Our Bike

We flew with our Santana Noventa to England in 2007. This turned out to be a disaster becasue the British labor unions would not allow baggage handlers to move our bike because of the size and weight. After that experience, we decided to purchase a couple titanium bike that would fit into two airline legal suitcase. So our travel problems were solved and be began to travel anywhere with the bicycle without issues. This bike was our first with a 10 speed rear cassette so we had plenty of gears for almost any terrain we would encounter. We did however change the gearing to accommodate climbing Mount Ventoux in France. This was our primary bike from 2008 until 2019. We put over 50,000 miles on the bike during that time and wore out one set of Shimano Sweet 16 wheels which we replaced with Spinergy 700's.

Our Santana Ti-700






House of Tandems E-Assist Hawthorne
After many years of tandem cycling, we noticed that we were making shorter rides and struggling to keep up with our tandem friends. If we wanted to continue enjoying this sport we need some help. We started to research Electric Assists Tandems but there wasn't much selection and none really matched our style of riding. I contacted the House of Tandems in Houston to enquire about retrofitting one of our existing bikes. Instead they offered to build for us a custom carbon fiber electric assist Hawthorne. They had built a prototype but our's would be the first production model. We agreed to their proposal and now own the Alpha model of the E-assist Hawthorne. This bike has put the thrill back in riding and allows us to continue riding for many years to come.
The Santana TI_700
We flew with our Santana Noventa to England in 2007. This turned out to be a disaster becasue the British labor unions would not allow baggage handlers to move our bike because of the size and weight. After that experience, we decided to purchase a couple titanium bike that would fit into two airline legal suitcase. So our travel problems were solved and be began to travel anywhere with the bicycle without issues. This bike was our first with a 10 speed rear cassette so we had plenty of gears for almost any terrain we would encounter. We did however change the gearing to accommodate climbing Mount Ventoux in France. This was our primary bike from 2008 until 2019. We put over 50,000 miles on the bike during that time and wore out one set of Shimano Sweet 16 wheels which we replaced with Spinergy 700's.
The Santana Sovereign
We began to ride a tandem quite by addident; Gary and Jeanine were not using their bike any longer and offered to sell it to us. I'd never considered owning a tandem, but the price was less than two new bikes (which we needed) so we decided to try it. After only four weeks of training we rode the MS 150 from Houston to Austin. Two weeks later we rode the 90 mile Shiner BASH from Houston to Shiner. Since then we've been active tandem enthusiasts!

Our first tandem is a 1990 model Santana chrome moly Sovereign. It is completely orginal except for the pedals. The running gear is 21 speed Shimano with down tube shifters and we've kept the drag brake. The bike has been moved to the lake house in Timpson, Texas where we tour the East Texas piney woods during weekend visits to lake.
The Santana Noventa
Click on the Bike's Hotspots for a description of the components
The Santana Noventa is a 1994 Neva Chrome alloy frame but that's about all that is original on the bike. We got the bike in January 2005. After consulting with the Techs at Santana we came up with a list of components that would bring the bike to current specs and technology. The Noventa is about 8 pounds lighter than the Sovereign, but the major difference is in the comfort of the ride. Click on any of the bike's hotspots for a full description of the components.
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