The 2000 Santana Stylus frame I purchased 2 weeks ago arrived today - see first photos below.

Here's a bit of the story behind this frame.

I'd been looking for an inxpensive Scandium frame - a project more or less to tide me over while I wait (and wait) for the Tete to come back from the paint shop. I'd been looking at used frames, thinking I would piece something together with the bits I have in the garage and had been considering the IRD Scandium Elite, Bianchi San Lorenzo, Felt F-15, among others.

I ran across an ad for a Santana Stylus Scandium frame on the roadbikereview classifieds. Nice looking frame and a decent price - $475 for a never-built or ridden frame, new Ouzo Comp fork and a new Chris King headset, shipping included. Size was right but I knew nothing about Santana except that they made great tandems. I searched the web for what amounted to about 6 hours and found very little mention - certainly no reviews or any record of anybody owning or selling them. I posted a thread about Scandium frames in general and made a tiny remark in the opening post jokingly asking if this frame ever really existed as anything other than a prototype.

Later that day, forum member Serotta chimed in with a description and a photo of his own and told the story of how Santana had built somewhere between 400 and 1000 of these but had never sold them. The actual number of them in existence is unknown, but some people feel it could be less than 100. With that knowledge and the confidence that it was coming from a reputable company, I took the leap and purchased it.

It turns out that the guy I bought the frame from had purchased it on Ebay for $270 only a couple of days before I bought it. He is a regular turner of bike gear but somehow, some way, this needle in a haystack slipped through the collective consciousness of not only him, but everybody on Ebay. Based on the copy in the original Ebay listing - which didn't describe anything other than it was new and an Aluminum frame, it was obvious the 2 previous owners weren't aware of what they truly had. That is, until I made the mistake of mentioning it to him after I had paid for it.

Then, the Ebay seller didn't ship it to the guy I bought it from, which led to a heated email from me implying that he might be renegging on the deal and even if he wasn't, why was he selling something he hadn't taken possession of? I wondered for well over a week whether I'd ever see the frame, but the seller kept offering me my money back and assuring me that the problem lied with the Ebay seller. Communication with him was good and I had a good feeling about him, so I chose to wait a little while longer.

On Wednesday, the frame finally came to the guy who sold it to me. He immediately sent me an email offering $700 to buy it back. My response was a simple "send it to me to examine and I'll consider it"....to which he agreed.

It arrived this morning and all I could say was: "NO THANKS". No thanks to his offer of buying it back that is. It is freaking gorgeous!!!! The color is the same marine blue as the 67 Corvette Stingray, which is my favorite color of all time. And with the transparent paint over the sanded-swirl finish tubing, it's even cooler. It is serial number 413.

But, there was an added surprise. It showed up with a brand new uncut Reynolds Ouzo PRO fork as opposed to the COMP fork I expected. And also the new King headset. For $475 shipped, I feel like the luckiest guy on the planet.

55/Rad

Niiiiice. :D

I like it. Very Unique.

That paint job is amazing.

What do you have planned for this frame? (What parts are we talking about?)

Wow - gorgeous bike. Just once I'd like to fall into a great deal like that . . . on anything!

I've been going back and forth on this and decided to strip the 5500 of it's Ultegra 10 drivetrain and Rolf Vigor wheels. Mainly because the Santana frame is so freakin' light - 2.4 pounds - I want to make it a climbing specific ride. The Trek will go back to being Ultegra 9 with the Bonty X-Lite Aeros.

55/Rad

I hear ya....returning the Trek to factory stock and make the Santana the Custom bike. I'm suprised you said that at first, but now that I think about it makes more sense really.

It will be nice to see this frame built up.

Very nice Rad, can't wait to see it built.

I really hate you! :p That's an absolutely gorgeous frame. Trade you my 56cm Fuji Team SL for it! lol

Wow, this is without a doubt my biggest pet peeve about eBay. Unlike a standard auction, or buying a bike in person, people can list stuff they don't even have yet.

When I purchased my bike of eBay it took about two weeks, with the seller emailing me "I haven't got the bike yet", yadda yadda. I have no doubt he sent it as quick as possible once he received it, but that didn't matter to me -I paid him immediately, and likewise expected him to send asap.

If I wasn't so nice, I probably should have given him neg feedback. But eBay auctions are the equivalent of a Cold War standoff, with a mutually assured destruction element, via the nuclear option of neg feedback. If I give neg feedback which they deserve, then I'll surely get negative feedback from them, which I don't deserve. I know this is a common feeling among eBay'ers, because I have dealt with people on eBay who are completely mental, yet somehow have 100% positive feedback and hundreds of transactions.

Probably 4-5 sales have been deserving of neg feedback, but at most I just wait until they give me positive feedback and then don't give them any (which I consider pretty kind of me, considering they deserve neg).

