New Santa Cruz 8" DH bike (?)

its already up on the santa cruz site, and yeah the 14.5 bb is a little high but remember how much sag your going to have on a vpp suspension system though. Similar numbers to the giant faith as well.

 

Yeah...Santa Cruz doesn't know what they're doing...

 

put a Hammerschmiddy on that thing.

 

all i know is i will have it soon...or at least whenever i get a chance.

 

There ya go :bang:

 

Let me clarify what I posted earlier a bit, and also quote SC a bit to pick them apart



Ok Underlined the part here I agree with, with teh Geo, BB height, and HT angle. Its Not a Full on DH bike, its a freeride/agressive all mountian Bike, like listed here

But the part that gets me, is this part.

Ok first part of that statement I underlined.....Its not a DH race bike. Little too hi, little to steep. Capable...Yes...DH intended...No

Second part, A good choice for those not riding the world cup? Well, this part is my opinion, but not for the price SC will be charging, I can think of more than a few bikes that are More DH worthy, and cheaper and just as dependable.




Dont get me wrong, its not a bad bike at all, but its a freeride bike, not a DH bike. I like it, I just wont be riding one.

 

It's gunna be a perfect race bike, who cares about to BB height, it's gunna sag quite a bit... i can't wait to ride one...well that one being Gil's....haha


if you have to ask how much, you can't afford it...hahahaha

 

No way Dude, racing that thing is going to be like racing the dirtbag. too steep in teh front.

Is Gildo getting one??? I do want to check them out. If its light enough, might not be a bad choice for my non race ride I need to get this year

 

I'm gunna agree with A here.. Who cares about heat tube angle at fontana. It's no world cup course to say the least. plus a dual crown fork can help a little bit with that. But that will in turn raise BB more

 

Ya, i think he is....

 

Santa cruz could have done alot better with this bike, bottom line is its a freeride bike, interupted set tube, 67 degree head angel, the same as my bottle rocket, average bb heigth, and I am not saying this cause I have one but it is a different version of a giant faith or any other freeride bike that can be used as a do everthing machine that does not shine in one paticular aspect.

It will pedal nice but not great because its 8 inches of travel and wil be heavy, and it would work good at fontana because it has less travel, I am not a good rider, but a giant reign, bottle rocket, slopstyle is enough for fonatana, big bikes are fun and allow too go faster if you are fit enough and have skill. someone like me could not use this bike to its full advantage.

14.5 bb is not that high 3years ago. Company's like transtion and Intense have spoiled use with longer travel bikes and low bb's. Just my opinion, I am not waiting in line for one.

One bike for me as soon as they are available, Uzzi!

 

look at the angles compared to the v10... they are all either the same or off by .5 degrees... if set up 30% sag like the v10 the bb will be low for DH racing.

if it handles like the v10 in the aspect of rear wheel travel path, i think it will be a hit... also if they got it to pedal better(im 110% sure they can make any design of 8" travel pedal better) it will be perfect for fontana and some other shuttle runs here in socal.

basically i will be like adrian with his 10" bike for bootleg and mammoth, while having an 8" for racing and local shuttles that have pedaling in them.

 

Ok, for Fontana, its going to be just fine. i wasnt talking about WC, or anything along those lines. The BB height is fine, the Standover is a bit hi, but the killer for the DH is the HTA. Yes, it WILL pedal better than the V10, thats a given, but SC could have slackened out the fornt just a bit.



As far as putting a DC fork on it to slacken it, May want to check that a bit before knowing that will work. Take my Blindside for instance, 64.5 HTA with a single crown, I dont know about the fork that coming on the new SC bike, but My 66 is 5mm taller than reccomended height of the 2010 boxxers. I havent compared other forks, but in that case the DC would actually steepen it.

 

I think it's interesting how people keep saying "it's fine for Fontana". Fine, then, go compromise.

Racing is racing. Sure the travel, HA, WB, & CS are fine, but what about BB? The lower the BB, the better the bike will corner. Races are won and lost in the corners, so why not go for a bike that has better geometry suited for DH racing. The bike looks fine, I'm sure it will be a fun all-around bike. But if I was looking for a bike for racing DH, I'd look somewhere else.

Again, I'm sure it's going to be a fun all-around, big hit bike.

 

It does feel nice cornering with a low BB... my AM has over 14inch of BB travel with 160mm fork and my FR/DH has less than 13" of BB with 180mm fork ... both sags at 30% and both has 6.75" rear travel

 

If we are talking Fontana then your wrong. The race is won or lost on the wall.

 

So, my question is.........how many of you have actually thrown a leg over the Driver 8 and ridden it?

You all can sit here and argue back and forth about how this bike will or will not ride based on numbers. But none of you know how it truely handles.

Until I can ride one myself, I will withold my judgement.

 

my thoughts exactly. sure, I can come up with a predetermined hypothesis about how I think it will ride, based on previous experience riding bikes with similar angles, but it's true, you can't tell until you ride.

 

Considering the Sunday/Demo 8/DHR all have similar amounts of travel 8"-ish and are far slacker and lower, unsagged, I don't see how the Driver 8 will make a good lightweight race rig. Too high and too steep.

It might excel in flat (steep head angle isn't a problem) courses with tons of rocks (high BB for pedaling without hitting rocks). But I'd doubt it.

 

I have.....and I like. And I didn't ride it on a "fontana" style course. We rode it on suicide and it was sick. Look for upcoming test in a well known publication that caters to gravity based riding.(hint hint)