IsoGrid® is a patented, cutting edge method for creating the world's finest carbon tubes. To accomplish this a thin carbon skin is fused to a carbon-kevlar skeleton while both are cured within an extreme pressure / high temperature mold. The resulting tube—with a smooth exterior and a cross-ribbed interior—is not unlike the internally reinforced construction of an airplane fuselage. As is the case with airplanes, an IsoGrid® tube’s skin-over-rib configuration creates a sleek, failure-resistant structure that is simultaneously stiffer and lighter.

While each tube is being molded, a second patented technology, Bi/Fusion™, fuses a thin titanium sleeve at each end of the IsoGrid® tube. The resulting titanium tipped IsoGrid® tubes can be welded directly to each other. Welded carbon construction not only eliminates glue (thus preventing carbon’s most common form of failure), it simultaneously avoids the weight penalty of lugs (typically 15%). And it is the often-overlooked efficiency of TIG welding that allows our carbon-and-titanium Beyond frame to be 1.5 pounds lighter than an otherwise identical pure carbon frame.

In order to optimize these technologies, Santana designed and produced proprietary molds that allow efficient tandem tube shapes (i.e. oval bottom tube and taper-diameter down tube) and optional integrally-fused titanium S&S/oval frame couplers. Finally, because our extra long molds can produce tubes with carbon sections of any length, Santana’s ability to customize fit and geometry is practically unlimited.

Vyatek the owner of these patented technologies worked with Wilson Sports to produce this revealing video (21mb - mpeg).