This travel tandem—a stunning Noventa with 8 S&S couplers plus multiple coats of pearlescent paint—was custom built here at the Santana factory for a bike industry executive. When this well-traveled VIP "temporarily" lost his job, he asked us to save this unique frame for him. For the next few years this exceptionally beautiful frame was carefully hidden away. Three jobs later, this formerly well-paid exec sent a short note of apology.Last summer, when an old friend of Santana's Founder asked about a very special tandem, this rare frame was unwrapped for his inspection. Deciding this fillet-brazed masterpiece was the perfect starting point, this second VIP supplied his personal list of required components. The day the bike was assembled, we e-mailed photographs of this classic year-2000 frame with modern 2007 components. When his wife saw the photos she was thrilled—sort of. Because she had definite ideas about color, however, they ended up with identical components on a RED Santana.
Not wanting to remove the custom components, the boss has decided that this VIP travel tandem will make a perfect Christmas-week auction. If you agree, keep reading.
Among the most beautiful tandems we’ve ever produced here at Santana’s California Factory was the Noventa. Debuting as our tour de force at 1990’s Interbike (where Mr. Campagnolo himself proclaimed it a Best of Show), the Noventa remained a unique offering due to its Columbus Niobium Vanadium alloyed tubeset. Meticulously joined here at Santana with classic fillet-brazed construction, the exceptional strength and ductility of the alloy allowed it to be drawn to 7/4/7 gauges. Lighter than previous steel or aluminum tandems, the Noventa has a more-comfortable ride that mimics the sweet feel of titanium.
While the flowing lines of a fillet-brazed frame are gorgeous to behold, this type of construction takes many additional hours of careful craftsmanship. Due to Santana’s growing sales and limited capacity, we reluctantly discontinued the Noventa in 2002. This auction is for a year 2000 frame which was carefully detailed, and then finished with multiple coats of expensive platinum pearl paint.
As if that weren’t enough to pique your interest, this Noventa comes fitted with the S & S Coupler system for easy disassembly, packing and transport. With airline travel becoming increasingly restrictive and shipping expenses going through the roof, the option to stash a full-sized tandem into a single suitcase makes traveling with a Santana "stowaway"™ travel tandem a breeze.
When it comes to frames with S&S couplers, no company has done more testing, or delivered more bikes than Santana. Instead of cutting corners by building flexier and heavier tandems with only 6 of these expensive fittings, Santana's uncompromised design combines no fewer than 8 of these round couplers with custom-drawn double-butted tubing to create travel tandems with undiminished stiffness and efficiency. To better understand why simpler designs are a poor answer, see the Frame Efficiency page within the Travel Technology section of the santanatandem.com website.
In addition to a light, strong and comfortable carbon fiber fork, the hand-picked list of components for this tandem includes Shimano 30-speed Dura Ace shift controls. Preferred by many aficionados, these lighter bar-end levers combine precision indexed shifting of the rear derailleur (for faultless shifts) with infinite "trim" of the front derailleur (to silence chain rub). Another advantage of this set up is the ability to use Dia-Compe's less-bulky brake levers. The left brake lever operates an Avid front V-brake with Travel Agent amplification. The right lever uses a Side-Trak booster to operate an amazingly-powerful 10-inch disc brake.
The custom built wheels of this bike combine stainless spokes, lightweight aero rims and 36-hole Hadley-Racing sealed bearing hubs. While some might think these race-ready wheels are too light for touring or heavy teams, we'll remove that concern with Santana's industry-leading two-year warranty against spoke breakage.Other components? Here's the list: Cane Creek Evolution headset, Modolo Q-Race (Captain and Stoker) handlebars, Terry’s coordinated Fly / Butterfly saddles, Continental 700x28 Gatorskin tires (handmade in Germany!), Shimano's most expensive rear derailleur, a Perfect-10 11-34 cassette, Shimano's newest Ultegra Triple front changer, cold forged Octalink 170/170 crankarms with Shimano pipe-splined bottom brackets, alloy Tamer seatposts (the rear is the top-rated Pivot-Plus model with 40mm of adjustable suspension).
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