have a 2005 Co-Motion Primera and really love it! Glad to hear your wife is enjoying the experience. Just being out on the tandem with my husband makes me laugh with joy. (Good thing he's a decent windbreak or I'd swallow lots more bugs.)

We have a Speedster. My wife hated the bullhorn bars. I replaced them with the Easton EA30 road wing bars which requires an oversized stem. Co-Motion sells them for $50, if you're interested in the same setup. Now she can get in the drops instead of hanging out there like a parachute.

Very sharp bike, the color looks great. Are you guys in the DCC.

John

It is nice to see Yet another Comotion. Primera here custom fade...Love it...COMO is becoming king... My single is a burley and I love it too

Very sharp bike, the color looks great. Are you guys in the DCC.

John
Thanks John, we're not in DCC but do pay to do some of there big rides. Will most likely do the Wright Ride if we're in town.

We have done the Covered Bridge, Huffman, and Freedom ride this year, I need to check the calendar on the Wright. If you passed a red Trek tandem, that was us.

John

Co-Mo builds a great 2-seater . . .
Put 57,000 miles on ours before we sold it a year ago. Proof that quality lasts . . .

Pedal n TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Just installed the crank shorteners. They went on very nice. I rotated the bullhorns around and pointed them backwards. I may need to get a set of riser bars for her, we'll see. Anyway, we went out for a short 6 mile ride here in the neighborhood and WOW! We should moved to a tandem years ago. The ride with my daughter is very stable plus we're much closer to each other, making conversation easier. She's just barely tall enough to fit on the back. I've got the seatpost slammed all the way down as far as possible and the cranks are shortened to the max. I really think the cranks are to short, so I'll most likely lengthen them as she grows verses raising the seat.

Anyway, thanks for all the comments. We'll try a 50 miler on Sat and see how it goes. She's already done 550 miles this year on the trail-a-bike and she's pretty siked about tring a longer ride on the tandem.

Happy riding
Shayne

Post a pic with the crank shortners on, maybe even with the two of you on it.

Post a pic with the crank shortners on, maybe even with the two of you on it.
I'll try and get one tonight.

Here's a couple of pics of the crank shorteners. Also one with us out in front of the house. I measured how short the cranks are with the pedals at the shortest point, it's 95 mm, that pretty short. I also measured Haleys inseam and got 23.25", she's currently 4'-3". I'm sure I'll need to do something with the stoker bar and stem as the current setup just dosen't look right. But that's what the rest of this season is for, getting everything set up for next year. Tomorrow we're off for 50 miles, so we'll see how it goes. With her saddle slammed all the way down, there isn't room for a suspension seatpost. I'll need to be careful about warning her on bumps and then coast across them so she can come off the saddle. Any comments are welcome.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f287/gransport/crank_3.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f287/gransport/crank_2.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f287/gransport/tan_1.jpg

I see what you mean about the cranks being a little short. She is just at an awkward height for your bike right now. We are doing the same with our bars. Although, I am hoping that as the kids ride more on their singles they will start to pick up their preferred positions and we'll adjust the stoker position accordingly. Not the best solution but you could try one of the cheap sprung saddles. Though if you do try that ease into the mileage on it. It may be comfortable at first but uncomfortable after some miles.

Cute daughte :)!

What a great looking team!

Since the suspension seat post isn't an option yet, be sure to stand up on your downhills and take some other butt breaks off the bike! It looks like those cute yellow shorts your daughter is wearing are padded, but if they're not it's something else to consider. Nothing more fun for most girls (this one included) than new cycling clothes! I don't know anything about the comfort of sprung saddles for long trips, but masiman's suggestion is certainly worth exploring.

And because I'm completely mechanically inept, can I ask how long you think it would take you to re-configure the stoker's compartment for your wife?

I see what you mean about the cranks being a little short. She is just at an awkward height for your bike right now. We are doing the same with our bars. Although, I am hoping that as the kids ride more on their singles they will start to pick up their preferred positions and we'll adjust the stoker position accordingly. Not the best solution but you could try one of the cheap sprung saddles. Though if you do try that ease into the mileage on it. It may be comfortable at first but uncomfortable after some miles.

Cute daughte :)!

I might try a longer stem insert with a riser bar. Not sure yet. I better let the bank acount recover a little. :rolleyes:

What a great looking team!

Since the suspension seat post isn't an option yet, be sure to stand up on your downhills and take some other butt breaks off the bike! It looks like those cute yellow shorts your daughter is wearing are padded, but if they're not it's something else to consider. Nothing more fun for most girls (this one included) than new cycling clothes! I don't know anything about the comfort of sprung saddles for long trips, but masiman's suggestion is certainly worth exploring.

And because I'm completely mechanically inept, can I ask how long you think it would take you to re-configure the stoker's compartment for your wife?


I'm thinking that I can leave the crank shorteners on for my wife since she's only 5'-4". I'll move the pedals out as far as they go. I marked the stem, bar and seatpost with a sharpie so I can return them to my wifes position quickly. If it took 10 min. I'd be surprised. If I have to remove the crank shorteners then it'll just be a couple of min. longer. If/when she wants to go for a ride, it'll only be a short one, less than 10 miles. At least for now, but you never know. She's pretty supportive of me and my daughter's bike riding. She has even met us for lunch at a dairy farm 20 miles away, she just drives. I do believe that my wife feels that she is missing something by not riding with us and that has got her interested in riding a little more. It's just that she has never been athletic at all and dosen't do well with sore muscles and sweat and such what. She's just one of those luck few who don't exersize, yet only weigh 105 lbs and has no blood preasure. I'll support her in however much riding she wants to do, but I don't want to push it.

later
Shayne

If it took 10 min. I'd be surprised.

Thanks for the info! We're thinking about attempting your situation -- only in reverse -- with my niece and I wondered just how difficult it will be!

Our conversion, stoker kit and bars takes about 10 minutes. That includes removing pedals, removing stokid, attaching adult cranks, attaching pedals, moving bars. I set the seat height for the adult stoker and then adjusted the stokid height to simplify the switch (I don't have to adjust seat height). After you do it once or twice you get the hang of it. I sometimes forget to remove the pedals before removing the cranks which makes pedal removal a little harder but still doable.

We have a very similar situation, but with three kids and a wife as my semi-regular stokers.

My youngest is 4'2" and requires a very low-profile non-shock seatpost all the way down with the pedals at their shortest position (we're lucky enough to have the cool da Vinci cranks with the built-in shorteners). I don't have a photo of him yet.

My next oldest is 4'10" and can ride with the pedals in the middle hole and the regular shock-post all the way down (see middle photos).

My wife is 5'2" and required the post just a few centimeters higher (she won't let me have a photo taken of her, though).

My most regular stoker, the 12-year old, is also 5'2" but has longer legs. She requires a yet higher post position (see final image below). It's getting to the point that I have to adjust the stoker saddle every ride and the pedals for the youngest.

Thankfully, I can leave the bars alone for all three, though the middle kid asked me to flip them forward on our latest ride as he thinks we can go faster that way...speed demon that he is...