The bike arrived and we test rode it for fit and initially, all was good. Our first 80 km ride went well and so we were looking forward to our second ride when 2 kms in, we broke the drive belt and walked the bike home. Oddly enough, the following weekend we had the old Mocha out and broke its chain which I fixed on the side of the road in 15 minutes and we were on our way and with that, the decision was made to convert to a chain drive on the Equator. Yeah, I know a belt is not supposed to break, but I don’t trust what I can’t see and with a chain, regular maintenance and a chain length gauge, I can tell when a chain should be swapped out. Turns out the Mocha had a broken rear axle which stressed and broke the chain! I had a friend who does stress analysis for a living analyze the belt and he suspects that the carbon threads through the belt were likely broken before final assembly.

After converting the tandem to a chain drive we continued to ride the bike as much as were could and soon discovered that, well, some of the measurements were for not or just never considered. My right hand did not fit on the handlebar comfortably so I often positioned it on the curve in the bar. The handle bars were just too narrow with the Rohloff gear selector installed so a few weeks later, the bars were changed out for a larger 44. Another issue was the rake on the fork, another miscalculation! With the inclusion of a full fender on the bike, during a slow speed short radius turn, the fender and my foot would make contact. My fix for that short of bending the forks was to move my shoe cleats all the way forward! The last issue was the length of the fork, the crown of the fork is so short that it provides very little clearance when installing full fenders with a large 700c touring tire such as a Specialized Infinity 700 x 32.

The belt I can excuse and my decision to go to a chain drive was personal but then my background is mechanical. What bothers me about the bike and its design are that the issues with the handle bars, fork rake and tire to fender clearance are all simple design problems that should not even exist on a bike with that kind of price tag!

We have toured with the bike and aside from compensating for what the designers failed to consider, the bike has been a good bike to ride. The Rohloff is nice in that you don’t have to worry about derailleurs and the SS couplers too added to the price, but I don’t think that the bike is worth what it retails for.

Seriously think about parting with that much money before you put it down on an Equator. I don’t mind parting with money if it’s worth it but I don’t think the Equator is. Aside from that, I for one will not likely buy another Co-Motion.

Hello!

Thanks very much! I think, I’ll take a 26″ Equator frame too.

Kind regards, Bertram

Hello Bertram

We ended up with the Equator because we wanted to use a Rohloff hub and Gates Carbon Drive. As Co-Motion custom builds their tandems to ANY specification, we were able to request a frame designed around 26″ wheels. Co-Motion then built the frame with the right tyre clearances, bottom bracket height and frame geometry to match.

You’re correct that the Java is capable of running wide MTB tyres on 29″ wheels, but as Co-Motion is able to build custom bikes, you can request the Java with 26″ wheels for touring. 🙂

If we were to make the purchase again for the trip we just did, we would stick with 26″ wheels due to the additional strength that they provide for our bike which is so heavily loaded! If we could’ve packed lighter, and spent more time on rough roads, we would opt for 29″ wheels though.

Have you seen our tandem FAQs? https://www.cyclingabout.com/tandem-tech-everything-you-ever-need-to-know/

Alee

Thank’s very much for your review!

I’m going to build up a tandem for my girlfriend and me and found this incredible equator-frame. But I’ve a question to tyre clearance. You seem to ride with 26″ rims in an 28″ frame, is that right? Did you have any problems with the clearance between your cranks and the ground (You should have 2″ less clearance)? What’s the dimension of your tyres? Am I right with the assumption that I shouldn’t try mounting some fenders and large tyres on a 28″ rim in the equator frame because there isn’t any clearance at all?

I’ve another question (and hope you don’t feel too much disturbed). Co-motion builds a 29″ Java Rohloff frame, which would be able to take really large tyres and fenders. Allthough I would prefer 26″ for touring, I wanted to ask you (and your experience ;-), if you would take a Java Rohloff frame with 28″ rims and large 28″ tyres, if you had to buy another tandem frame.

In expectation of your opinion
and with kind regards to you and Kate
and in apology for all mistakes in the text above
Bertram, Austria