SpeedofLite 

Note: Page navigation seems unnecessarily complex again. But I'm not a publishing guy, so what do I know.

TenGrainBread 

Thanks for posting as usual.

Nice to see Rodriguez in here. They're still going in Seattle and still specialize in tandems. They also specialize in making ultralight steel bikes, regularly churning out 16-17 pound complete steel road bikes.

conspiratemus1

Technology changes but the design principles outlined in the article still ring true. Nice.
(And yes, attempts by the captain to ride no-hands are still intensely unpopular with the stoker.)

SpeedofLite 

You're welcome. I enjoy contributing to BF this way. I have never seen a Rodriguez bike, so your last sentence prompted me to take a look at their ultralight steel bikes.
That Rodriguez Bandito is really tempting....REALLY tempting.

pastorbobnlnh 

I was given an early 1980s Santana Tandem a number of years ago. Unfortunately the stoker's position is too big for my wife (plus she doesn't really like to ride in the first place) so it hangs in the basement neglected.

Reading these articles makes me determined to hold onto the old beauty. It's a hybrid of components between the Fuji and Bertin, with a Suntour drivetrain (derailleurs, barend shifters and freewheel), MAFAC brakes (levers and cantilever calipers). However it diverges with an Arai rear drum drag brake, Phil Wood hubs and BB, and TA cranksets. In many ways the Santana ticks all the boxes which Rodriguez covers. There's been a temptation to part it out, but so far I've resisted and plan to continue to do so.

@SpeedofLite, the writer makes the comment on page 94 about the Fugi using the ProCompe freewheel (Suntour made a Tandem specific variation of this model with larger pawls and @jimmuller has one). He mentions the limitation of the 14T smallest sprocket and suggests utilizing a "stronger Winner will accept a 12 or 13T and last longer too." I'm not certain where the author came up with the conclusion of "stronger" and "last longer." The internals are nearly 100% the same between the two models. The outer body of the Winner is modified to receive a 13T, but that's about the only change.

Have you come across a review of freewheels? It would be interesting to see how they responded to the differences. Sometimes the writer's subjectivity seems illogical.

By any chance is the author of this article the same "Gary Fisher" as the MTB maker Gary Fisher?

TenGrainBread 

Yep, same guy. Fisher did most of the bike reviewing for the magazine during this time period. In 1980, the company that Fisher and Charlie Kelly founded (MountainBikes) would have been about a year old.

SpeedofLite 

I think I'll start reviewing the "Letters to the Editor" section an issue or two later to see if anyone else had similar questions about the author's comments or critique in an article.
I don't suspect we'll see a BF-raised issue addressed very often, but it's easy enough to do and satisfying when it happens.

I haven't seen a freewheel review yet, or I have and passed it up for now to keep pushing out the Road Tests through 1995. I'll search it out. The "Road Test/Bike Review" posts are nearing 1981, and I think the "Equipment/Product Review" posts are trailing by about 5 years. The issues of Bicycling! are starting to contain much more content as we head into the 80s, so I expect much more to see.

Yes, it seems it is that Gary Fisher. See Posts #2 through #4 here: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...n-serotta.html

crank_addict

This is a good read by Gary Fisher from 1980, though find it most peculiar that former associate editor of Bicycling (mid 70s?) Bill McCready was left out, nor mentioned. By that date of the written article, he was already building the outstanding Santana.