Hypno Toad

Finally! The stars aligned and we got our new Co Motion Java out for a good ride!

mbliven

Lovely tandem - how did it handle on your ride? What size wheels and tires do you have there? Also, I have to ask - how did you decide on the festive color scheme?

Hypno Toad

Thank you!

The Java handles like a dream! This captain is still working on tight turns, it's long and handles tight turns like the QE2, it's just a learning-curve (LOL).

It's running WTB Venture TCS 700c on CliffHanger 700c wheels; these tires will be great for our first big adventure: The Filthy 50 (weather permitting, the stoker is not stoked for the 'filthiest' 50 - the captain will ride a single if the weather is nasty)

The colors were the stoker pick, these are her favorite gemstones' colors, and we called this Java our 30th anniversary gift (much more fun than of a ring).

BTW - This is our first 'real' tandem, we have a '65 Schwinn Twinn that has never done a ride over 10 miles.

mbliven

Well, enjoy the Filthy 50. That looks like a pretty fun event, with the mix of gravel and pavement and the rolling hills. I hope you get cool overcast conditions, but no rain!

jim_pridx

Congrats on the Co-Motion! It's great to see you in the tandem forum, too!

BTW, I used to work in this building shortly after it was constructed:

Chilepines

Our new tandem - Clementine. I'll be posting the build process which has been interesting. di2 in a steel frame poses some challenges.

ianbal

I would be interested to hear your experience with Curtlo as well as the build process. Good luck with the new bike.

Russ Roth

I've got an early to mid-80s Gitane I've never been able to nail down. Currently running truvative 9sp cranks, with french thread Phil BB in the back and a standard sram in the front, I had to turn down an english thread eccentric to do that but 20.00 vs 200 made it an easy decision. Shifting is Dura Ace bar ends running friction. And riding on Velocity tandem wheels.
My wife has been wanting to get more serious about gravel riding and doing some longer rides on it so it'll be undergoing some revisions again this year.
Plan are...
ditch the V-brakes for much nicer cantis, even with the travel agent the brakes suck
New seatposts, the old ones are really light weight and I suspect weak. I think they're 25.0 but they were so chewed up when I got it I could never get a good reading on them.
Sand down a threadless adapter so I can run a stronger handlebar with a threadless stem.
Ditch the simplex for a tiagra triple front and a deore rear der to run a wider range cassette.
We've already run it with some 700x40 tires, so I know we can go gravel with plenty of clearance, neither of us are real powerhouses so I suspect it'll be a very comfy ride that won't be too whippey with out power levels.

justcynn

new to us Schwinn Twinn. Bought from a guy that said he used it one time, looks new and lucky for us - its in a large size which apparently means 22" front and 18" rear C-T.

My wife and I ride together on our own bikes and since I ride quite a bit more than she does, its harder to stay together. for an Entry Level the Twinn gets pretty good reviews on Amazon, but the bottom bracket is low with the 26" stock wheelset causing some pedal strike. I happen to have a 700 Wheelset set up for Disc Brakes that I may try to swap in to solve this issue and considering junking the cheap suspension fork for a rigid aluminum, carbon or chromoly. our intended use is rail trails, possibly the Katy Trail, the Mickelson this summer and some local off road trails. I spend quite a bit of time on my vintage Steel bikes so this will be new and different.

Question: is it set up like a fixie where both have to pedal all the time, or can one person freewheel while the other pedals? Looking forward to reading this forum to learn more about this before we do our maiden voyage

Chilepines

There is a timing chain so both will have to pedal at the same time.
I very much doubt you can put 700c wheels on that bike - there will not be enough clearance at the fork, or probably rear triangle either.
Sounds like you re new to tandems, so I'd suggest giving it a try as is before putting any energy into modifying it - you really won't know what does and doesn't work for you until you give it a try!

JerrySTL

I have the same bike. My wife and I have done the entire Katy Trail, Great Allegany Passage, and most of the C&O trail on it. I have heavily modified the bike as things have broken or worn out.
One of the first things was getting rid of the suspension fork. That alone went a long way to stop the pedal striking the ground. This fork works well: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The cheap seats and pedals went next. My wife uses the old school pedal straps to keep her feet from slipping off the pedals when I shift gears. Yes you both have to pedal at the same time.
The stock wheels lasted only about 2000 miles. Replacing them was somewhat difficult as the rear used a 7-speed freewheel - not a cassette. It's very difficult to find a wheel with a freewheel AND disc brake. You can get an 8-speed cassette wheel and put on a 7-speed cassette with an adapter ring. We did that for a while. However the granny gear wasn't quite low enough for some hills.
Therefore I switch the tandem over to an 8-speed with an 11-34T cassette. To do this you need a rear wheel that can take an 8-speed cassette, an 8-speed rear derailleur, and an 8-speed shifter. It was a great upgrade.
Tip: If you plan on doing any touring, carry a tandem rear derailleur cable and a rear brake cable. They are about 3000-35000 mm long. Many bike shops don't carry them and you'll really be out of luck if one breaks. Plus you can cut the cables shorter if something on the front snaps.
There's much, much more that I can tell you about the bike. PM me or send me an email at whittle at charter.net if you want more information.

