Travel Tandems & Couplers

Prior to the utilization of couplers, performance tandems wouldn’t fit inside a small car or private plane. Today, however, high-tech frame couplers allow a full-sized, full-performance tandem to be stowed within a suitcase-sized package. Frequent flyers will appreciate how a packed Stowaway lives up to its name by traveling through airports unnoticed—establishing a fifteen year history of hassle-free flights for tandems. On the way to and from airports our optional Airliner SafeCase™ slides into taxis, shuttle-vans and tiny rental cars—all without fuss or question.

A New Challenge

Building a coupler-equipped frame can be an arduous task. At Santana, the world’s most-experienced builder of bikes with couplers, the process was streamlined years ago. Along the way, unique fixtures were developed to avoid extra steps, reduce costs and improve accuracy. Custom drawn coupler tubes provide a lighter and stiffer frame with optimized ride quality (all other tandem builders still attach couplers to plain gauge tubes). We collaborated with S&S to develop a slimmer titanium coupler that is still used on our Beyond frames. We’ve recently developed our Z-Couplers that are even lighter, fit in line with the frame tubes, and use a common 5mm allen wrench to connect. They are currently available on our eSCape, Journey, Synergy, and Evolve frames.

Our efficiency and in house production has allowed us to reduce the cost of equipping your tandem with couplers (only $1,500 for scandium, $2,000 for titanium). Our newest designs add only a little weight and are barely noticeable, making it an easy decision to add the convenience of painless transportation to your new tandem.

The Oval Solution

Santana’s patented oval couplers alter the cost-benefit equation of travel tandems by allowing a light and efficient frame without the necessity of using a round bottom tube which is 11% less efficient. Following years of development and testing, oval couplers are now included on all Stowaway™ tandems.

(Click here to learn why oval tubes are smarter)

Z-Couplers

Designed and manufactured in house the exclusive Santana Z-Coupler is our 3rd generation method of creating a stowaway frame and represents the pinnacle in light weight and unobtrusive looks. Fitting flush with the frame tubes you can barely see them and a 5mm allen key is all that’s needed to take the frame apart.