photos:1977 Assenmacher; desert scene on boobtube of Co-Mo
Zona c/f tandem and Co-Mo tandem
Get the best you can afford . . . and above all a proper build/fit!
Choices in frame material from steel, alu, ti, Magnesium, bamboo,carbon fiber (or combinations thereof).
Since 1975 we have owned/ridden 5 tandems, 4 of which we designed and had buillt.
1. Follis . . . steel production . . . had no input in design or much knowledge of tandems. This bike taught us what we did not like. It had Nervar cranks, Mafac centerpulls and Atom drum brake; Nisi 36H rims and forgot name hubs and BBs and der. The drum brake made for a steady diet of broken spokes. A great learning machine! Color: silver/blue.
2. Assenmacher: custom built by Matt Assenmacher (Michigan) delivered Jan. 1977. Put 64,000 happy miles on it before we sold it. Pilot is 5'7" stoker 4' 11''.
Reynolds 531 DB single bike racing tubing with ovalized (a bit rare then) boob tube. Prugnat lugs. Chromed rear triangle and lower half of fork.
Extra short wheelbase (60 and 1/4 inches) and male/ladyback design for proper fit with twin thin laterals. Very fast handling. Hand curved/bent rear seattube (had to deflate rear tire to remove wheel). Toeclip overlap. One very light (34.5 lbs) tandem. Utilized the then latest: Phil Wood hubs, BBs, pedals; 36 spoke Mavic rims with Berg-Union db spokes, then-brand new Dura Ace ders. Campy QRs. Custom adjustable stoker stem (a real novelty then). Round plastic stoker hand rests made in Italy and gotten via the Tandem Club of England. Mafac cantilever brakes and Suntour barcon shifters. D/A headset.
What would change: D/A front der twisted apart in a couple hundred miles (too light for tandem use) and replaced it with tougher Suntour.
3. Colin Laing: custom built for us by British expatriate Colin Laing in Phoenix, AZ. Reynolds 531 db single bike racing tubing for all but the downtube which was oversize tandem guage. Male/ladyback with internal lateral.
Handmade chromed lugs with builders' initials into the headtube lug. Fastback rear triangle (very new then) with aero fillet.
Stretched out the wheelbase to 63.5 inches. More Phil Wood stuff except for the pedals. Mavic rims, 36H. Pedals were Vittoria SuperLeggero (100 grams per pair). Adjustable stoker stem; double spare spoke carrier under the boobtube.
TA triple cranks and Scott Matthauser brakes front and under the chainstays in rear. Suntour barcon shifters. Paint was a gorgeous metallic lavender to pinkish fade. Put 56,000 great miles on that twicer before we designed a new one.
4. Co-Motion Custom. Again 63.5" wheelbase; switched to Japanese ultra light Cro-Mo (Tange Prestige) tubing. A modified male/ladyback styling with internal lateral. Phil hubs, utilized ultra-light sealed (forgot the name) BBs and Topline crankset. Vittoria pedals were taken off the Colin Laing and put on the Co-Mo and lasted a total of 80,000 miles! Japanese rubber covered round stoker handrest. Barcon shifters.
The rear triangle and lower fork were chromed; this was not a lugged frame but beautifully fillet brazed. An airbrushed colorful desert scene was painted on the boob tube to offset the glossy blackpaint.
Double spare spoke hanger under boobtube, a braze-on for our mini-garage door opener on the adjustable stoker stem.
56,000 miles later, we were ready for our present tandem.
5. Zona, custom built by Bob Davis in Peoria, AZ. Full carbon fiber tandem frame with c/f window-cutout lugs. Male/ladyback design, internal lateral and again 63.5" wheelbase. Titanium rear dropouts and 5 bottlecage mounts and various nuts/bolts. Pilot/stoker top tube was angled way down to allow easier mounting for our aging bones and shrinking height. Rer-inforcing aewro fillets where needed.
Some other features: Fully adjustable carbon fiber lugged stoker stem (1st one ever built) with custom mount for stoker's water bottle and yes . . . that mini garage door opener + room for 2 spare spokes under the boobtube. Also, a full custom one-of c/f rear rack and c/f round stoker handrests (K-grips . . . so named after stoker Kay!). Easton EC90 c/f drop bars front and rear.
Crankset is a triple Carbon Pro Team FSA, Ti BBs, D/A front der, Shimano XTR rear, wheels are Velocity AeroHead, 32H front and 36H rear on Chris King hubs + a Chris King headset. Front brake is D/A calipher and rear is Tektro-Mini. D/A STI shifters. Clipless pedals.
Things changed: Got rid of STI shifting (too finicky) after 3,000 miles and at stoker's suggestion went back to old reliable barcons, this time Dura Ace.
Got rid of clipless pedals as stoker developed foot/knee issues and went back to generic clips and straps for both of us.
So far our Zona has logged 34,000+ great miles.
If you want a great tandem find a reliable custom tandembuilder. Lay out your desired frame design on graph paper (or do it on your 'puter if you are able).
Pick out components you want. Also pick alternates as not everything you want is always readily available.
Also pick out color(s) and any other refinements that you may need/want.
Just our input; hope this helps!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem