Let's See Pictures of Your Co-Motion ... 2 or 3 Color Paint Job Preferred
 

Frau and Herr Toad are shopping a 30th anniversary gift to each other ... a Co-Motion Java. Co-Motion offers some amazing colors and options with 2-color and 3-color fades. I'm not finding many pictures when googling it ... So I'll come to BF where all the cool bike people hang out and share info :)

We are buying a Co-Motion ... but to be inclusive, please share all makes and paint jobs. Thanks!

Ours is a Co-Motion Mocha in single colour. Love the bike, and the colour. Just thought that I'd post to say...whatever you pick, make sure you can get touch up paint. With our colour we were lucky in that a recent Mazda auto was very similar in colour and we bought a touch up stick from them. I know that Co-Motion does offer small vials of touch up paint, which we have bought and used in the past. However, I found that they dry out very quickly, hence my quest for an automotive touch up stick. Good luck in your shopping! Can't wait to see some of the paint jobs posted here.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...aae3993761.jpg

Our Co-Mo Carrera is just a single color as well (champagne metallic), but we love the bike! You really can't go wrong with a Co-Motion tandem! Happy anniversary!

https://i.postimg.cc/xCMCxvBF/Co-Mo1.jpg

Congratulations on 30 years. We bought ours so that we could ride across the 60th parallel to celebrate my turning 60. It has been one of the best purchases we have made.

Our tandem is a Ritchey Breakaway Double Switchback. It is from the first batch and it is red, white, and blue. The new ones are maroon instead of the red. We bought it because it fits in a couple of suit cases and can fly to some amazing places.

This picture was on our first tour. We were on Commercial Street in Lerwick , Shetland, Scotland. It has also been on the Twin Otter that flies to Barra in the Outer Hebrides. A couple of times. To Skye. To San Francisco, Winter-Peg, Park Rapids, Lake Itasca, all around Fargo, and to France. It wants to go back to Canada, Scotland and France and lots more places. Also Mr. and Mrs. Dan are a bit trimmer now than when we started out, but I doubt it would have that effect on Mr. and Mrs. Toad.

No doubt a Co-Motion is a great bike. I would recommend getting one with the couplers. You will never be able to fly a single piece tandem frame to Barra. Maybe not to Shetland. You will have to take the ferry, which is a 12 hour trip.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ffb51d0805.jpg


Since this picture was taken the pedals have been upgraded to Ritchey SPD pedals. Clipless pedals are IMNSHO a must. The wheels are now Spinergy from House of Tandems. Also, the brakes are now the Hope V4 instead of the E4, which were not up to dealing with our bulk.

t is still a flat bar setup. The tires on there were Schwalbe Marathon 39X700C and it is now running Conti GP5000 32X700C. If we went with 650B wheels we could go wider. The saddles are different now. Hers broke on the Isle of Lewis and she likes the replacement better. The Thudbuster seat post is, according to Mrs. Dan, a mandatory item as well.

Finally, those crappy cable locks are sufficient for rural Scotland. Actually, in the Hebrides, we took to leaning it against a wall and coming back hours later and finding it right where we left it.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c6f1d54571.jpg

Not to be steering you away from Co-Motion, but if you're from the Twin Cities, there is a tandem builder out in Hudson (used to live in St. Paul) who can build anything you'd like. He built us a tandem with couplers about 11 years ago that we've been very happy with. His website gallery photos are a bit dated, but in recent years he's been building mountain bikes in addition to tandems and solo bikes. It might be worth giving him a call:

http://www.bobbrowncycles.com/

Toad:
I just took a look at the co-motion web site. If I wasn't such a bottom feeder I would absolutely spring for a coupled pinion gearbox tandem for touring. But 12K! I doubt I have half that much in the Ritchey. Then again, the gearbox and belt drive would be super for reliability and I could carry spare belts just to make sure.

