Last weekend (Nov. 3-5) I completed my third coffeeneuring ride of the season in conjunction with our now-annual weekend at the Philly Bike Expo. The actual coffeeneuring ride took place on Sunday, when we stopped at Volo Coffeehouse in Manayunk. It’s become one of my traditional coffeeneuring stops since we started attending PBE in 2013, and it’s always good.
Volo is about eight miles outside Philly on the way to Phoenixville (see the route here), where we leave the car and ride in on the Schuylkill River Trail, or the SRT as it is known locally. The total distance is about 29 miles to the convention center. This year we rode in to Philly on Friday, Nov. 3, so that we could go to see Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile at the Tower Theater (great show, nice crowd too!).
We had a lovely coffee at Volo on Friday but it did not count for coffeeneuring because I’m on the classic approach, so only weekend stops for me.
The Expo was its usual over-the-top amazing collection of poeple, bikes and gear. Here are the highlights:
- A great talk with Dwan Shepherd of Co-Motion Cycles about our next tandem.
- Quality time with the guys from Velo Orange. Congratulations to Igor and Adrian on their new baby boy!
- Hanging out with Deb Banks, head saddler of Rivet Saddles, and Ely Rodriguez of RuthWorks Bags, who shared a booth. Both fun people and great products. I ended up buying my first Rivet saddle, an Independence, as I restock my bikes after giving up on Brooks B17, which no longer works for me.
- Meeting up with friends wandering the show, and talking with the exhibitors. We had some great conversations! This year we also ran into Mary’s relatives from Richmond, who were there helping out a business friend who had a booth.
- Checking out all the cool gear. I took advantage of the opportunity to test the Elite Direto smart trainer – I want to add some structured workouts to my cycling.
Here are some photos:
The Daily Randonneur 
Thanks for an interesting bike expo report!
Can you share what your next Co-motion tandem would be?
We’ve gone from a Cannondale tandem to a Santana Sovereign. Would now want something with wider tires for increased comfort.
I understand you’ve gone through some more tandems than us (also starting from Cannondale, then couple of Co-Motions, then a custom built and now back to Co-Motion?).. would be interested in your thoughts!
Thanks!
Jurgen
Hello Jurgen,
please forgive the delayed response.
We’re fans of Co-Motion for a number of reasons, high among them is Dwan & co. can turn around custom work fairly quickly, in weeks rather than months, at a fair price. The custom upcharge is worth every penny to get the exact sizing for both captain and stoker, and the Java 700c/29er they built us fits wonderfully. Mary’s height requires a longer rear top tube than any of the tandem makers provide in stock sizes.
Keep in mind we purchase framesets only, which may speed up delivery as they don’t have to build up the full bike.
Right now we want a replacement for our Cannondale MTB tandem which doesn’t fit Mary well enough. We’re going with Co-Motion so that we can have it this spring sometime.