Santa Cruz Mountain Bikes

With the introduction of the Blur, Santa Cruz ushered in a new era of cross-country ride performance. In the past you could have light bikes that were flimsy and not very plush, or you could have heavy bikes that were strong and plush, but that climbed like they were dragging cinder blocks behind them.

The Blur changed all that: 4.5 inches of superlative wheel travel. A lightweight (sub-6 pounds, including shock) 6069 aluminum frame featuring our patented sealed bearing VPP linkage and a 5th Element air shock. Stiff and strong. Super light weight. Spry, tractable climbing performance meets stout, stable, rock-swallowing downhill performance. Now, for 2005, there's a new rear triangle with enough clearance for a 2.5 inch wide tire. Forget what you knew about the limitations of XC riding. The rules have changed.

$1450 powdercoat frame (Float R shock)
$1600 anodized frame (Float R shock)
$2900 complete bike (powdercoat w/ Float R, Shimano XT disc integrated, Fox F100 RLT)
$4400 complete bike (anodized, XTR disc integrated, F100 RLT)

For the last couple years, Syndicate riders have been racing slalom and 4-X on Blurs. Or have they? Those Blur-ry things they were riding were actually a lot different from what most of us could expect to find under the Christmas tree. They had beefier downtubes, top tubes and seat tubes. Head tubes were slacker than their less-abused showroom floor bretheren (69 degrees with e 4.5 inch travel fork), and gusseted up to handle the loads of six-inch travel forks. They were sort of like what would happen if a Blur and a Heckler got all boozed up on Red Bull and Vodka and then locken themselves up in the back of a '73 Chevy Van with shag carpeting and and bubble windows for a few hours.

Anyway, they decided to start selling them. They kick ass. A little heavier and a lot mo' brawny than a Blur, more VPP suave than a Heckler, and probably more able to handle casing a double jump then you or us, the Blur 4x just might be that do-it-all bike we all kept dreaming about.

$1500 powdercoat frame (Float R shock)
$1650 anodized frame (Float R shock)
$3000 complete bike (powdercoat w/ 5th Element Air, Shimano XT disc integrated, Rock Shox Pike Team)

Eight and a half inches never felt so good. Heh. The VP-Free takes big, slopestyle riding into another dimension. A massive 150mm spaced, 12mm thru axle rear wheel is mated to a beefy rear triangle, which is in turn held apart from a burly 6069 main frame (burly enough to run an 8 inch travel triple crown fork without bumming the warranty guy out) by the patented VPP linkage and a Fox DHX 5. The result is a ride tough enough to handle full-on downhill race duty, yet with a stable enough pedaling platform to still justify running a triple front chainring. Most bikes sporting this king of travel would just look dumb with a triple, but the VP-Free pedals and climbs more efficiently than most 6-inch bikes. And it rips downhill with World Cup aplomb. Travel, lots of it. And the ability to ride up where the lifts don't run. Redefine your limits.

$1750 powdercoat frame (Fox DHX 5 shock)
$1900 anodized frame (Fox DHX 5 shock)
$3300 complete bike (powdercoat w/ Fox DHX 5, LX/XT Freeride Kit, Sherman Slider)
$4200 complete bike (powdercoat w/ Fox DHX 5, XT Freeride kit, Fox 688RC)

"Straightenin' the curves, flattenin' the hills, someday the mountain might get 'em, but the law never will..." You'd think the Dukes of Hazard theme song was written for the V-10. With ten inches of rear wheel travel, coupled with a smooth pedaling virtual pivot point design, the V-10 came on the scene as the definitive hot rod of downhill performance. Two years since its debut, there've been a few changes. Two words sum things up: Lighter and TIghter. With some careful tubing selection and lots of titanium bolts, this frame is two pounds lighter than the original. Alongside the weight trimming, Santa Cruz shortened the wheelbase and lowered the bottom bracket for snappier handling. The Virtual Pivot has been reworked to offer a flatter rate of progression so that the bike can be run with less sag than before, not to mention a swank carbon fiber rear fender so guys like Toby Henderson can make motorcycle noises when they ride. Go on, flatten some hills. Generel Lee paint job not included.

$2200 powdercoat frame (Fox DHX 5 shock)
$2400 anodized frame (Fox DHX 5 shock)

No muss, no fuss. The Superlight offers 4 inches of rear wheel travel in a simple, durable, efficient, lightweight package. Ten years of evolution have honed this championship winning bike into the racer's edge. The suspension pivot has been optimized to offer tractable yet snappy performance. Every spare gram of weight has been pared from the quick handling, responsive 6069 aluminum frame. The single, sealed cartridge bearing pivot offers unrivaled durability and ease of maintenance. It's super. It's light. Superlight. 'Nuff said.

