# Old Santana bike -- what can you tell me?



## novicycle

Hi all.

I just picked up an older, somewhat rusty Santana tandem. The serial number is low: j036, and it has a pre-HG 6-speed freewheel cluster on a high flange 36h, 130mm-spaced Suzue hub. Shifters and derailers are early Deore 6-speed thumbies. Cranks and seat posts are Sugino and Sakae respectively. The headset is 1" threaded -- Hatta maybe? Looks cool whatever it is. Saddles, grips, pedals and perhaps the steel comfort bars are not original. Best I can tell, everything else is.

I'm under the impression that this is one of their earlier builds, but hopefully will get clarification with your help. I've sent a message to Santana to see what they can tell me. Any help with identifying the vintage of this ride, or even links to similarly minded tandem buffs is greatly appreciated.

Pic: And yes, one of the first things that I will do is to line up the cranks properly. Give me a few days :wink5:


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## novicycle

As per Santana's reply: 1989 Rio. The components seem older than that, but perhaps they used some earlier stuff on their lower end models?

If you have one of these, let me know what you do or have done on it. Looking forward to exploring the potential of this beast.


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