It's been quite a while since I last posted on Bike Forums-this is my first post in the tandems forum. My wife and I purchased our first tandem, an early nineties Santana Arriva, back in May of this year. It's a fantastic bike, but we wanted something that we'd feel comfortable riding on gravel roads and smooth singletrack trails. We came very close to ordering a Co-Motion Mocha but changed our minds after talking to an employee at Co-Motion HQ. We're not exactly a featherweight tandem team. According to the Co-motion guy, our weight (it's a secret) combined with panniers etc., we'd be experiencing quite a bit of frame flex. Any alterations to the frame would push us over our budget and we'd possibly have to wait up to ten weeks to receive our bike. I had heard about the Hokitika tandems produced by Tandems East, but I could find very little information about these bikes outside of the Tandems East website. I contacted Tandems East and end up talking to Mel, the owner. Mel was extremely helpful and informative. I felt that the Haka-their 26" wheeled tandem, would be a much better choice for me and my wife than the Co-Motion Mocha. I placed my order-the bike was $2,600 plus $185 shipping from New Jersey to Texas. Less than a week later the Fed Ex guy dropped off the bike at my front door. The box was damaged but the bike was in perfect condition. Somebody did an EXCELLENT job packing this bike.

Well, I wanted to post photos of this bike as a public service to anybody looking for information on the Hokitika Haka; an affordable, high quality American made steel tandem. The picture below show the bike as it was received from Tandems East.

Here's our tandem with Schwalbe Mondial 26 x 2.00 tires.


Here's the bike as of this afternoon:

Tandems East and Mel are the real deal for sure. We purchased a new road Burley from Mel back in 2008 and ride it every day.

My wife and I bought our Bushnell tandem from Mel and Barbara and have had great service and experience over the years with Tandems East. Looked at the Hokitikas at the Expo and the look like great bikes especially for the cost.

Any idea who actually makes them?

I'll give you another two thumbs up for Mel and Barbara.

That looks like a great bike. I suggest that you quit looking at it, and go for a ride!

Geronimo2000-I forgot to ask Mel about that. I don't know if it's something that he wants to keep quiet. I've read guesses (on this forum) that the frames may be made by Rodriguez or possibly Bilenky. I have no idea. Other than an American flag decal on the chainstay, I haven't found any clues that would identify the manufacturer.

Oh, we've been riding. We've already ridden it places I wouldn't have felt comfortable riding our Santana. It's a great bike for coffee runs etc.

Painted Hokitikas use Imron paint, Rodriguez uses PPG or HoK, and IIRC Bilenky uses PPG (although I don't see it on their site now). There's always the possibility that Mel contracts out the paint separately but that doesn't seem cost effective.

Yup, Mel and Barb are great folks to deal with!