Tandem Cycling - My new-to-me Co-Motion Bofus

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Nice bike. Enjoy. I bet Co-Motion would like to see a pic of that bike, and you guys enjoying it.

Are you sure your wife's seat is high enough? In general, she shouldn't be able to have both feeet on the ground (even with that little bit of tiptoes) sitting on the seat.

Nice looking Co-Motion. The serial number is probably on the bottom side of the captain's bottom bracket. After your wife gets adjusted to riding check her seat height. I agree with merlinextralight.

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I think you did well when you bought your Co-Motion. It looks to be in good shape and that is a good frame.

Thanks for your advice.

For 700 bucks you got yourself a gem of a tandem!
If I recall correctly the Bofus 26" wheeled model model was only produced for a couple years.
The frame design (with the extra lateral) was referred to as a 'tri-lateral'.
Enjoy the ride TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

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Shorter crankarms 'could' let a smaller person on the back and/or pedalblocks.
There are also crankarms available with 2 or 3 drillings for pedals.
Looks like quite a nice paintjob, including the matching rack.
Enjoy the ride TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Shorter crankarms 'could' let a smaller person on the back and/or pedalblocks.
There are also crankarms available with 2 or 3 drillings for pedals.
Looks like quite a nice paintjob, including the matching rack.
Enjoy the ride TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Indeed, we installed shortened cranks on my Davidson tandem because the pedal reach was a bit long for her to reach the pedals. Ours were modified by BikeSmith Design and they work very well. Granted, if you are looking for a solution where people of largely differing sizes are using the same bike, swapping out cranks is a bit of a hassle.

Hello all,

After several years of casual thinking and several months of hard searching, I finally bought a tandem! It's an older Co-Motion Bofus and it appears to be in great shape. I believe I'm the third owner, the first two owners keeping it for about ten years each (or so I've been told -- I can't find a serial number on the frame to pinpoint the year) and the last owner just had all new tires/tubes/cables run before the sale. It fits my wife and I great and we're looking forward to many rides TWOgether on it. Here's a picture I snapped after our maiden voyage around the neighborhood (couldn't go further b/c we didn't have a babysitter). We're hoping to go on a longer ride this upcoming Friday.

Happy travels!


Quite a beauty of a bike! Yellow is quite fetching on that machine. Some fenders and that bike will be ready for prime time! :) The deal you got on it reminds me of the deal on my Davidson... Picked it up off eBay for $750. Even after riding it for two years, I still drool when I look at it.


208718

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IANAM by any means, but I do quite a bit of wrenching on my bikes. Based on your description, it sounds to me like the wheels may be a bit out of true. If you eye them up and they don't appear to have any visual wobble and if you are mechanically proficient, I'd suggest swapping in new pads for the brakes. As far as converting from v-brakes to cantis, I would not suggest making that change. V-brakes are simple, easy to work on and have incredibly good stopping power, even for a tandem.

Finally, most any good bike shop should be able to work on a tandem, but if you don't mind taking it to a specialist or don't believe your LBS is proficient, then perhaps a trip down the road may be worth it. I disassemble, reassemble and repair my bikes and only take one to the shop when I can't quite get something set up properly or don't have a special tool that I don't feel is worth investing in to use only one time, so I may not be the best person to respond to this specific question.

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Ask yourself if you could have bought a new tandem that's as nice as your Bofus for anywhere near $700. Enjoy the ride.