TandemGeek

Unless he had a Co-Motion sitting in inventory that he’s trying to sell you, I’d say that he’s expressing his opinion which, like all of us, may have some bias attached to it.

I can’t sleep so let me pontificate a bit….

Do you prefer domestic beers, imports, or micro-brews? If you like micro-brews but are perfectly happy with domestics, then domestic beer is “good enough”. If, however, you believe imports or micro-brews are better, then they are.

What does beer (or wine, cigars, single malt scotch, or soft drinks) have to do with tandems? Tandems are no different than their 1/2 bike siblings; components, raw materials, fabrication costs, marketing, and overhead drive the price along with what the market will bear in terms of margins. However, economies of scale also play into the equation and most tandem specialty builders are small businesses who produce a few bikes each day, not hundreds like Trek, Cannondale, and KHS.

So, when comparing brands and models of tandems recognize that the niche builders like Co-Motion, Santana, Bilenky, daVinci, Bushnell, and even Burley need to be looked at in the same way as brands like Ritchey, Serotta, Landshark, Rivendel or other small volume, hand-built producers, i.e., you’re paying a bit more for some exclusivity and the subtle differences that come with semi-custom, domestically produced frames, including what is often times more personalized customer service… assuming you have a need or desire to contact the company.

That said, is a Co-Motion “better” than a Trek? Only if you place a value on the exclusivity, the subtle differences, standard color options, or want to have a personal relationship with your builder. For most first time buyers, none of those things will necessarily be of paramount importance since they’re still trying to figure out if they’ll like tandeming. Now, if your budget put you well within the range of a Co-Motion and you are predisposed to prefer semi-exclusive bikes, or are very sensitive to how different bikes handle and looking for a performance-oriented bike, the Co-Motion could end up being “better for you” than the Trek. If you can appreciate flawless TIG welds and want to be able to choose your paint scheme from a broad palate of colors, the Co-Motion could end up being "better for you". If you like the way air-hardened, custom butted lightweight steel tubing "feels" compared to other materials, the Co-Motion could be "better for you". The key is, what’s best for you?

I think it’s safe to say, even the entry level tandems from all the major and specialty builders that fall within a given budget will be “good enough” so long as the budget is reasonable; you really do get what you pay for. However, we and several friends recently bought a bike as a gift for one of our friend’s son… a $500 Trek 1200 or something like that. As someone who has ended up with some fairly high-end bikes over the years, I was very impressed with that bike and didn’t realize how much bang for the buck you get with trickle-down technology these days. No, the components aren’t as nicely finished and don’t use exotic materials, but they’ll get the job done.


Co-Motions, more so than any other production tandems, do handle more like a personal road racing bike than any other tandem. Put another way, some tandems will always feel like tandems whereas some like the Co-Motions and a few other customs will often times handle corners and other manuevers well enough that you sometimes forget the bike is 8' long with a passenger aboard. The teams you’ll hear this most from are the ones who have previously owned Treks, Santanas, and Burleys (all share the same steering geometry) or other tandems with fairly conservative geometry. Conversely, first time buyers will often find the Co-Motions to be twitchy compared to those same Treks, Santanas, and Burleys. This is why so many of us really stress the importance of back-to-back test rides on different tandems as it’s usually hard to tell which you will prefer until you’ve compared. Of course, I firmly believe that most tandem teams will adapt quite nicely to whatever they buy and won’t become dissatisfied unless they decide – for whatever reason – to change brand/model in the future.


Aluminum Trek T2000 @ $3,299 with pedals is about 36 lbs. Steel Co-Motion Speedsters @ $3,950 are about 38 lbs in similar trim, and the Aluminum Roadster @ $5,000 is a couple lbs less. The superlight Aluminum Robusta is 29.4 lbs @ $7,200 and uses the same frame as the Robusta; weight savings come from the carbon fork, carbon cranks, carbon seatposts, Rolf Wheelset and other weight saving, bolt-on components not the actual frame.

Note: A full large size water bottle weighs about 1.8lbs

Bottom Line: A Trek T2000 would be a very-nice first tandem and could end up being all the tandem you’ll ever need. Of course, so could a Co-Motion Primera ($2,950), a KHS Milano (~1,000 +/- 15%), or any other “first tandem”. I call these first tandems because, IMHO, if you find that you love tandeming you’ll eventually buy another tandem. If you don’t, it could end up being your only tandem – gathering dust but looking great in the garage for years to come -- or your last if you opt to sell it.