My Santana has front and rear rack bosses and came with a Blackburn pannier rack for the rear. Included were both the Thudbuster stoker seatpost (shown) and a standard fixed stoker seatpost (now on the bike). Also included were the cowhorns and drop bars w/hoods for the stoker. Under a grand purchase price. Well under a grand. Craigslist, of course.
Brakes have the Travel Agent option, but are still marginal for even our hills and descending turns. All Ultegra stuff for what it's worth. It functions well enough, especially considering the cable runs, etc. The Arai drum drag brake adds safety (it also add about 3 pounds of weight for the unit and its control!) for long mountain descents or panic stops and is actuated via left bar end ratchet shifter. Experienced owners of the Arai drum brake tell me they never wear out.
This one was built for the buyer of a chain of local bike stores. I'ld like to off the 48-spoke bomb-proof tank wheels and put on a set of shimaNO or Spinergy wheels. It's a tank, Froze! IIRC it lists at 42-43 pounds! Just picking it up and getting it in the truck bed is a pain. It's noticeably rear-end heavy with that drum brake mounted on it.
Came with 2 pairs of OEM flat pedals/toe clips and straps. I bought 2 pairs of Ultegra SPD-L pedals for it, but she prefers the flat pedals.
175 cranks up front and 170 in the back. The 175's always feel a little weird starting out, but they stick them om the tandems for a little extra climbing leverage.
The most impressive feature? That awesome Captain's stem! No rise...love it!
But, the deal was too good to pass up. If I were going to by a new Santana I would still buy a Sovereign, but go for a double chainset, disc brakes on both ends, the carbon fork and lighten it up in the wheel and cockpit component areas. The saddles on mine are OEM ones. They are comfy enough for short rides, but again they weigh a ton.
I don't know much about CoMotion tandems other than friends had two of them. They cracked their first steel frame, but thought enough of it to buy a second one. They used to put a lot of miles on their tandems and both were very good cyclists. I did a semi-rainy/misty/humid metric organized charity ride or such and spent all of it eating **** off their back wheel. Never sweated so much or worked so hard for 60 miles. We flew past everyone and their speed was such that only a few riders could jump for the draft.
Burley also used to build a decent tandem for reasonable money, but IIRC have moved out of the building business entirely. Almost snagged a Burley before seeing the Santana for sale.
Like you, this is a wifey machine. Rails-To-Trails terror, for sure!
