Originally Posted by
Steel Charlie
That would probably be the only Santana that ever failed too. Not long after it got going, Bill took me down the street to check it out. Pretty cool. I recall the one builder's personal bike was a Ben Dover.
Hah, that was me! Ben Dover was my fantasy bike company that never existed. I made 3 single bikes while I was there, and I was not allowed to put Santana decals on them because Bill wanted to be able to say "we only build tandems". (Of course later they did make singles, but not many.) So I made my own "Ben Dover" decals using Letraset rub-on letters, PITA but OK if you only need to make one or two. I think the first one, which I made for my roommate, did not get decals, so there were probably only two bikes with Ben Dover decals ever made. Here are the few pics I have of them, from about '78-'79.
"Ben Dover" brand (early Bulgier)