justcynn

[QUOTE=JerrySTL;22338365]I have the same bike. My wife and I have done the entire Katy Trail, Great Allegany Passage, and most of the C&O trail on it. I have heavily modified the bike as things have broken or worn out.
One of the first things was getting rid of the suspension fork. That alone went a long way to stop the pedal striking the ground. This fork works well: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The cheap seats and pedals went next. My wife uses the old school pedal straps to keep her feet from slipping off the pedals when I shift gears. Yes you both have to pedal at the same time.
The stock wheels lasted only about 2000 miles. Replacing them was somewhat difficult as the rear used a 7-speed freewheel - not a cassette. It's very difficult to find a wheel with a freewheel AND disc brake. You can get an 8-speed cassette wheel and put on a 7-speed cassette with an adapter ring. We did that for a while. However the granny gear wasn't quite low enough for some hills.
Therefore I switch the tandem over to an 8-speed with an 11-34T cassette. To do this you need a rear wheel that can take an 8-speed cassette, an 8-speed rear derailleur, and an 8-speed shifter. It was a great upgrade.
Tip: If you plan on doing any touring, carry a tandem rear derailleur cable and a rear brake cable. They are about 3000-35000 mm long. Many bike shops don't carry them and you'll really be out of luck if one breaks. Plus you can cut the cables shorter if something on the front snaps.
There's much, much more that I can tell you about the bike. PM me or send me an email at whittle at charter.net if you want more information.[/

thank you for the great info, this is very helpful!

GhenghisKahn

This our Silverback Duel Limited Edition(whatever THAT means lol)3x9 sport tandem. It has Ultegra rr der, Sora frt and Altus shifters and levers. Tektro calipers, cf fork. The gearing is 30-42-52x12-32. Alex dw set. 40h rr, 36h frt. Conti Gatorskin 700x23mm. Saddles are no name that we'll upgrade at some point. The ride is solid, steady and predictable.. We're using platforms while gaining experience. We'll upgrade to dual-sided spds when we're ready. Shifting is smooth and accurate. Would like to move to mechanical disc at some point, but the rim brakes are fine for now. Money well spent to get us started. We thought about touring with it, but it has limits that makes it not suitable for a lengthy tour. All in all a very nice bike. 👍

galyons

New to us and newly refurbished. 2002 Cannondale RT3000. Ultegra groupo with Deore XT RD and V-brakes. Has a rear drum brake. New chains, FD shift cable and housing, seats, handlebar wrap, brake shoes and lots'a cleaning and adjusting. Ready to ride. The wife is not a cyclist, so let the journey begin! Hopefully joy to follow!

Hproduguidon

ma trouvaille du jour
gitane
1970

antmaster5000

Love these sunny winter days

7up

This is my Schwinn Mini-Twinn

2flit

This is our Bilenky Travel Tandem that we cycled across the south island of New Zealand on and across Europe... and a few other places.




A good side view of the S&S coupled tandem

Canal de Midi France

The start of the Molseworth, New Zealand

A pilgrimage to our bag maker

Somewhere in Tours

Front Wheel Bistro

The Tandem packs into two airline bags This is the first....

... and this is the second bag

Wheels4

This is our Santana. I actually posted about it under a different screenname, but have since started using my original account on here. Anyways... I bought it about 4-5 months ago and the plan was to get back into cycling and help my wife get back into shape while recovering from Breast cancer treatment. So far, we have been on a couple of rides and she is doing really great! We are both enjoying it.

motochick 

Here is our new-to-us, highly modified from original, 2002 Co-Motion Speedster. And yes, we are highly allergic to black bike parts, hoping to get some red pedals for the front soon!




2002 Co-Motion Speedster

Gotta love those pedals

mbliven

Can you explain the purpose of the stoker's bar end levers? One for the rear rim brake, perhaps? What does the other one control? I've never seen a set up like that.

fooferdoggie 

the price of this pedals jumped a lot in the last couple of months.

Wheels4

I thought I read, in another thread, that they moved the shifting duties to the stoker. I believe they used a custom attachment(where the water bottle cage mounts) for cables to make it work. I thought it was pretty cool, myself.

motochick 

This was my husbands idea/doing. I am the stoker and I do the shifting via Campy bar end shifters. There were no cable stops where we needed them for this to work so we made some. It works super awesome, I doubt we will ever go back to the captain shifting unless I lose the ability to do so physically.

Really? I haven't bought new ones in a while, we have 7 sets or so but I need to get some more as our bike hoarding has gotten worse! LOL. Even having to pay more is worth it for the ability to pedal correctly.

antmaster5000

Very interesting idea having the stoker shift. Does the captain need to communicate for certain shifting situations that you might not be able to see? You would have a lot less cable distance with the stoker shifting which would improve shifting quality a lot. As the captain of our rig I definitely like shifting (and my stoker would not be interested in taking over these responsibilities) but I applaud you for going against the grain here!