Santana tandems/Wheelset options and experiences

[J Baldwin]

I still find myself wavering back and forth about the advantages and disadvantages of owning a Santana but I’m well down one fork of the road now with a Ti 700. We rode an Al Sovereign for 2 years until it grossly corroded due to "contaminated tubing" per Bill at Santana. He was well aware of the problem since several other bikes in that batch did the same thing. After seeing our pictures he was very good to us by giving us a trade in/warranty deal on the Ti 700. Despite current issues with recently purchased Shimano/Santana wheels, that was a good experience. However, our Shimano "Sweet 16" wheel experience has me perplexed. Often it is the Santana Way or the highway with Bill and his Santana outfit. I too have had several loonngggg conversations with him over the years concerning various issues. They are neither right nor best about everything tandem and they don't know everything! Although I don't own a Co-Motion or one of the other quality alternatives out there, I sure welcome their competition for no other reason than it will give Santana a reason to question themselves and treat their customers better. The whole thing boiled down to him not believing the wheels were defective and later admitting he never tried to mount tires on them himself before immediately shipping back the same set of wheels he said he would exchange. This without even contacting me first! I think that was quite arrogant.
Anyway, I plan to lace up a quality, performance oriented 160mm wheelset that will offer moderate to high performance, ease of use and reliability. I have several wheelsets and would prefer not to have to readjust brake width and move the brake pads in and out to accomodate a larger diameter "700" rim as I've had to do with the Shimano/Santana "Sweet 16's". This of course would assume I could even find a set of Sweet 16 wheels that actually accepts a tire! We weigh 305 and do one or two racing events every year. Otherwise it is spirited group riding or long solos in remote areas with occasional cattle guards. I’m considering the following:

Phil Wood front hub…36 or 40

Phil Wood rear hub…40

Velocity Fusion or Deep V rims…36 or 40 front??? 40 rear. (Leaning toward the lighter fusion since we ride in a quite hilly area of Texas).

DT Double or triple butted??? 2.0/1.8/2.0 or 2.3/1.8/2.0 (Alpine III maybe)

Any experiece in this area or compatibilty issues I might not know about???

Thanks in advance...

[ben rabin]

#2
ben rabin
Florida Cyclist


Registered: Jul 2004 For what is is worth, my wife and I, a team of 350lbs, recently purchase an Axiom 007 Ti Seven Cycles Tandem. In an effort to assist stoker wife's comfort, among other things, we switched from a Bontrager Lite Wheelset to a wheelset we had made by Peter White, Phil Wood Hubs and Velocity Deep V Rims. Without question, we both feel more stable and find them, at least to our speed, acumen, etc.. totally satisfying. Only other tandem experience prior to this bike and wheels, was a Cannondale Alum with smaller wheelset....so nothing to compare it to.

[J Baldwin]

Ben,
Did you go with 36 and/or 40 spokes frt/back on the Phil/Velocity wheelset?
Jeff

[Trsnrtr]

This of course would assume I could even find a set of Sweet 16 wheels that actually accepts a tire!

You lost me there. I've never had any trouble mounting tires on the Santana/Shimano Sweet 16 wheels. I must be lucky.

-Dennis

[ben rabin]

36 front; i believe 38 rear. It will be worth your while to speak to Peter White at peterwhitecycles.com to verify. he spec'd it for us; built them beautifully, and i've now had him build me wheelset for one of my road bikes. i have, and continue to use, mavic xyssirium on a custom ti/carbon road bike; dura ace/velocity aerohead front and aerohead ac rear (spec'd by Peter White) for a custom steel bike; and rolf vector pro's on carbon road bike...so, I do have some idea of different wheels, performance etc.. I basically told peter what was happening on the new tandem, expressed a desire to use Phil Wood hubs, and he took it from there. good luck.

[zonatandem]

With your experience, we think it would be time to switch horses!

[J Baldwin]

I wish I had your experience because I really wanted a set of these wheels. They look really fast. I tried 4 different gatorskins (25's and 28's) with no luck. Then I experimented with Michelin pro race, an axial pro light, and an older axial pro folding laying around just to see if I could get something on. I finally got the old axial pro folding to snap on with no rim tape and after breaking one tire lever. Obviously we got a bad build, batch or something. I can understand differences among batches but not in the way this was handled by the vendor. I think I've decided on some Phils with DT/DB and Fusion rims...more weight albeit less headaches and more professional treatment from folks who don't feel like they have a monoploy in the tandem business.

[Trsnrtr]

... and more professional treatment from folks who don't feel like they have a monoploy in the tandem business.

Can't fault you there. Good luck on the wheel quest.

-dennis