Tandem Cycling - Buying a new Tandem

I'm thinking of buying my first tandem and decided I want steel. I was looking at the Co Motion Mocha but want other options to look at before I decide. We, my wife and I, are thinking about doing short tours on it as well as ride around without touring gear, so I want a bike that will handle touring gear.

I thought about getting a bob trailer but I already have panniers so I'll just use those from my touring bike.

Co-Motion makes great tandems . . .
Put 56,000 miles on our custom Co-Motion; sold it in 2003.
Photo of us and our Co-Mo back in the late '90s.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Sorry! Photo above is of us on our current Zona tandem!

Photos here are of our Co-Motion and its custom desert scene paintjob on the boobtube.
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Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Co-Motion makes great tandems . . .
Put 56,000 miles on our custom Co-Motion; sold it in 2003.
Photo of us and our Co-Mo back in the late '90s.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

That was a nice pic of the two of you, I hope your still riding together. Where in the desert do the two of you live? I use to live in Palmdale and Lancaster area for about 7 years, and Palm Springs area for 2 years. Use to ride all over those mountain ranges on both sides.

Duh, I saw you live in Tucson!

Yup, have lived in Tucson since 1978. We get to tandem 13 months out of the year here!
Currently spending 3 months in northern Utah . . . much cooler here and some great road riding!
Beieive the Co-Mo Mocha is available in either 26" or 700c wheels.
If you plan to ride trails and maybe a few dirt roads, the 26" wheel option would be preferable to the 700c.
If strictly road riding, then 700c.
We are long time roadies and run 700x25 Maxxis Re-Fuse folding tires with great success.
Just our input.
Yes, we are still riding very regularly; been tandemistas since 1975 and our Zona is our 5th tandem. It is almost broken in with 33,000+ miles on the odo.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay /zonatandem

The tandem will be used strictly for road use only, and like I mentioned touring. Thanks for the tip on the tires too. I was thinking about the 700c's but the Co-Motion Mocha only comes with 26's so I will probably stay with that, at least it will provide some versatility if I need to go on a dirt or gravel road, plus the wider tires will have more shock protection.

Photos here are of our Co-Motion and its custom desert scene paintjob on the boobtube

Nice!! Did Co-Motion do the custom desert scene? We ride a 2010 Speedster Co-Pilot with a pearl fade. Their paint jobs are amazing.

We just ordered our first tandem, the Co-Motion Mocha. We've toured a lot and there were times where we had dirt or gravel trail and I wished my bike had the 26 wheels. The Mocha seemed like a good choice. Guess we'll find out when it comes in.