(Apologies for the pic. Since I'm still working on the bike, I haven't taken any 'after' pics yet!)As I've noted in a previous post, Sante is one of those gruppos you love or hate. Perhaps love to hate or even hate to love. I was just a teenager when the group debuted and I thought it to be a bit superfluous; Shimano creating a solution in search of a problem. Even thought I thought the painted parts had a unique look (I think the word I used for it back then was 'pretty', but that was because 'metrosexual' hadn't been invented yet.), for the price, I'd rather pay a bit extra and go with Dura-Ace. That is, of course, if I was was into Shimano - back then I was Accu-Shifting away on my Sprint 9000, happy as a clam.
The Sante group lived for a short three years from roughly 1987 to 1989. In 1987, Sante was only available as a partial group; shifters, front and rear derailleurs and 7 speed freewheel. In 1988, bike makers spec'ed a complete group. In addition to what was available the previous year, a crankset and BB, hubset with rear 7 speed freehub which was previously only available for Dura-Ace, a headset with plastic covers over the locknuts, and SLR brakes and levers with the QR located on the levers.
The feature that stands out the most to me (besides the pearly white paint) is the effort to 'hide' traditional bits and pieces of the components. For example, the headset locknut cover, the single-sided chainring bolts, the QR mech moved from the brakes to the levers, and the closed backside of the cranks for the pedal axles and the 'hidden' fixing bolts on the brakes.
Another 'feature' I've noticed is the inconsistency in the finish of some of the painted parts. The cranks and shift levers, for example, seem badly faded with slight 'yellowing' of the finish. However, the finish on the brake levers is significantly brighter and whiter than the cranks. I happen to have a NOS shift lever whose finish matches the brake levers much more than the cranks or old shift levers. This leads me to the consolusion that the paint quality varied greatly among the parts, with some much more susceptible to fading/yellowing than others. Sad, Shimano's designer "not just a pretty face component group" succumbs to the ravages of time.
Restoration of painted parts is a bit of an unusual experience. Typically for aluminum parts I'd break out the Nev'r Dull or Simichrome and polish away with excellent results. The painted Sante parts exhibit defects in the surface much more readily than bare aluminum, and thus require a smorgasbord of products needed to clean and restore the paint; just as big a PITA as fixing up a frame but on a smaller scale. Rubbing compund, polishing compound, scratch removers, finishing waxes, and micromesh polishing cloths! The upside is I've gotten a bit of a weird high at times inhaling all the fumes from this brew of cleaners.
Anyone care to comment on their experiences with 'faded' Sante finishes? Reminds me of the Transformers movie, "Custom faded?"
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