Santana has always placed a premium on lateral frame stiffness as we believe it’s the foundation of a tandem that handles confidently and transfers the captain’s power to the rear wheel. Our previous Classic frame used 73mm mountain bike width bottom brackets so we could use a wider bottom tube than any other builder. When the industry introduced the 83mm wide BB386 bottom bracket we recognized an opportunity to use even larger tubing. A giant oval bottom tube was paired with larger diameter seat, top, and downtubes. The massive increase in stiffness meant we could thin the tube walls and eliminate the lateral tube while still having a frame 5% stiffer than the Classic. This means the Reveal frames are nearly 2lbs lighter than the models they replaced and our lowest price Scandium tubed model is lighter than any other builder’s carbon frames! While we were making such radical changes to our frame design we also adopted industry standard 1 1/2″ – 1 1/8″ tapered forks and 31.6mm seatposts so owners can run any stem or seatpost they like. Due to the new 30mm aluminum axles our BB386 tandem crankset (available in aluminum or carbon) is 1/2lb lighter than the previous version and uses common PF30 bottom brackets. As a final upgrade we replaced the frame’s barrell adjusters with a system that slips in and out so packing the bike in a case won’t mess with your derailleur and brake settings.