Santa Cruz Bikes
The big terrain of the Sierra require big bikes, bikes that are capable of squeezing every ounce of fun the mountains have to offer. And Santa Cruz bikes are the bikes best engineered for our rugged terrain.
Up or down these bike deliver.
Demo one. You'll understand.
We love Santa Cruz Bicycles as, like us, they are committed to enhancing and maintaining this special place for mountain bikes through trail building, trail maintenance and support of our Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship.
Santa Cruz Heckler MX eBike - Even more to heckle.
The Heckler is about expanding your own trail map - accessing previously unreachable trails, unlocking less-used trails, and doing so independently. The full carbon frame and interchangeable 504wh battery keep the weight down compared to bikes with larger batteries but it's fast and easy to put in a fresh battery for even bigger, longer days.
Our bikes have always been about amplifying fun. Trailblazers like Greg Williams, Ash Smith, and Danny MacAskill weren’t asking for a dumbed-down ride up. Or down. They wanted something to push their riding to new levels and held maneuverability sacrosanct as the new tech was introduced.
27.5-inch wheels are lighter and easier to move around. The mixed-wheel option gives riders the confidence of a 29-inch wheel up front for traction and roll-over when you're caught off guard by technical features. But retaining the 27.5 rear wheel allowed us to keep the moderate chainstay length of the Heckler (445mm), which provides a snappy and easy-to-handle bike on tight, demanding trails. We did this without compromising on the standard Heckler’s geometry, so the bike’s character is still very lithe and accurate.
The new Shimano EP8 motor is lighter than the previous unit (380g), has more power (85nm versus 75nm), smaller volume (-10%) for greater ground clearance, less drag (50%), more heat resistant, and tuned to give more power in Trail mode. All this means it's even more capable of tackling longer, tougher rides.
Santa Cruz Bullet eBike - What goes up, loves coming down
The Bullit is designed for tackling the steepest and deepest of trails in both directions. Imagine the kinds of rooty, rocky, horror fests usually reserved for our biggest hitting bikes like the Nomad and Megatower. Then imagine what lies beyond that.
Where the Heckler's priority is agility and playful handling, the Bullit takes a more no limits approach. 170mm travel, a 38mm fork and DoubleDown tires reflect the smashability of this platform. This is a bike for riders who seek V10 level terrain that's out of range of any chairlift or shuttle road.
Santa Cruz Hightower
The Hightower has been a does-it-all-well trail bike since its inception. More maneuverable than its longer-travel sibling, the Megatower, and more at home in the steep-and-chunky than its snappy cousin Tallboy, Hightower excels when the route covers ‘all points in between,’ and descents come courtesy of some big-ass climbs. The VPP suspension’s lower-link-mounted shock creates a nearly linear leverage curve, meaning it mops up bumps of all sizes and maintains the kind of progressivity normally reserved for our V10 DH bike!
140mm of rear travel complemented by a 150mm front end gives Hightower just a bit more front and rear travel over the first generation model. Combined with a slacker 65-degree head tube angle, the Hightower still sits squarely in the Goldilocks zone, but with a touch more “Oh sh*t get me out of here” capability when the porridge gets too hot!
Balancing stiffness and weight savings in all the right places is a hallmark of all Santa Cruz carbon frames and the Hightower flies the flag yet higher. The advanced composite chassis tracks well across all trail surfaces, holds a line, and is reactive to rider directions while isolating pedal-influenced inputs.
Santa Cruz 5010
The thrasher's all-terrain play machine.
The 5010 is the most fun you can have on two off-road wheels, and Danny MacAskill’s wee bike of choice. Turning trails into pumptracks and logs into launches this bike begs to spend as much time above the ground as on it.
A laser sharp, agile trail whip that turns on a dime and loves to pop and play. The 130mm-travel 5010 sports short chainstays and a low BB for a uniquely playful character and an insatiable appetite for negotiating steep, technical climbs. When it’s time to descend, the bike’s 66.2/66.5-degree head tube angle (adjusted via flip chip) and generous reach/short stem combo equate to precise, confident handling.
This short-travel pocket rocket is packaged to be fast and nimble yet tough enough to take a beating. From dirt to rocky tech, 4X to BMX, this bike doesn’t give a XXXX what you do with it.
Not only does Santa Cruz produce great bikes, they step up and support the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship in its quest to maintain and enhance the Downieville and Lakes Basin Trail Systems. Now more than ever, how and where you spend your money is your voice.