Santa Cruz Bikes’ New Bronson.

As foretold by a recent Singletrack forum thread Santa Cruz today is announcing a new Bronson, a new 5010 (née Solo), a Juliana and a Furtado. Many of the new bits and pieces are shared by all four bikes, so we’ll detail them here and feature on the Bronson. The Julianas and the 5010 will get their own stories.

The new Bronson (not officially the Bronson 2 apparently) has had a major redesign, using some of the cues first introduced with the Nomad last year. It gets a degree slacker head angle, a 0.8 degree steeper seat tube angle and, start rejoicing now, an increased top tube length of 20-25mm depending on frame size.

It also gets shorter chainstays and a shorter seat tube, to help accommodate the new 150mm droppers and also to help with sizing issues – just choose the reach that appeals. Rather oddly, Santa Cruz has left the 30.9mm seat tube size and gone to a 31.6mm diameter because the 150mm Reverbs apparently only came in 31.6mm sizes initially (though they now do come in 30.9) which is something that’ll annoy riders looking to swap gear over from their old Bronson.

Anyway, the VPP system, now in its third incarnation, has been updated to bring the lower link into the BB area (“eliminating the dangling dog’s balls’ of the previous system” according to the spokesman, who quickly tried to unsay it :-)) – this will please anyone who’s smacked a lower linkage or chainstays on a rock. The upper link has also been moved slightly, again something first seen on the Nomad.

 

 

 

The spring curve has been changed so that the bike doesn’t sit into its mid travel as much as before, while also offering improved small bump compliance. Cable routing is now fully internal, including routing for a sideswing front mech if desired. BB is still threaded and the Bronson and Roubion gets a little lower, while the 5010 and Furtado stay as is.

Back ends on all the bikes will increase to 148mm (there goes your idea of keeping your old wheels/hubs) though Santa Cruz isn’t speccing Boost forks on any of its builds.

Colours will come in a wild and a mild for all models. The Bronson gets black and a vibrant raspberry colour. (It’s not pink, and its not magenta…)

I’ve just ridden the new Bronson and the 5010 for a couple of days in Downieville, California (yeah, OK, sorry) over a dry and dusty mix of rocks, more rocks, roots and gravel (it’s not rained here for months) I’ve got a fair idea of how the new bikes ride. The Bronson definitely benefits from the extra top tube (and shorter stem). It’s as stiff and responsive as you would expect and it doesn’t climb badly either. Like the previous Bronson, it really comes into its own when going full chat into chunky rock sections and its a bike the needs positive, almost aggressive input to get the most out of it. Whether that rear lower link is as big a mud shelf as it looks will be interesting to find out – I have confidence in Santa Cruz’ bearings and seals, and tyre clearance with a 2.3in is still good, but it does look like it’ll collect crap easily.

The good news for eager beavers is that all four bikes are now in stock in the US and at UK distributors Jungle. And the other good news is that the Bronson and 5010 (but not the Julianas) will have aluminium versions released around April time.

 

 

 

 

 

Forgive the screenshot, but here’s a quick idea of pricing for the UK. Some bikes shops should have stock this week.

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