S & S Couplers

[jpw]

Does anyone know, when did Serotta first start offering S & S ti couplers? Or, put another way, when did S & S start making ti couplers?

I wonder how many frames Serotta has made with them? They rarely seem to come up for sale in the classifieds. Major 'keepers' I'm sure.

[Pete Serotta]

A good friend on mine here in RALEIGH and I have ti S&S. frames. Mine is 6 years and his is about three years.

I do not see me ever selling mine

[rounder]

Pete, how do you use them. Do you only use them for planes and trips and stuff. Or do you use couplers instead of a rack when travelling locally. Just wondering, because i have to make an upcoming decision. Thanks.

[DRZRM]

I know you asked Pete, but let me throw my .02 in. Putting your coupled bike together is a pain, and it's likely not how you are going to toss you bike into the back of your car. Mine is a single speed (so no shifter cables) so I can break it down or put it together pretty quickly, but to get it totally stowed into the box, I need about 30 minutes, and I leave myself an hour (there is no pressure like fearing you are going to have to either miss your flight or ditch your bike). I strip brake cables, pull at least one crank arm, and wrap the frame in padding ( less necessary if you have unpainted ti).

Don't get me wrong, they are awesome for big trips, mine has been all over the world, and is going to Cape Town this summer, but it is still a bit of an ordeal to pack them up.

[CaptStash]

I'll put in my two cents. This summer I had a ti bike cut and coupled. I use mine for long and short trips. I have it down to about 30 minutes for packing / unpacking. It helps if you take a few pictures so you don't have to keep reinventing! A coupled bike is a total keeper because it makes it so easy to bring your bike with you. It's a totally no hassle deal. Southwest once suggested the box was oversize so I juts told them to measure. They did and it wasn't.

You could easily use the couplers for a local bike and make it easy to fit in the car trunk or back of the SUV/hatchback. The only trick is that you'd have to decouple the rear brake and shifter cables. But that doesn't take more than about five minutes. You could probably have the bike apart and in the trunk in five, and back together again in another five.

The only downside I see is the small weight gain (if you are into that) and the aesthetics - I have heard a few on here that don't like how they look. YMMV.

CaptStash....

[rounder]

Good points. Thanks CaptStash and DRZRM. Gonna go forward with the couplers. I want it to be a knockaround bike.

[moose8]

I think a benefit, at least for me, is feeling like you could go on a cool trip at any moment, even though in reality I've only used it like a regular bike for around town. Plus, they like pretty nice - you see one on the street and you know you're dealing with someone with similar interests/levels of bike nerdness.