If you’ve always fancied one of Santa Cruz’s popular Bronson, 5010 or Tallboy models but the price has been putting you off you may be in luck. It turns out they’ve been busy bringing a lower cost version of these bikes to the market and while they were at it have produced their own bars and grips too.
Here’s the press release:
SANTA CRUZ INTRODUCE NEW CARBON BUILDS AT UNRIVALED PRICES
For 2015, we’ve managed to dramatically reduce the price on carbon Bronson, 5010 and Tallboy models, and increased our build options to create the kind of industry-crushing performance that now comes as standard from Santa Cruz.
“We’re well aware that bikes have been going up in price the last few years” says Joe Graney, who headed-up the project at Santa Cruz. “So we made it a priority to get the radness of our carbon technology to “trickle down” within reach of more riders.”
“Working with our exclusive manufacturing partner, we used the same proprietary processes to create lower cost carbon frames that retained the same legendary strength and stiffness Santa Cruz are known for. We achieved this by using a different grade of carbon material that results in a minimal weight gain of approximately 250-280 grams (0.6 lbs).”
These new carbon frames will only be available as part of the new R and S builds.
The S build represents a whole new tier of performance for Santa Cruz in 2015 and includes components such as the Rockshox Pike RC Solo Air and Reverb Stealth as standard on Bronson or 5010 builds.
We’ve again refrained from conjuring up carbon acronyms to bash you over the head with. The new lower cost frames are simply referred to as “Carbon”, while our existing carbon frames are known as “Carbon C”. Carbon C frames now feature on XT/X01 level builds and up, and remain available as frame only.
And as promised here’s the UK pricing (build details on Santa Cruz site):
The all new Santa Cruz carbon handlebars are designed and made exclusively by Santa Cruz, using everything we’ve learned from creating World Championship winning carbon bicycles.
“It’s been impossible to keep our engineers away from bars” admits Rob Roskopp, owner of Santa Cruz Bicycles. “Having mastered complex projects such as the carbon V10 swingarm, it was inevitable we started looking at where carbon know-how could improve other areas of our products. The key thing for me was that if it was going to carry the Santa Cruz name then everything had to be designed, tested and made by us to the same high standards as our bicycles.”
And so the first Santa Cruz carbon handlebar was born. Initially conceived for DH, we soon realized the 800mm-wide 35mm-clamp
design delivered DH strength at All Mountain weight. So we didn’t stop there, and continued to develop a suite of variants…
Each bar has a dialed amount of stiffness, keeping vibration in check and minimizing arm fatigue. Discrete markers take the pain out of set-up alignments and stealth branding keeps things class.
Exclusively specced on our new 2015 models (from XT/X01 builds upwards) the new carbon bars are bona fide Santa Cruz products that take the quality of our bicycles up yet another notch, and will soon be available after market so you can do the same.
The brand new Palmdale Grip is a classic example of a discussion at Santa Cruz getting out of hand.
“What started as a simple question between a few of us about “what makes a good grip?”, quickly blew up into a mass debate” explains Josh Kissner, Product Manager at Santa Cruz Bicycles. “Before we knew it, everyone from Sven Martin (World Cup photographer and ham-fisted product wrecker) to Kiran MacKinnon (our tech guy and ProGRT racer) were wading in with their 2 cents.”
So we created a whole bunch of different designs for people to ride and report back on, and finally drew up the Grip Manifesto:
1. Single lock-ring design with the staying power of dual lock-ring.
A taper-lock core uses an internal sleeve that narrows towards the last 38mm (1.5”) of the grip, effectively clamping onto the end of the bar to eliminate twisting.
2. Closed end with flared edge for comfort, feel and security.
8mm (0.3”) of rubber with a subtle mushroom profile on the tip resists scuffing, provides comfort and adds an intuitive feel for the bar end. (We also found it adds a healthy dose of forgiveness when clipping trees on tight trails!)
3. Long grip length and waffle knurl for maximum control.
A generous 125mm (4.9”) grip length (excluding lock-ring) allows plenty of room to reposition hands on differing terrain and long rides. The moto-knurl pattern gives just the right balance of feel and grip in all conditions.
Designed and tested by Santa Cruz, the Palmdale Grips are now officially the new home for your hands on all our 2015 bikes. They’ll also be available after- market in a slew of coordinated colors soon too.!
And why “Palmdale” exactly? …you’ll have to ask Josh about that one.
Find out more about all our new 2015 products at www.santacruzbicycles.com or SantaCruzBicycles.co.uk
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I’ll have a quick word with the bank manager.
OK, so they’re 0.6lbs heavier. But how much cheaper are they?
And you’ll need to go to http://www.santacruzbicycles.com/en/uk to see the new frames and build kits.
Please contact your dealer for pricing 🙁
Most of the SC bikes i see are soo bling’d up, i’m pretty sure that to be seen on a plane jane “carbon” frame, without the vital extra “C”, will, be a massive social faux pas!!
@maxtorque You’re right. You’d be sneered at in the Surrey Hills 😉
yawn. Why do people still criticise people for having nice bikes? and to assume they’re just rich folk from Surrey? There is a huge assumption that these people are rich. Some have actually saved hard for years and years, some have taken out a loan and some are rich. So what? Are they lesser mortals than people who can only afford cheaper bikes?
Looks like the new Highball no longer comes with ss dropouts 🙁
No mention of the new Chameleon?
I got my carbon TB from a fella called Rich from Surrey – that’s close!?
Hey oblong, why the sense of humour failure? I live in Surrey and I have a nice bike – and I’m not rich by any stretch of the imagination. I was gently taking the mickey out of riders like me. There’s no denying that if you want to see a parade of very high-cost carbon loveliness, you just need to hang around the bottom of Barry Knows Best on a Sunday. Cheer up mate.
haha, lazy assumption part two. why aren’t i happy? Am, thanks. Just bored of lazy assumptions. But i always have been. Happy trails whatever you ride.