You're correct: refinishing IS possible, but the issue is finding someone competent to strip powder coat, clean the frame meticulously (bead blasting is best in this regard), and then refinish it. The owner of this tandem did inquire about refinishing, and I responded by saying that it's not practical to do it, and as a manufacturer, we would not be able to stand behind the refinishing work b/c we simply don't have any experience at it: having a frame with this kind of problem is extremely rare. We have frames that are now approaching ten years and tens of thousands of miles on them out in the field with almost no corrosion problems. Many of those bikes are ridden by racers who train in the worst of conditions. Magnesium is really no more prone to corrosion than steel or aluminum (at least). We have a page on the Paketa web site addressing the corrosion question and how to properly maintain a magnesium frame:
http://www.paketabikes.com/index.cfm?page=corrosion

At Paketa, we pride ourselves with great customer service. What's missing from the story is that the frame in question is out of warranty (at the time the warranty was three years; it's now six years for all Paketa tandems), and the present owner is not the original owner. We pointed out to the owner that there are no bicycle manufacturers (that I'm aware of, at least) that offer transferable warranties. To wit, here are the relevant excerpts from the main manufacturers of high-performance tandems:

http://www.calfeedesign.com/product/...rame-warranty/ "Calfee Design warrants to the original registered owner that its products are free of manufacturer’s defects..."
http://co-motion.com/index.php/infor...ty_information "Co-Motion frames, forks and stems carry a limited lifetime warranty for the original owner of the bike..."
http://www.sevencycles.com/warranty.php "The warranty is valid to the original retail purchaser only, and only for the time the person owns the frame." (Note: finish excluded from warranty)
http://www.nichedistributions.com/santana "...all Santana Tandems have a lifetime frame warranty against structural defects for the original purchaser..." (Note: finish excluded from warranty).
http://www.paketabikes.com/index.cfm?page=warranty "All Paketa frames are warranted to the original owner against manufacturer's defects..."

It's impossible for any manufacturer, not just Paketa, to know all of the details of how a bike is assembled, stored, maintained, used, or abused. Maintenance is essential on any bicycle not just for riding but also to protect and preserve the frame. That is the responsibility of the owner, obviously.

Nonetheless, as a gesture of good will and with the desire to help out a Paketa owner, even if they're a second-hand owner, we offered a new frame at a substantial discount from the new-frame price--about half. The new frame is the latest design with significant improvements over the earlier version and comes with the full six-year warranty. What's that worth? Under the circumstances, we feel this is more than reasonable. And, the owner would still be free to refinish the old frame.

Dave Walker
PAKETA CYCLES