Hot News: Santa Cruz launches more affordable carbon bikes, bars and grips
Santa Cruz has announced both new colors and a new lower-priced carbon version of three of their most popular bikes—the Bronson, 5010 and Tallboy.
Responding to concerns over rising bike costs, Santa Cruz announced the release of less expensive but slightly heavier carbon versions of their Bronson, 5010 and Tallboy models today. Though an exact savings is hard to determine because the build levels differ, the new frames look to knock around $800 off the price of their higher-zoot brethren and add just over a half-pound in weight. A full-carbon Santa Cruz dual-suspension bike can now be had for a fairly reasonable $3600.
Each of the three models will now be available in three formats—aluminum, the new mid-level carbon—simply called “Carbon”—and the long-available premium carbon, now referred to as “Carbon C.” Santa Cruz has divided their builds on complete bikes to roughly equate the frame level with its parts mix. The Carbon gets mid-level build options while the Carbon C ships with high-end componentry only. Some combination of shock, fork, and wheel upgrades are available on all complete bikes, and for frame-only buyers, the aluminum and Carbon C are the only choices.
“The whole idea of the (new) Carbon frame is to get lower carbon complete bike package pricing with a relatively small weight penalty,” said Santa Cruz Media and Communications Manager Scott Turner. “Getting more people on carbon without breaking the bank is the goal.”
Different flavors of carbon
So just what are the differences between Carbon and Carbon C? Santa Cruz says the grades of material are different, which likely means they use a higher modulus carbon on the Carbon C and a lower modulus material for Carbon models. In the latter case, they need to use more of it to achieve the same stiffness, resulting in the weight difference.
“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,” says Santa Cruz Engineering & Quality Director Joe Graney. “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).”
Color schemes for these models are the same no matter what the material—aluminum, Carbon or Carbon C. Santa Cruz has added a number of new options—including the handsome white/burgundy combo on the Tallboy—all of which are posted in our gallery below.
Advantage Santa Cruz and, perhaps, you
The new carbon level should help Santa Cruz better compete on price with larger, full-spectrum brands like Giant, Trek and Specialized. And while some riders can tell the difference between carbon levels on ultra-light road bikes, the distinctions are harder to define on mountain bikes with high-volume tires and gobs of suspension travel. Essentially, the choice between the carbon levels becomes a weight-for-dollars proposition. But because you can “only” get as high as Santa Cruz’s S-level build kit on the new frame platform, the componentry plays in to the equation as well. You can’t buy, for instance, a new Bronson Carbon with an XX1 build kit, so the weight differential will be more than solely the half-pound difference between frames.
Still, the new models offer comparable stiffness to their premium counterparts, which is a significant improvement over their lower-priced aluminum siblings. Spending the $400 to get a Carbon over aluminum, then upgrading to lighter parts over time seems like a pretty good strategy to us. While not cheap, the $4,700 Bronson Carbon S-build with a RockShox Pike fork and Reverb Stealth seatpost is a great value for the price-point.
No word yet on other models getting the mid price-point carbon—the new Nomad, Tallboy LT and Highball hardtail all appear on the Santa Cruz website as Carbon C models.
New Santa Cruz handlebars and grips
Santa Cruz Grand Poobah Rob Roskopp puts the new Santa Cruz carbon bars through their paces on his Nomad. Photo by Gary Perkin
Citing their growing materials expertise, Santa Cruz has ventured into production of their own line of carbon handlebars. Only original spec on some of their high-end complete bikes for now, Santa Cruz says the new bars will eventually be available in the aftermarket.
Stealthy and light, the new Santa Cruz bars are currently only available on some of their complete bikes, but will be aftermarket items in the future.
The new bars come in four versions between 720 and 800mm with the two higher rise models sporting 35mm clamp diameters and the two flat bars sticking with traditional 31.8mm bulges.
To hang on to said new bars, Santa Cruz has come out with a grip they call Palmdale. The single lock-ring grips taper on the outer edge and feature a generous 125mm width. Like the bars, they’ll be black and Santa Cruz OEM-only initially. Eventually, the company plans to offer a variety of colors and sell them in the aftermarket as well.
Stealthy and light, the new Santa Cruz bars are currently only available on some of their complete bikes, but will be aftermarket items in the future.
For more information visit santacruzbicycles.com.
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