Thoughts on conversion vs. buying new (and selling the old)?
"We put our 91 Santana Cilantro tandem up for sale - listing it on the tandem@hobbes list, in Tandem Mag and in DoubleTalk. A couple of folks were interested, but most were looking for a bike under $1000. We took it to GEAR '96, the National Rally in
Dayton, OH and the '96 ETR. The interest was there, but people didn't want
flat bars with bar-ends.
We did the math:
Value of Cilantro vs what we could sell it for vs what it would cost for a
NEW bike with couplers. Buying a new bike would be significantly more
expensive than cutting up the one we have. BUT it is scary to cut up a
perfectly good bike.
(We've been planning to do the Adventure Cycling Continental Divide Trail and
WANTED a Mountain Tandem with S&S couplers.)
Santana will cut up their bikes & make them S & S bikes for about $1500 (if I
remember correctly) - simply send the bike to California and they'll send you
back the desired new configuration.
We live in Massachusetts, and didn't want our bike to travel soooo far in a
cardboard box. Then we found out that Bilenky (in Philadelphia PA) would cut
up our old friend and put in S& S couplers. They were very encouraging, and
we communicated by e-mail back & forth. We could drive 5 hours to
Philadelphia and convey the newly painted frame back in our Van. Any
scratches would be our fault - not that of a shipping company.
Their price was a tad less than Santana's, but by the time we upgraded to a
fancier paint job, had them add new Santana decals, had the stems painted to
match the frame, and had extra bottle braze-ons added, we paid a wee bit
more. To test their sense of humor we sent Bilenky a Santana Frame in a
Co-Motion Box.
THE RESULTS:
What a Beautiful Job! The oval bottom tube has been replaced by a round one. On one side of that tube is a Santana decal, and on the other side is a Bilenky Decal - see, they DO have a sense of humor. The paint job (by Fresh Frame of Philadelphia) is fantastic! I feel that we made a good decision. The ride and handling are unchanged. The bike looks like new, and only weighs 2 pounds more...just wait til we add 4 panniers of gear, a tent, sleeping bag, and thermarest pads. Whew - what an adventure!"
Sally Peters and Bob Kowaleski, cyclists, Easthampton, MA (on a Santana Cilantro retrofit by Bilenky)