ianbal

I have seen the discussion of different handling traits for Santana(slower more stable), Co-Motion(faster more responsive to input) and others but don't recall seeing anything for Bushnell. We are looking at a used bike and wondering if anyone has opinions on where they usually fall on the spectrum?

Thanks
Ian

swc7916

Our Rodriguez frame was built by Dennis Bushnell and I think that it has pretty quick handling. It has 26" wheels so I don't know how the 700C frames handle.

ianbal

Thanks for the reply. This would be with 700 wheels

tandem rider

Dennis Bushnell works with R + E Cycles in Seattle. You could call or email and ask about the geometry of their tandems. I have visited their shop and found them customer friendly. The web site for R + E ishttps://www.rodcycle.com/index.html

Sheldon Hall
Greenfield, IN

TandemGeek

It can vary depending on what the customer may have requested and/or what fork the tandem was fitted with.

Since it's an existing tandem, your best bet would be to have the seller provide you with the tandem's serial number (check the bottom of the front or rear bottom brackets) and then contact the folks at R&E in Seattle (www.rodcycle.com). R&E now owns the Bushnell brand and Dennis Bushnell is their master frame builder who no doubt brought all of his Bushnell records and 'as-built' designs into the R&E business.

You'll want to be sure to confirm the tandem either has the original fork, otherwise all bets are off UNLESS the seller knows the brand / model / rake of the current fork.

ianbal

Thanks again. Do anyone know what forks these came with - was a carbon AME fork an option?

Sending email to R&E as well.

Ian

TandemGeek

Yes, Bushnell would have likely offered AME Alpha Q X2 forks as an option starting around 2000 before True Temper bought AME back in late 2001 and then True Temper's Alpha Q X2s. The 48mm X2 was the normal fare back then. The actual rake spec should be on the label attached to the AME fork... assuming it stayed on the steerer: they were paper labels back then.

regomatic

We have a custom S&S Bushnell built in collaboration with Dennis Bushnell's recommendations and additional input from Jack Goertz at Tandems Limited.

I'm no expert, but if I look at a Rodriquez Toucan Travel, their S&S equivalent to our bike, the Rodriquez looks like a Santana to me. Our coupling arrangement and a few other measurements I've taken show our frame to be configured more like a Co-Motion. Our wheels are 700C & the fork is a carbon Reynolds Ouzo, not a Co-Mo, Rodriquez or Bushnell standard, but one Dennis was familiar with and accommodated to adapt to, based on Jack's and others' recommendations.

I find our Bushnell to be both stable and nimble. It's rock solid, as far as I know, up to 45 mph on descents, when the stoker/governor invokes the "slow down or you'll sleep on the couch tonight" brake.

Our normal training ride is us & 30-40 single bikes at 18-23 mph + sprints. They've given us plenty of opportunities, but we haven't crashed with any of them yet, reflecting on the responsiveness of the bike & minor measure of skill by the driver.

I've read a couple of comments about "my Co-Mo rides just like my single bike" & take that with a couple of big grains of salt. My primary single is an Eddy Merckx Ti built by Litespeed. When I ride it on rare occasions now, it seems to float over bumps and shoot away from stops signs and other slow downs along the way. I'm skeptical of the tandem riders who claim they can build a bike with 1.5 times longer wheelbase and put 1.6 times pounds total weight on it make it still perform the same as a single bike.

TandemGeek

The reference usually pertains to the steering characteristics of the Co-Motion and overall frame rigidity and is most often times noted by folks who have ridden other tandems with less steering trail and a little less rigid, e.g., just about anything else short of boutique-builder performance tandems relative to steering and Cannondale with regard to overall rigidity.

FWIW: Unless Dennis steepened the head tube geometry on your Bushnell, your tandem likely has steering characteristics that are more like a Santana given the 55mm rake of the Ouzo Pro.

ianbal

Thanks all. R&E confirmed that this is the original fork, now just have to wait and see if our offer is accepted.