Table of Contents
Santana Cycles
Santana was started in 1976 by Bill and Jan McCready in Claremont, California. While attending Claremont-McKenna College in 19741), Bill bought local Bud's Bicycle Shop where he had worked the previous seven years. The year after he became an associate editor at Bicycle Magazine, writing articles about the world of tandem bicycles, which had become “stagnant.”
Power of the pen being terrific, all of a sudden there were hundreds of people who wanted these things [tandem bicycles], and the bikes didn’t really exist, and the bikes we were getting were in pretty poor shape… Santana was started out of desperation out of one hand, having lots of people ordering bikes from me, and on the other hand, having no builders who wanted to accept the orders. Bill McCready, in lavernemagazine
While Santana specializes in tandems, they have also always made a limited amount of single bicycles, and for a few years from 1989 → 1992, they produced nearly 300 Moda MTBs per year. Starting around 1983 they started making a limited number of “All-Terrain” tandems, which also deserve a place in the MTB timeline. Extra respect should go to stokers trusting their captains in navigating dirt pathways, as long as single track switch-backs aren't involved. The earliest pic of a MTB tandem is from 1985, so the timeline will start there, pending earlier hard evidence.
In the early 1980's Ross Shafer of Salsa worked at Santana, where he recounts creating off-road tandems2).
Santana Tandems continues to thrive in nearby La Verne, California.
The name “Santana” is a contraction of “Santa Ana”, the name of the desert winds which flow through Claremont.
There is a gap in 1993 in the Santana timeline as no all-terrain tandems/MTBs show up in their catalogs, nor online pics.
Resources:
Bill McCready, 2015 NAHBS outsideonline
1985 All-Terrain
Tandem pic from 1985 catalog. Columbus tubing, fillet brazed, Shimano Deore XT groupset. 48 spokes front and rear. Dual rear brakes: Shimano XT cantilevers plus a Arai RX Tandem Drum Brake.
1985 All-Terrain
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1987 Arriva XC
Tandem. Shimano XT u-brakes and shifters (1987), SunTour XC 6300 rear derailleur and pedals (1984-85), Santana Columbus tubing, fillet brazed.
1987 Arriva XC
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1989 Moda
Santana's first branded two-wheel MTB. Before this custom single MTBs were made, but no reliable pics have been found. Shimano XT M732 (1989) derailleurs, XT M730 pedals (1988), Columbus Max OR tubing, fillet brazed. Santana said they could produce 300 fillet brazed Modas per year. Later years were TIG welded.
1989 Moda
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1990 Moda
Fillet brazed, Columbus Max Nivacrom tubing, MODA logo on top tube, full Shimano Deore XT groupset (M732/5) with cantilever brakes, True Temper handlebars. Price: $2300. Pic from Bicycle Guide magazine, Feb 1990.
1990 Moda
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1991 Moda
TIG welded (a 1991 budget option over fillet brazing,) Columbus Max OR tubing, full Shimano XT M735 groupset (1990-92), Tioga T-bone stem.
1991 Moda
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1992 Moda
Fillet brazed Columbus Nivacrom Max tubing with full Campangolo Record OR groupset (1991-95), MODA decal on top tube, tied spokes, internal rear brake cable routing
1992 Moda
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1994 MTB
1994 custom, Columbus aluminum tubing, Shimano XT M735 (1990-92) - too old for a 1994? Why not use M737? The crankset sticker was in use from 1990-92, again placing this bike a year or two earlier. However, the owner claims it was custom ordered in 1994. As the Moda line was cancelled in 1992, and this is definitely not a Moda (aluminum!), perhaps the older, leftover parts bin was raided.
1994 MTB
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