Posts tagged Santa Cruz

BikeSnob’s rant today on new bike advice got me thinking. I used to be an “automotive journalist” and so I get a lot of new car questions from friends and family. And as a former bike shop employee, I have always gotten a lot of new bike questions. My answers to these “what car (or bike) to buy?” questions have always been the same:

1. Decide what you want to spend.
2. Decide what you want to use the car (or bike) for.
3. Go buy the appropriate Toyota or Honda (or Trek or Specialized).

Now, in the case of bikes, there is the added question of fit, but I’m going to assume your local Trek or Specialized dealer will fit you to the right size bike, once you have it narrowed down to the right model. (Of course, in the rare case where you have odd body dimensions or a very big budget, you might do better with custom.)

Do I follow my own advice? No. I’ve never bought a Toyota or Honda. And I’ve never bought a Specialized. (I bought a Trek 950 in 1994, but only because the employee deals were too good to pass up, and I sold it at a profit a few months later.) Most of my personal bikes are weird mongrels ill-suited to anyone but me.

When it comes to cars, over the years I’ve mostly purchased old American junk, old Swedish junk, Italian cars and used mid-engine Porsches with potentially catastrophic IMS bearing issues that have hit the bottom of their depreciation curve. Would I recommend any of these cars to friends or relatives? Absolutely not.

However, if my friend or relative follows my generic advice above, there is a very good chance that they will be happy, and a very low chance that I will receive any kind of blowback. In the worst case scenario, the friend or relative ends up with a high quality car or a bike with half-decent resale value.

Now, the nice thing about bikes is even if they buy something other than a Trek or Specialized they will probably still be fine, assuming they spend more than about $400 at the LBS (strangely, this $400 LBS threshold has held firm for decades). This is very unlike cars, where if you don’t buy a Toyota or Honda, you can end up with blown head gaskets, recalled batteries or worse.

The closest I have come to following my own advice was when I bought a new modern full suspension 29er two years ago. I hadn’t really kept up with the evolution of these bikes and was not up to speed on a lot of the new tech. My own personal feelings/biases/vibes prevents me from shopping Treks or Specializeds, but to keep it simple, I decided to limit myself to two very established players in this category: Ibis and Santa Cruz (and I've owned a few of each over the years). I decided what I wanted to spend ($5,000, which would get me the top notch frames with half-decent parts I could upgrade later) and what I wanted to use the bike for (riding in the PNW woods with lots of nasty roots, but nothing too crazy). This allowed me to quickly narrow it down to the Ibis Ripley and the Santa Cruz Tallboy. After watching several YouTube comparisons between the two, I ascertained that the Ripley was a tad better going up hill and the Tallboy was a tad better going down hill. The sizing/geometry was nearly identical: in both cases, I would ride a size Large. Normally at that point I would have just gone with the one that I could find cheaper. But this was during Covid, so I went with the first one I could get my hands on, which turned out to be the Ripley. And it’s worked out just great.



Now, how about used bike advice? That’s a whole other topic! And a lot more complicated! But a good place to start is BikeList Price Drops!

This week Santa Cruz introduced the Heckler SL, a new lightweight e-mtb. At around 41 pounds, the Heckler SL sits in between their 30-pound pedal bikes and their standard 50-pound e-bikes like the Heckler and Bronson. The Heckler SL is a mullet with 150mm of travel and utilizes the lightweight Fanzua Ride 60 system.

What are your thoughts on this new and growing category of lightweight e-mtbs? I haven’t ridden any of them, but so far my favorite bike in this category is the Transition Relay, which utilizes the same Fanzua Ride 60 system. Unlike the Heckler SL, you can remove the battery in the Relay and ride without, dropping the bike down to 37.5 pounds. The Heckler SL's battery is permanently integrated, which is a deal killer for me.

Watch Santa Cruz’s video below for more on the development of this bike.

Shop Santa Cruz bikes on BikeList!
Shop all e-bikes on BikeList!

This week Santa Cruz unveiled their new Skitch–a lightweight flat bar e-bike. Now, back in the 90s, we called the acoustic version of these 700c bikes "hybrids." I commuted for years on a Surly Cross Check I built up with flat bars. To me it’s the best all-around configuration for urban bike commuting.

