1998 Santana Ti? 3K
 

I was nearly ready to pull the trigger on a new da Vinci steel, but an aquaintance has just put his 1998 Santana titanium tandem on the market.

The size is right and it is in perfect condition, even comes with a giant shipping/travel box - and it's priced under $3K...

Other than an upgrade on wheels and maybe bars for comfort, the only other drawbacks I see are no disk brakes and that the fork is Ti, not carbon. But I'm in TX, so disks aren't a true neccessity, right? And Santana sells their carbon forks, so an upgrade there is doable if it's deemed neccessary.

Should I be 'stoked' about this (pun intended)? It would be double for a steel tandem but it would be new... ?? Thanks

As with any used bike, you give up the maker's warranty.

Our friends rode a Santana Ti-700 for a decade until retiring it because of recurring hairline cracks at the headtube/top tube junction; that was close to 100K miles of hilly rides.

Santana did spot welding a couple of times on it for free under warranty.

They got a NOS Burley steel tandem with 26" wheels and remarked how much stiffer it was. That would be my concern with a ti tandem & ti fork especially, whether the setup meets your expectations for rigidity. If so, sounds like a great deal.

Ed
Washington, DC

I believe the fork is steel not Ti. Carbon upgrade would be good choice.

I looked at the bike mentioned by the OP. The fork is steel with chrome finnish. Some spotting on chrome. Frame looks to be in good shape but it is 8 speed STI so I would plan on drive train upgrade along with wheels. Shimano 8 speed triples were not renowned for thier front shifting. If committed to full upgrade of bars stems ect might make a bike in the mid to low 30 lb range with mirror like finnish. I passed because it was a bigger project than i wanted to take on for a 700C bike.

Could be made rideable with original wheels and shifters for very little money but full project would take some investment. Full upgrade would yield a unique great looking. Bike. A more practical alternative purchase is a new Arriva with niobium tubing.

Have ridden a 'tana Ti tandem when they first came out. Over-priced/over-rated.
There are very few Ti forks available (too heavy/too pricey), and 'tana did use a steel fork on theirs.
Have also ridden one of the few Serotta Ti tandems. Nicer, but still not impressed.
Did own a Merlin Ti single . . . got rid of it due to severe harmonic vibrations that could not be controlled/rectified.
Have ridden steel daVinci . . . impressed!
Currently have 34,000 miles on a carbon fiber tandem . . . still impressed!
However, yoiu control the checkbook/credit card!

I am not sure why but Ti has always been very appealing to me. I do not think it is really logical but emotional and a polished Ti tandem is a great looking bike.