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Close up with the Sonder Santiago

By 1 min read
Seat tube junction and seatstay bosses of the blue Sonder Santiago steel frame, with Santiago decal on the top tube.

Dan told me a handful had been express shipped which gave me the chance to have a look.

Up close and personal

We recently featured the new Sonder Santiago and were excited by its potential at such a competitive price. I dropped in to Alpkit HQ recently to take a closer look.

Alpkit’s marketing and bike gurus Dan Thompson and Neil Sutton were on hand to give me a guided tour. They also revealed what else is in the pipeline. That is a story for another day, so for now I’ll concentrate on the Santiago.

All we need is just a little patience

The Santiago framesets are on the way and Alpkit are taking pre-orders. Dan told me a handful had been express shipped which gave me the chance to have a look.

Blue Sonder Santiago flat-bar build with SRAM 1x, Panaracer tyres and Love Mud Orbit wheels, side view.

The first drop-bar builds of the Sonder Santiago were away for evaluation and photography. Our pictures are of the flat-bar, SRAM 1x, build specification.

Sonder Santiago seatstays with a bridge and mounting bosses above the rear tyre.

Rough road touring won’t be an issue. The Santiago has rack mounts, 700x35c Panaracer touring tyres on own-brand, Love-Mud ‘Orbit’ wheels and generous clearance for guards or even larger tyres.

Sonder Santiago chainstay and bottom bracket area, showing tyre clearance and the SRAM crankset.

Note the chainstay clearance too. Cable routing and braze-on front mech mounts give you the option to run 2x drive systems if preferred.

Sonder Santiago steel fork with multiple bolt-on mounts for racks and mudguards, and a Panaracer Tour tyre.

The forks bristle with extras! Front racks, mudguards, dynamo wiring and crown mounted lighting are all possible with the Santiago.

Underside of the Sonder Santiago downtube with cable guides and bosses, above the SRAM crank.

Looking under the downtube, you can see the fully enclosed external cable routing. This promises easy maintenance when out in the middle of nowhere or on tour to the newsagents. Those extra bosses will let you carry more water or kit.

Reynolds 631 tubing sticker on the blue Sonder Santiago frame, near the bottom bracket.

The Santiago frame features a Reynolds 631 main triangle paired with chromoly fork and chainstay/seatstays.

Rear of the Sonder Santiago showing the hooded dropout, disc brake rotor and cassette.

The Hooded dropouts are a nice touch, as are brake, rack and guard mounts that are positioned to avoid interference.

So there it is, the new Santiago close up, hopefully the next time I see one I’ll be able to take it for a spin!

Want more? Head on over to www.alpkit.com