2019 Carrera. The paint is one color, but when viewing perpendicular to a tube, it is blue; at any other angle, it is purple.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...42794a4767.jpg

You’ll need to zoom in a bit, but we tandem tour with our friends on these Co-motion tandems. Our friends have the “Ice Blue” paint scheme, while we went with the “Champagne” color because it doesn’t show dirt.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f24d6b905.jpeg

Here's ours, it's a Speedster and has a basically standard fade.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...24898a8d65.jpg

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...769fae65dd.jpg

2017 Co-Motion Macchiato, linear fade of purple and silver. I don't remember the exact paint colors, stoker was in charge of specifying the paint scheme.

My wife and I are similarly considering refinishing our tandem (a titanium Chinook). Our bike currently just has a brushed ti finish with purple logos. We'll be taking inspiration from these two bikes:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...cb63c4d655.jpg



https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-no?authuser=0

What timing!
 

Just picked up...

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3fb9449a0a.jpg
And the OP's title is perfect, as I'm a huge sucker for fade paint jobs! (Long live the 80's!) And I simply LOVE this color scheme.

This is the Speedster I picked up in January. Unfortunately this is the "before" picture and isn't very complimentary. Simply one pic of many to document its condition prior to a full tear-down, overhaul, tube reconditioning & protection & rebuild.
Currently it's mid-rebuild and looking amazing. The third coat of wax was the charm! Have tons of pics of the process, but nothing right now that showcases the paint. Amazing condition, given the bike's now fourteen years old. Ironically, I think I've put more scratches on it than it had when I obtained it! (Arrrrgh!) I'm a LITTLE disappointed in the paint's durability. Seems really fragile. In hindsight, it would have been good to clear coat it prior to rebuilding. Oh well. If I did that, the project would NEVER get done!

PS Any Co-Motion owners out there who know if Co-Motion puts foam plugs in every S&S end? I was surprised to discover them in mine. Further surprised and disappointed to see a few of them saturated with rust. Seems like putting water-retaining sponges inside a steel tubeset isn't the best of ideas! So I'm wondering if this is a Co-Motion thing or the previous owner did it. I've reached out to Co-Mo, but haven't heard back yet.

I also bought a 1-owner used Speedster of similar vintage, condition and configuration to yours, and each S&S connector contains foam plugs. I suppose it helps keep loose parts from finding their way into an uncoupled frame...

That pic gets me excited!! Love the colors on your bike, so fun!

The waiting is the hardest part!

We took a short test ride on a Steelhead (NICE!) for sizing, and put in the down payment on our Java. We worked through the build and accessories ... and picked the tri-color fade colors. It'll be July or August before I can share the details - but I will post a pic here when we get delivery!

Really? That's funny because I bought mine in Cupertino and I see you're in Saratoga. Perhaps you saw mine on CL? I've been riding in Saratoga pretty frequently as of late also. In fact, I'm hoping the Co-Motion will see the Hwy 9 climb out of Saratoga in the not too distant future!

Thanks for the reply. I can understand using them, but then again not really. I must say I'm really glad Co-Motion chooses to NOT use the coin-like plugs S&S offers with their couplers. The boom tube is a totally optimal place to store spare, once-in-a-lifetime parts on tour. (I'll have to wipe out much of the Fluid Film I squirted in there when I finally assemble the spare parts...)

Anyway, pretty funny we acquired similar bikes in a very similar geographic location at around the same time. I'll also add that I've seen some really well-priced Co-Motions on CL locally lately. Right now there's a coupled '02 model for $2,500 that's a steal. It's a steel steal! (But not as pretty as mine!!!)

Thanks again.

We bought our Speedster about 4 years ago from the original owners in Petaluma. We had flown several times with our uncoupled tandem and had decided to buy one with couplers. I was ready to go full bore and we had decided to buy either a Calfee Tetra or Santana Beyond, both bikes we had spent time on and liked. Purely by accident I became aware of this coupled Speedster for sale in our size, and not far away, so we took it for a ride and immediately agreed that it rode and handled at least as well as anything we’d ridden before. For not much more $ than the sales tax on the bikes we were considering, including cases, it was too good of a bargain to pass up. The sellers had bought it for their silver anniversary, so that’s the color, nothing fancy, but pleasing nonetheless. I’m not one to spend a lot of time waxing my bikes, and I’ve found that the color isn’t something I ever think about while riding, so if I do end up having Craig Calfee build a bike for us, it’ll probably be nude like the stoker stem he made for our Speedster.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f7299bdc9.jpeg