The Skitch is very cool, with a carbon fiber frame and fork, mid-drive Fazua Ride 60 motor and a claimed 30 pound weight. But the $5,999 price tag was a bit eye opening. It made me wonder: who is the customer for this bike? The marketing photos show a guy in jeans and a backpack hooning around with it like it's a BMX bike. Who is gonna do that with a $6k carbon bike? For the same money, you could have a Santa Cruz Stigmata AND a half-decent ebike–one that you wouldn’t be worried about locking up somewhere (like the REI Co-Op bike I just scored for $998).



Weight is a big issue for e-bikes. My wife has a Specialized Turbo Vado (another bike I’d call a hybrid). It’s an awesome bike, but at over 50 pounds, it’s kind of porky.

So what are your options for more affordable, lightweight hybrid e-bikes? Here are three that come to mind. Let me know if there are others I should include on this list!

Propella 7S

Propella is a cool little e-bike company based near us in Redmond, Washington. We first met them at the Seattle Bike Swap back in February. The Propella 7s features a 7-speed drivetrain, a 250 watt hub motor and 250 wh battery, with a range of 20 - 40 miles. This Class 1 e-bike has five level of pedal-assist and tops out at 19 mph. It weighs in at a reasonable 37 pounds and is generally priced around $999. Want a cleaner look and lower price? Propella also offers a singlespeed variant for $799.



State 6061 eBike Commuter

I consider State to be the king of affordable, quality direct-to-consumer bikes. So when they introduced their 6061 eBike Commuter I definitely took notice. The State has a cleaner look with an integrated 360 wh LG battery in the down tube. Like the Propella, it has a 250 watt rear hub motor. State claims a 24 miles range in PAS level 5 and over 100 miles in PAS level 1. It weighs 38 pounds and is currently priced at $1,299. Hot shot roadie/writer Phil Gaimon has one, and you can see him ride it on Instagram.



Detroit Bikes–Electric

Can you justify spending a little more for a boutique, Made-in-USA option? Then be sure to check out the Detroit Bikes-Electric. This stylish steel e-bike has the cleanest look yet, thanks to the Zehus All-In-One Motor--no need to put a battery on or in the frame! The 250 watt hub motor provides pedal-assistance up to 15.5 mph, and Zehus claims a range of 20 to 35 miles (though the Detroit guys have seen significantly farther than that). And the belt drive helps make it no fuss, no muss. The Detroit e-bike weighs in at a scant 32 pounds and is currently priced at $2,599. I’m super excited to see and test one of these in person--and we will have one in the BikeList booth at the Electrify Expo in Seattle in less than three weeks!



What are your thoughts? And what bikes did I miss? Let me know in the comments!

I’ve been a huge fan of the Santa Cruz Stigmata since it was first introduced in 2007. Back then it was a no-nonsense cyclocross race bike with cantilever brakes. The frame was Easton EA6X aluminum (and I believe still made in the USA by Kinesis in Portland, Oregon).



The second generation Stigmata released in 2015 really got my attention. This time it was carbon fiber and came with disc brakes. I shot an email to Santa Cruz to complain that it didn’t have fender eyelets and got a really thoughtful reply from Scott Turner:

“The Stigmata is definitely still designed as a performance oriented bike with CX/Gravel in mind. Fender eyelets would feel pretty out of place on a bike like this. That’s not really the intended use/design spectrum it currently fits in.”



The third generation Stigmata released in 2019 saw fairly evolutionary changes–and this time it came with fender eyelets! I came very close to buying this bike. In fact, I would have probably bought one last year but it only cleared 45mm tires and I wanted to be able to go to 50.



So I was really excited to see the fourth generation Stigmata, which was finally revealed last week. This new bike has some BIG changes. It can now clear 50mm tires. And it's definitely a lot more mtb-oriented now.

Dave Rome at Escape Collective sums up some of the changes nicely:

"Gone is the traditional and cyclocross-inspired geometry, with the new Stigmata leaning into Santa Cruz’s mountain bike focus. Here, the revamped and now progressive geometry sees reach figures grow by a whopping 30 mm for each of the five frame sizes. Head tube angles are slackened by a whole two degrees to hit a consistent 69.5°. And such changes now mean the Stigmata is optimised around the use of a shorter 70 mm stem length. Whether you think it’s the future or a fad, the new Stigmata offers a suspension-corrected geometry to handle a 40 mm suspension fork."

I think the evolution of the Stigmata from 2007 is a pretty good summary of the gravel segment in general. Has Santa Cruz gone too far with the new bike?

Which generation is your favorite?