$900 powdercoat frame (Fox FLoat R shock)
$1000 anodized frame (Fox Float R shock)
$1500 complete bike (powdercoat w/ Float R, Shimano XT/LX, Rock Shox Pilot XC)
$1900 complete bike (powdercoat w/ Float R, Shimano XT/LX disc, Duke XC)

Here's a painfully obvious fact of nature: girls are different from guys. They generally small better than guys, know how to ask directions when lost, and are usually much better at choosing colors than their hairier, less graceful male counterparts. They often have different needs in a bike, too. The Juliana SL is a Superlight that has been tweaked to offer optimized tubing for lighter weight and smoother ride characteristics, shorter top-tubes, lower bottom brackets, slightly more relaxed geometries, and a range of sizes that shrink all the way down to pixie-small. Juliana--perfect for half the population.

$900 powdercoat frame (Fox Float R shock)
$1000 anodized frame (Fox Float R shock)
$1500 complete bike (powdercoat w/ Fox Float R, Shimano LX/XT kit, Pilot XC)
$1900 complete bike (powdercoat w/ Fox Float R, Shimano XT/LX disc, Duke XC)

There's a lot to be said for a simple, dependable, single pivot suspension design. Give it almost 6 inches of rear wheel travel, and craft the frame out of stout but not overbuilt 6069 aluminum alloy. Choose between a lightweight air shock or a bomber duty coil spring. Tune the geometry to handle anything the mountain might have in mind, upward or down, riding far and long all day, or riding lifts until your fingers cramp. Do that, and you have a pretty sweet jack-of-all-trades. Now, machine a bottle opener into one of the beefy rear dropouts, and you're looking at a real winner, baby...

$900 powdercoat frame (Fox Float R shock)
$1000 anodized frame (Fox Float R shock)
$2500 complete bike (powdercoat frame w/ 5th Element Coil, freeride kit, & Sherman Firefly)
$2700 complete bike (powdercoat frame w/ Float R, Shimano XT, Avid Juicy 7 brakes, Nikon Super Plus)

Big, strong, and capable of just about anything, the Bullit has become something of a renowned workhorse. The Superheroes toss them across some pretty huge expanses of sky. Freeriders everywhere swear by them. Clydesdales race x-c on them. They can be ridden hard and put away wet, time after time, and still be ready the next day for more. Seven inches of rear wheel travel, swinging on durable cartridge bearings, is channeled through a bump eating 5th Element coil sprung shock and mated to an overbuilt 6066 aluminum front triangle that is stout enough to handle the loads generated by 8 inches of dual crown fork travel. It'll handle anything you can throw at it, guaranteed.

$1100 powdercoat frame (5th Element CroMo)
$2800 complete bike (powdercoat w/ 5th Element coil, Freeride kit, & Sherman Slider)

In the natural world, chameleons are unobtrusive little amphibians that like to mind their own business. They do a good job of changing color to match their surroundings. This versatility is about the only thing they share with the bike of the same name. It can go from a singlespeed to a multi-gear bike with a change of dropouts. It can be set up as a tough do-everything hardtail, or turned into an abuse-friendly dirt jumper depending on component choice. However you set it up, be assured of this--the Chameleon will handle whatever you throw at it far better than some soft little lizard, because it is made out of heavy duty metal. Metal always comes off better than flesh. It's stronger than flesh. It's good to remember that when those gap jumps get a little too far apart.

$450 powdercoat frame

Syndicate rider Kirt Voreis inspired this little dirt jumping slice of carnage, and those of you who want it already know who you are. If anyone is unclear about the Jackal's intended use, hopefully taking a gander at the stout hydro-formed top tube, ultra-thick chainstays, and replaceable dropouts (because we know you will need to, sooner or later) will clear things up. Jump it. Huck it. Case it. Crash it. Get back up. Do it again. Over and over and over. It's even got a super-low top tube so you can get your knees across without getting all tangled up while trying your best to impress all the teenage girls who hang out at the Quick Stop across from the vacant lot where the aerial carnage happens. Just don't blame us if the girls don't dig you. And don't call us from the emergency room, either. It's not our fault. Call Kirt instead (909-555-BEEF). He loves hearing people snivel.

$500 powdercoat frame
$1600 complete bike (matte orange or matte black, dirt jump kit, Marzocchi Dirt Jumper III)