Eugene, Oregon’s Co-Motion Cycles specializes in tandems, as their name implies. But, the company, founded in 1988, has spread its wings to embrace single-rider bikes. With the lush Oregon forests as an ideal testing ground, adventure bikes built for gravel roads have become a new specialty for this custom builder.
Dwan Shepard, appropriately enough the co-owner of Co-Motion Cycles, explains their design philosophy as follows: “All of our bicycles are very much built on the form follows function concept. The appearance isn’t disparate from “traditional”, but a closer look shows that every frame we produce uses material and hardware built exclusively by/for us for the sole purpose of building a better bike.”
Customers can become willing abettors to Co-Motion’s pursuit of excellence with the ability to customize a bicycle right at Co-Motion’s website. There are any number of “custom stock” Co-Motion models in both tandem and single versions, with an ample menu of wheel size, component group and brake (disc or caliper) choices. Once the customer has found the bike that suits her needs and desires, she can choose the paint from a large palette of colors in metallic and pearl finishes, and applied in a number of different patterns.
One of Co-Motion’s more interesting offerings is the Americano, a 700c wheel adventure touring bike that’s part throwback to the loaded touring bike craze of the 1980s, but also completely contemporary with its disc brakes and clearance to fit pavement-eating 38c tires. Hearkening tradition is the steel frame made from Reynolds 725 custom tubing and a full complement of mounts for fenders, front and rear racks, front headlight, and three water bottles. But the Americano looks forward with its three different drivetrain options: a traditional triple crankset and 10-speed rear cogset, a Rohloff 14-speed internal rear hub, or Co-Motion’s latest offering, a German-made Pinion 12 or 18-speed internal gearbox with Gates Carbon Drive.
The same go-anywhere ethos of Co-Motion’s single rider lineup is echoed and amplified in their tandem offerings, Co-Motion’s original specialty and the mainstay that built their reputation. Three wheel sizes are offered on Co-Motion’s tandems: 26 inch, 650b and 700c. The same customizable paint offered on single-rider bikes applies to tandems, and you can even get a “trident” model: a three-pilot bicycle for two parents and one child, or one parent and two children, with easily adjustable seat height and reach (stem length).
Co-Motion makes cycling a mutually enjoyable activity, whether embarked upon on separate bikes, as a couple on a tandem, or as a family on a trident. And with the number of customizable wheel size, frame design, paint and component options, you’re sure to find a bike that meets your needs and satisfies your desires.