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hi I'm Ben from single trap magazine and
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I'm here with the new Santa Cruz
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Heckler now some of you will know the
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Heckler has been in the Santa Cruz's
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lineup for an awful long time all the
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1996 when it was 26in Wheel
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non-electric 100 Mil full suspension
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aluminium and they kept that in the
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range over the years always been a
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single pivot 26in wheel bike then it
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went to 275 but then in 2016 they moved
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away from single pivot bikes all
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together and put everything in to their
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VPP platform the Heckler was no more and
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then it came back in early 2020 as an
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ebike 150 mil carbon CC ebike that was
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promoted and explained as being the
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electric version of their very very
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bike the Mark 1 electric Heckler as
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we'll call it had a Shimano steps e8000
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system a 54 W battery uh was 150 mil
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travel 27.5 in wheel and then they
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brought out a mullet version of that as
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an option and the round about that time
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as well they brought out the Santa Cruz
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bullet which is another iconic single
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pivot name from their back catalog and
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made an electric one of those now that
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is the longer travel 170 mil mixed wheel
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only bike with the Shimano ep8 motor and
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battery and now the next EB to come
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along is this one the mark 2
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Heckler and let's have a look how that
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in the mark 2 Heckler is still 150 mil
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travel ebike but now it has 29in wheels
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front and rear or it can be a mullet or
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you on the very small size it is
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27.5 and the motor has gone from an
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e8000 to the Shimano ep8 uh the Heckler
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we have here is their top end Heckler
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SV and it's comes in this Heckler CC
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carbon unlike the previous uh Heckler
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you will be able to get slightly more
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affordable ones in the carbon C
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versions it will come as no surprise to
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see the Shimano EPA motor fitted to the
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new Heckler kicks out 85 Newt me of
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power what you may not be expecting is
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the use of a non Shimano battery inside
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here is a bigger battery than Shimano
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currently offer and that's 720 W hours
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and that is is still going to be covered
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by warranties and still works perfectly
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well with the Shimano
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system Santa Cruz have felt the pulse of
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the ebike market and have observed like
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us that the scene is dividing into two
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clear segments lighter weight lower
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power ebikes and full fat ebikes with
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big as possible batteries the hecko fits
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squarely into the latter category now
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the battery fits inside the down tube
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and is removable for more convenient
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charging all you need is a 4 mil Allen
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there regarding the Shimano ep8 itself
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it's worth pointing out that the system
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comes pre- tweaked by Santa Cruz instead
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of coming set up with the usual Shimano
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presets the Heckler comes with a setting
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that Santa Cruz prefers essentially
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Santa Cruz felt that shimano's preset
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Trail mode was a bit too close to the
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boost mode the two issues here being
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that this kind of eats up more power as
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well as making boost feel rather
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unimpressive when you go to it the idea
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of Santa Cruz's setting is to have the
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trail that's kind of strong enough and
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boost having ridden the Heckler we have
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to admit that we think Santa Cruz have
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it right obviously if you disagree or
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you have your own ideas you can just
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fire up the Shimano e tube app and set
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them and now on to the
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geometry the head angle is 64.5 the seat
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angle is 76.7 De the reach on this extra
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492 there is a flip chip in The Rocker
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that changes it by not very much so I'm
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just giving you the low setting numbers
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cuz I think that's what everyone's going
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to really use the bike in the chain
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stays have grown quite a bit from the
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previous Heckler they used to be 445 mil
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the new one is 461 it's this chain stair
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measurement that is going to
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differentiate the new Heckler from the
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bullet much more than any kind of
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difference in suspension travel the
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bullet is always going to be kept as
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their wheelie manually playy messabout
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kind of bike it's got a bit more travel
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but it's more about that the Heckler is
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mileage the Mark I Heckler is arguably
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better thought of as the electric
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version of the Santa Cruz High Tower a
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high mileage machine that can still
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handle the fun tracks and dominate those
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technical ascents that are much more fun
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on electric bike what else is new the
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head tube's got a bit shorter again this
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to help its considerable uh prowess when
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going uphill the shock tunnel is a bit
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wider this is makes it accommodate all
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different types of shocks different
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piggyback shocks it will accept a coil
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as well compared to their non-assisted
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bikes Santa Cruz's ebikes have been
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beefed up in things like the pivot
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inserts and the radial bearings they're
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a lot chunkier and a lot beefier to help
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cope with the extra weight of an ebike
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the suspension kinat IC the VPP is also
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quite a bit different to the non-
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electric Santa cruises there's much less
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antis squat obviously the fact you have
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a motor means you can trade in some
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pedal efficiency in exchange for some
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extra suspension grip with the more
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Supple suspension longer chain stays
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longer reach and lower front end the new
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Heckler is by far the most capable
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technical climbing bike center crws have
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otherwise okay let's delve into the spec
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sheet of this Heckler CC XO 1 ax
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RSV the frame on this is full carbon and
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it's Santa Cruz's top end CC carbon CC
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carbon promises no voids anywhere and it
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also does away with having to bond
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things like brake mounts to it after the
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fact a little bit lighter a little bit
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stiffer a lot more reliable the rear
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shock is a rock shock Super Deluxe
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ultimate delivering 150 mil travel via
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the latest low linkage iteration of VPP
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there's a fox 36 float Factory eune Fork
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up front with 1060 M travel Wireless
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12-speed Shram x01 AXS Eagle
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bits The Dropper post on this XL is a
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200 mil Travel Fox transfer Factory the
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wheels at Santa Cruz's Reserve carbon 30
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front and DH rear with industry 9
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hubs the tires are the industry standard
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Maxis asagai and Maxis minion
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dhr2 one little thing that is easy to
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miss because you can't see it is the
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handle bars that have the wires going
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from the controller under the grip
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inside the handlebar and they pop out at
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the control unit at the front so very
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neat onto the weight this extra large
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version comes in at 22.9 kg um because
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it's easy to do so we dropped the
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battery out and weighed that on its own
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and that was 3.9 kg if you head on over
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to single track world you can read my
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full review of this bike right now