Here is our Classic Clemson Carrera in tangelo and violette pearl. For some reason the camera always makes the tangelo lighter and the violette bluer, when it is really orange and purple. We requested Co-Motion leave off the boom tube logo to see more paint.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...80e8017547.jpg

Nice looking Speedster on eBay. Not mine. Speedster Fade

R & E Cycles has an AMAZING gallery of jaw-droppingly beautiful tandems on their website:
https://www.rodbikes.com/images/gall...php?tag=tandem

These photos should muddy the waters just a bit for you!

https://live.staticflickr.com/4439/3...17e0387dd3.jpgIMG_3713 by Nacho Neal, on Flickr

Use Flashing Lights!
 

Ok, I never updated this thread as I had intended, but while I'm doing some related stuff, I thought I'd quickly share.

First of all, here she is in all her glory:
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8db847747f.jpg
Oh, and the bike too! (Ha, ha. Reference to my fearless stoker, of course!)
Turned out better than I could have imagined. Spoke tensions are, as I think I said, perfect. Amazing, given it's 14 years old.

Anyway, oh how things COULD have turned out so differently....
Test Ride #2:
Riding along the lake park where a million cyclists are riding, as well as all sorts of other people recreating, playing etc. Riding in the bike lane next to a long line of cars and approaching a light-controlled intersection. Driver proceeding in a single lane of lots of traffic moving at about 15mph, fails to use a signal, or check mirrors and/or blind spot and then VERY SUDDENLY SWERVES into me to pull to the RED curb! Not a parking spot - a RED ZONE, and IN AN INTERSECTION! She's lucky I'm skilled and have good reactions. She banged into me with the side of her car; I swerved right and toward the curb. My hands weren't on the brake hoods or levers, so I thought I'd hit the parked car that WAS in the first legal (non red) parking spot past the intersection. But I quickly reached the brakes and came to a stop. Luckily, she didn't keep coming over and stopped, so the impact stopped and I ended up in front of her car and out of the way of it. Somehow I escaped injury, damage and crashing. Second test ride of an $8,000 tandem and this idiot tries to ruin my day, week, month and year!
And the clincher? "YOU WERE IN MY BLIND SPOT!" Oh man did this piss me off! (She did say sorry, but then added, "I SAID I was sorry!" This was before the lame blind spot comment.)
Then she fled the scene. I was not even done evaluating the situation when she simply pulled away.
It looks like she impacted my left calf/ leg and the left side of the stoker bar and fake lever hood. The saddle and stoker bars were twisted clockwise. The fake lever hood was actually bent outwards - perhaps from my thigh?
Ironically, I had the folding allen wrench set (for test ride adjustments), so I was able to straighten the seat post and fake lever.
Pisses me off that she was so arrogant to blame me for being in her goddamned blind spot!
But to then leave the scene?
She never asked me if I or my bike were ok.
I'm pissed at myself for not saying, "Don't you leave!"
I also should have whipped out my phone and gotten her pic and pics of her car right off the bat. Tons of people around saw it, but no one came over to offer any assistance.
Dodged a car-shaped bullet!
Time to finally get that helmet cam (and two dash cams while I'm at it!) so this ****'s documented.

So the moral of the story?

I'm using front & rear flashing lights 24/7/365. (In addition to a reflective vest (not all the time), bell and rear-view mirror. And my city bike has a 90 db horn, so I think I'm pretty much covered the bases here.)

One drive up Mt. Hamilton last year I saw how much of a good idea it is to ride during the day with flashing lights. Especially on country roads where you're going in and out of shade. Drivers may have trouble seeing you as they emerge from shade and are momentarily blinded by bright sunlight. Flashing lights will all but eliminate this potential problem.

And it might just save your ass from the dummy who pulls stupid **** like what happened to me! OMG, I still can't believe that happened.

Thanks for reading!

First, happy you are good after that wreck. My tech on all rides, and all set for the new Java set up when it gets here, includes a GoPro, front light, and Garmin Varia radar/light. It really sucks that the person driving just left the scene and that nobody around told them to say put or checked on you two.

Second, love that bike!!