SpeedofLite 

Chuckk

Seems like a good place to put my new-to-me Arriva!
It had been on CL a couple times over maybe six months, cheaper and cheaper. When it got to 200 I had to hide the ad so I wouldn't be tempted to get it.
Then a couple weeks ago it showed up for 100. Turned out it was a "clean out guy" that had just gotten it the week before.
A typical example of a garaged bike that had been stored for the last 20 years or so - the rotted tires had the "hooked rim warning" molded into them.
Getting it ready, I think I found the reason it was parked. Somebody had worked on the rear wheel and cranked the bearing retainers down against the sealed bearings until it barely could rotate. Then they added an extra .1" spacer inside the brake drum.
Other than that, the only thing that really needed attention was the spoke tension. I added about one turn to each of the 48 front spokes, and OVER TWO TURNS to the rears.
I wonder if the mushy ride had prompted the previous owner to tighten up the wheel bearings?
I was told the serial number is before it included a date ID, so I'm going to call it a '87. The seat posts are 84, canti brakes are 86, and the Suzue hubs are 87.

T-Mar

I had a 1985 Elan, in the same colour as Chuckk's.

tcs

Wow, super wide 28mm tires on a road bike.

Chuckk

It still had what was probably the original 27" Specialized Touring tires - 27x1-1/8 (28). I ballooned it up to 1-1/4 (32) because that's what I had.

scarlson 

Interesting they increased the trail (decreased the fork rake) to make their "high performance geometry". Given the reduced rake on this bike still ends up with 46mm trail, a bit more rake would've given about the same handling as an old constructeur tandem, with super steep angles you see on those.

I'm guessing the all-important head angle on this Santana is around 74 degrees, give or take half a degree. My Jack Taylor and my René Herse both have >74ish degree head tubes and a ton of rake. I estimate the trail on these to be around 30mm. There is an issue of BQ (the Tandems of France or something like that) with a couple of old French tandem geometries shown, and they are similar to mine.

Jan also claims that Bill McCready's groundwork at Santana was influenced by the French constructeurs. Not sure if it's true, but they are similar. So is Jack Taylor. I have to say I prefer the ultra-steep head angle and super low trail of an old tandem like these. Makes the stoker's movements influence the movement of the bike a whole lot less than a comparable bike with slacker head angle. I wonder what frame geometries Santana is working with now!

tcs

Specs listed in the article say "Specialized Touring II 700 x 28C, 100 psi".

700C is not 27". See:

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html

Chuckk

Thanks for the explanation of tire sizes. I added the metric equivalents because a bunch of folks don't know the conversion.
Mine is older than the '90 in the review, and several of the components aren't the same.
If you can find the review on the older Santana Elan posted in this group, it has the 27" Ukai rims like mine.
27" tires hung around on many touring bikes until ~90.

Pogliaghi

Really nice looking bike Chuck, need to come by soon and check it out!