# Sicilian Winter Ride



## GeoCyclist (Oct 31, 2002)

I haven’t posted any ride reports in quite a while, as I’ve been too busy enjoying life in Sicily to spend any time on the Internet. This weekend I took my converted Santana out for its maiden spin, so I thought a ride report was called for.

The first few photos show the before and after photos from converting my Santana Rio from a MTB to Road bike.

My stoker and I decided the MTB set-up on our Santana Rio was not going to cut it any longer. After an enjoyable summer vacation cycling on our new Calfee road bike, we decided the Santana needed to be converted to a road tandem; as the Calfee is stored in the USA until our next summer vacation.

With invaluable assistance from Mark Johnson, of Precision Tandems, I selected a suitable component and wheel package for my Santana. The wheels were the real sticking point, as the Santana frame has the wide 140mm rear drop spacing. Fortunately, Chris King builds a set of MTB hubs with 140mm spacing, and Velocity makes a pretty durable 26” rim. I do have to admit the Chris King freewheel sounds like a hive of angry bees when we're coasting, but the wheels have a very nice ride. I purchased the disc brake set-up for the rear wheel, but I’ve decided to try riding with just the V-Brake to see if I really need the rear disc.


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## GeoCyclist (Oct 31, 2002)

After three years of living in Bahrain I’ve found cycling Nirvana in Sicily! I have innumerable cycling routes from my front door. As a matter of fact, I live on one of the major cycling routes for riders heading up the volcano. Nothing like seeing cyclist riding past your front door to get you motivated to jump on your bike.

It has been a mild winter so far this year. The temp was about 60 F today, but mostly from the wind chill.

The following photos I took while on a 40 km test ride from my villa. The volcano in the photos is Etna, and it is an active volcano.

Enjoy your winter cycling!!!


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## jd3 (Oct 8, 2004)

That is so much prettier than the pix you posted from Bahrain. I bet you are in heaven.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

I really like my CK rear hub (you'll get used to the noise). Among other things it seems to engage much smoother than hubs with pawls.

BTW good looking ride, be careful of that volcano!


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## Christine (Jul 23, 2005)

Gorgeous bike!! And that scenery is motivating all right.

Tandems seem like a total blast.


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## Ridgetop (Mar 1, 2005)

Love the pics of that volcanoe in the distance! Great stuff.


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## California L33 (Jan 20, 2006)

Your daughter's the stoker? If not, lucky man.


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

Excellent pics!


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