pass on the Santa cruz

[aabela]

thx for the imput, but sorry to be a bastard about one thing... builit or vp free... meh i may be from santa cruz califronian but man their bikes are old news, if im gonna go with an american company it would be specialized all the way

[IFO]

good call...

team BIGHIT would be proud to have you...

[atari_]

I'd take a bighit over a bullet anyday.
but then again I'd take an Oryx over a specialized any day.

[corey@nsmb.com]

Originally posted by aabela
meh i may be from santa cruz califronian but man their bikes are old news, if im gonna go with an american company it would be specialized all the way

Kind of ironic given Specialized has been making bikes for at least twice as long as Santa Cruz....

[polytics]

Specialized isn't really even American anymore... didn't Merida (Taiwan) (sp?) basically take over because of money troubles?

Santa Cruz are made in the USA by Kinesis... (or were) think that counts for something...

Specialized has some nice bikes and neat tech though... not knocking it... by they are more like Giant or Kona then they are like Santa Cruz...

[free ryder]

how is SC like Giants or Konas

[xy9ine]

they ALL make bicycles! was that a trick question??

[polytics]

you mean how is Specialized like Giant and Kona? because despite the fact (well at least in Giant's case) they use leading materials and technology they are mass produced overseas...

does that mean they ride poorly? no... the FSR design is one of the best out there and Giant's new VT's are a great all rounder... but they are a mass quantity bicycle...

Santa Cruz is like Rocky Mountain or Titus... produced in smaller numbers by hand in North America. For one this allows them to modify and adapt their product faster (RM has changed the RM design every year based on rider input) and Santa Cruz's Bullit has undergone small changes in gusseting, tubes and travel in response to the progression of riders. This doesn't mean you get a better ride... after all Rocky and SC have smaller budgets for engineering... and their Tech. may in fact linger behind.

But to count SC out because they are old news? we are talking about a company whose sole focus is on high end bicycles and which uses American labour, American design (VPP), and American Marketing... just like Rocky Mountain and Devinci do in Canada.

[snowboarder]

seriously who cares where they've been made. All the companies listed have proven designs.

[corey@nsmb.com]

Polytics,

Can you give any hard data looking at production numbers? How many units did SC do last year vs. Specialized or Giant (high end models, kids bikes and econo-bikes wouldn't be an accurate comparison).

Reason I ask is because I see more SC bikes on the trail than I do Giants. You talk about SC making them sound like a special little bike boutique and the others like some kind of assembly line robot produced bike.

That isnt the case. High end bikes made overseas utilize human labour (ie: Hand Made) just as bikes made in the USA do. Facilities overseas are as high-tech and quality as they get, and should not be dismissed as lesser quality than Mr.Santa Cruz's bikes because he chooses to weld in Califronia.

In each facility, human hands produce these bikes.

[aabela]

well technically no, sorry to challenge u man, but human hands barely touch these bikes. Santa cruz and specialized utilize machine building and there is nothing wrong about it but the bikes by rocky, intense and some other bikes are hand welded which gives the bike soul!

[Nelson]

Specialized is 49% owened by Merida.

Heres a bike that merida has had in production for a while, longer than the epic...



Not to say I wouldnt ride an epic....

[Slamigo]

Originally posted by aabela
well technically no, sorry to challenge u man, but human hands barely touch these bikes. Santa cruz and specialized utilize machine building and there is nothing wrong about it but the bikes by rocky, intense and some other bikes are hand welded which gives the bike soul!

you sure about that? I am pretty certain that I've seen a pic of some dude working on a bullit. He didn't look like a robot.

Here is a little clip from something I read:

Test the model. Unlike some larger bicycle companies, Santa Cruz Bicycles doesn't have an extensive testing facility for running fatigue-analysis on prototype bike frames. But Pro/MECHANICA gives Santa Cruz Bicycles the confidence that the prototype bike will live up to their expectations, because they have already fatigue tested the bikes to determine where problems might occur. When a prototype is ready, Santa Cruz Bicycles invites some of the country's best hard-core riders to break it!
"Pro/ENGINEER and Pro/MECHANICA help us test ideas during the design phase," says Graney. "For example, a tremendous amount of force runs through the shock absorber on our V10 downhill racing bike. Traveling at 50 miles an hour straight down a 70-degree slope will exert several thousand pounds of force from the shock onto the shock mounts that are on the down tube. The down tube area has very thin walls where the shock mounts are, so we model that area in Pro/MECHANICA and apply the force variables to accurately determine what the stress is on the tube and where we are under yield. With this software, we can move the shock tabs around and try different shapes and lengths. Pro/MECHANICA gives us accurate answers rapidly without having to physically build and test each configuration."

source of quote

[b-man]

Well I've only really ridden a Bullit, and I'm getting mine built up this weekend HOPEFULLY, but I'd really have to say its about ride quality and construction quality over where its made. This seems really basic. Santa Cruz bikes are seen so widely because they are reliable, good performing, and relatively affordable compared to some other bikes in the same classes. Either way you go, I've only heard good things about all the bikes listed. Good luck

[davel]

Let's face facts, a guy in Taiwan in just as capable at producing a beautiful TIG weld as a guy in the USA or Canada or even Russia. As well, that guy is equally capable of making mistakes, or doing sloppy work.

Let's face facts, most bike manufacturers produce quality bikes, and everyone is going to let a lemon go through occasionally.

If someone likes a particular bike because it is made by hand in Canada, I think that's great. My three bikes were all made by hand in Canada. Two were fully custom. But I wouldn't be able to prove that any of my bikes are superior to a bike made in Taiwan.

That said, I wouldn't trade any of my bikes for something made in Taiwan. ;-) I like the fact that the people who made my bikes are riders themselves, and ride the same trails and roads that I do.

Just my $0.02,
Dave