I think you have a set period, possibly 3 or maybe 6 months to put feedback in. I have toyed with the idea of marking a calendar with that day, and then giving them neg feedback at 11:55 pm the night before. Yeah, sounds "evil" or whatever -but if someone ganks me and I don't mention it, then I am doing a disservice to potential customers of the bum seller. My conscience is clear. I just need to get a calendar.

glad things worked out, you could've been burned 55/Rad

Those pictures are a gorgeous display of rarity! I am truly jealous of the color. My frame looks bland when compared to your blue one. I would think that since the act of me posting the picture of the real thing gave the entire project validity that you should seriously entertain thoughts of trading your frame for mine. After all, mine is number 400 which makes it older and therefore more valuable than 413. I'll keep watching for the UPS truck delivering that package from Oregon over the next week or so!!!!!! :D

55/Rad, did you arrive at the 2.4 lbs by weighing it yourself or just listing what was published? I was told mine was 2.2 lbs, but I haven't been close to a scale to check the weight. I believe they are the same size frames, so the weight should be the same for both.

Good luck with it, keep us posted with pictures as you build it.

John

said it before...you really have fun with the sport by building and riding different bikes.
A good idea to make the 5500 stock and build a true custom. Believe your sense of fairness got you through the negotiation. That frame is unique and beautiful. I too love the color. Understand the frame is very light and conducive to climbing and will be very interested to hear what the ride quality is like.
Have fun,
George

55- Good deal. Sexy bike.

I really like the more traditional shape.

Get that thing built up for Monster Cookie next weekend. The Junkyard Dog needs some more aluminum friends.

-Z (Century-Dog Spot)

so he bought a bike for $270, sold it to you for $475, then unsold it to you when he didnt get it for a while, then sold it to you for $700! id say $430 is a pretty nice profit. i think he should honor his original selling price. i understand how he can jack up the price since he knows what it really was worth, but increasing the price after the sale wouldnt sit very nice with me

RAD!!!!! thats sweet, I wish I had a bike like that. Arent those chris King headsets alone 200 bucks? Man what a deal!!!!!!

What? The price was $475 shipped with King headset, not $700.

oh, nevermind. i got it now, after you bought it, the guy you bought it from offered to buy it back from you. makes much more sense now

This is one of the things I hate about eBay. I ordered a front der. about 3 weeks ago that probably isn't coming. I've sent 2 e-mails with no response and I know it's time for negative feedback. The thing is, I know I'm going to get negative feedback right back even though I paid immediately and didn't do anything wrong. I get ripped off, but I'll get negative feedback as well. I only have a 48 feedback, so that's going to hurt my percentage more than it will hurt this guy's score of well over 1,000.

Once I won a jersey that looked bright green in its picture. I have a thing for ugly colors. Anyway, the jersey came and it was yellow. Nowhere in the listing did it mention that it was yellow, so I asked for a refund. The guy was a jerk and wasn't even nice about telling me no, so I left him negative feedback. Yep...I got negative feedback from him. My score was even lower than 48 back then, so it killed my percentage.

I always make a point to give feedback to buyers as soon as they pay. That way they know I have nothing to hide. If they give me negative feedback then I'll probably deserve it, and if they forget to leave feedback that's just the way it goes. I hate sellers who wait for the buyers to give feedback first.

Very, very nice. :)

Personal suggestion. You may need to build this one up with something better than your older used parts. Older used parts are for older "used" frames.
I would personally go with a new Ultegra 10s or Centaur group. I mentioned you might try looking at a compact again with this one. Centaur has compact cranks now. But that's just me. Although, the new Ultegra 10s crank would look beautiful on this frame.
Can't wait to see what you decide on. Try not to keep us waiting too long.

Did I ever mention, I like blue? ;)

It's that whole Karma thing Rad... You've been tested to your wits end with the ongoing Tete saga and you have kept a fairly even keel about the whole thing, something I am sure I would not be able to do. Now this gift of a frame falls in your lap. I'd call it a reward for patience, since if the Tete was complete, you probably wouldn't of been browsing to buy and "big blue" would of fallen through the cracks.

Rad, that looks pretty sweet. You know what would make it truly unique? A custom paint job! :p

(I'm now ducking, running for my life, and begging to be put in the FBI's Witness Protection Program...)

Yeah what he said - Tete - whaaaat stinkin Tete - pass me another paint pot lads.

I would NOT send this off for a custom paint job, it looks a million bucks in its raw originals. You have something a bit unique here my friend and it looks like it will bring lots of joy.
We all look forward to a review after your first ride!!

I'll second that, I'd love to see this at the Monster Cookie, UNLESS it's raining like it is today! Nice story, what a gem.

That frame looks great. I LOVE that color. $475 for that and new carbon fork seems like a fantastic deal.

So Rad, you gonna have this bike built for us by this weekend right? LoL