Sana Cruz bikes are they really that good?

doh – Member
Top shock bushing needed replacing every 500 miles or so and the bottom four bearings with funny sized inner sleeves that could only be sourced from sc needed done every year or about 1500 miles at about £10 a bearing in a kit. To change the top link bearings needed Allan keys cut down and custom made pullers or sc sourced tools at very high prices.

Bushings are down to the shock and mount kit, not the frame. Bushings are designed to wear. Replacement bushing is a couple of quid. Or buy TF Tuned heavy duty mount kit and poly bushings and they’ll last longer. I’ve had the same level of wear from bushings on my Nomad with the Fox RP23 it came with, as I’ve had with Fox on other bikes.

The bearings in the linkages are all covered under lifetime warranty. If you’re DIYing, they’ll cost you the price of postage to send your old ones back.

I’ll give you that getting them out is a git and needs the special tools, but a) you can pay labour only at a Santa Cruz authorized LBS to do it under the bearing warranty (cost me £35), and b) if you regularly relube the lower link using grease gun and decent marine grease you’ll find the bearings last a lot longer. That’s one of the key things that makes it an easy maintain as you don’t have to pull it apart to clean and regrease bearings, like I’ve had to do with other bikes.

Is this still going on?
AWSUMZ.
May as well ask red bikes are they any good.

May as well ask red bikes are they any good.

Yes, all my Strava KOMs are set on a red bike 🙂

Gilles, to answer your question yes.
SC are imported in France via race company. Owing the size and versatility of their catalogue it should be dead easy to have a LBS near you who has a open working account with them.

If I was buying a full susser again it would be between a 5010 and a 5. When specced out similarly with reverbs etc there is less than £150 difference, both around £3800. I had a 5 and loved it. Would the 5010 be any ‘better’ I wonder.

If you like a 5 I’d advise caution over a SC. I’m a confirmed Orange fan and could not get on with the SC Tallboy, as mentioned before. The 5 RS blew it away IMO, as did my 5 29. My 5 29 cost less then half the SC I tested.

Friend of mine bought a Blur 5 or so years ago to replace an aging Scott FS. She never got on with the SC, kept using the Scott and it went virtually unused until recently when she sold it.

They obviously suit some people but a test ride is essential from my experience. Proper Marmite bikes.

Sorry for going off track but i simply must know the answer …

Isn’t slack enough and the rear centre is far to short.

.. for what pray tell?

Euro – Member
Sorry for going off track but i simply must know the answer …
Isn’t slack enough and the rear centre is far to short.
.. for what pray tell?

Standard JCL response for any bike that isn’t a stumpy 29er innit. That or crap kinematics.

A long time since I have been here but i just ordered a 5010c frame this morning.

This will be my third Santa Cruz – I have a Nomad Mk1 bought new in the states and a ’06 Heckler from ebay that I overhauled over the summer. They are not cheap and do take some proper looking after to keep them working 100% but having ridden a lot of different bikes over the years they certainly do it for me.

A good friend got a 5010C for his fiftieth birthday treat last year, I am just getting mine a year early – have ridden his a bit and it is more heckler than nomad but if you like light and flicky it is the nuts I think.

I guess I am a fanboy !

Sana Cruz bikes are they really that good?

I’ve owned quite a few over the years. I’ve yet to find one that didn’t feel right from the off. That doesn’t mean SC make all their figures average or make each bike as neutral as possible- I think Specialized make very neutral bikes (boring). Santa Cruz’s- you just can’t go wrong. Even with guess work.

I bought my current Butcher frame blind- its not disappointed one bit. Recently I threw my leg over a SC Blur LT- that was set up for a different rider and I rode it straight down the Beast in the Peaks and felt immediately at home on it.

If the latest SC’s are like the previously I can’t see them being shabby 🙂

When I was looking around for a new trail bike I more or less dismissed SC on price alone. Not that I was looking for a budget bike, just thought there were too many cheaper bikes out there of comparable quality. Sizing looked a bit odd mind on some models – I’m thinking of the Tallboy here.

Can see the attraction of SC though.

Santa Cruz’s- you just can’t go wrong. Even with guess work.

I’ll repeat what I (think I) said earlier in the thread – the Blur XC was probably the worst bike I’ve ever ridden, never felt quite so much disliking for a bike! Why people spent many thousands on those and the subsequent XCc I’ll never know.

Can’t deny their popularity, and quite honestly I was really disappointed not to like it, I did want to, but it pedalled like an utter dog, which is kinda important for a race bike! Personal innit.

I loved my old Blur XC. I had the old alu one. Somewhat agree with the pedalling comment, didn’t make for a good xc race bike. Though it did make a brilliant trail bike.

I don’t know. If we’re all honest that’s the right answer. There’s probably a few guys on here that have ridden enough bikes, well enough over enough years to really know how they compare to the rest.
I’ve had 3 Hecklers a Chameleon and 2 Blurs. Ride a S/H Blur LT2 now that cost me about 1/3 new. I trust it not to snap (I’m looking at you Ellsworth)and it rides more than well enough for me. Bearings last very well, grease ports are a good idea and the anodised finish is very hardwearing, also if I’m honest I think SC make the best looking bikes by a mile. Will buy another. Seems the mags who do ride lots and lots of bikes think they are pretty decent. One consistent thing is they are short so I ride a L when in other frames I’m a M.

Just brought a 5010 Aluminium…Looks nice,will get a ride in next week once the new Avid hose arrives

I can agree with ‘short’ – my Chameleon is the only Large bike I own, everything else is medium.

Not so sure about steep or tall though. Granted, that’s the hardware Cham. Never ridden an SC full sus bike, they may be different. Also, with a set of 36’s on mine, I may have slackened it off I suppose… Normally run them around 140 though.

It’s an awesome hardtail frame, polar opposite of my Soul.

I don’t get the pedalling complaints. Rear tyre really digs in when climbing & VPP design works well. Perhaps it is more what you expect a full sus to feel like & the VPP doesn’t do what you expected? On my 3rd SC & love it. Again, they often come up a touch short, so just go up a size over normal. Dropper post still drops fully, so what’s the issue? Ride something other than a SC too, just for balance.

Bought a Heckler after it got bike of the year in one of the review mags, test rode it, fell in love. Kept it 5 years, no hassle, fantastic all round trail bike, Ano finish was gorgeous and on selling it still looked like new.

Upgraded to a Blur LT 2.3 frame from Santa Cruz USA fire sale last October £767 total cost, shipped from California. That included the CTD fox shock.

Took me a few rides to get used to the rear wheel tracking the trail so well, and dialling the suspension, and now its one of the plushest bikes i’ve ever rode. Fast, stable, comfy, and floats over the trail. Love how the VPP climbs, can leave it in descend or trail mode with no issues.

Descending is supurbular

With 140mm rear and 150mm front, and weighing in around 29lbs i’ve no plans to change it for a long time.

The size is just a label on the frame, there is no international standard for what the letters mean. Just get the one that fits and don’t get hung up on the letter.

I don’t think people are getting hung up on labels. To run a dropper I need a max 17″ seat tube, so if the SC 17″ is short as **** then I won’t be able to buy the next size up

Thought it climbed fine for a FS trail bike (this was original VPP Blur XC.) You just had to stay seated and it would find loads of traction. Not a great short course xc race bike though where you want to power up shorter climbs.