Courtesy of Decline magazine >
The trio will be racing and product testing the new Jekyll and Claymore bike for 2011.
Pedal and Spoke are holding a demo day on the 21st and 22nd of August with the latest Santa cruz bikes available for demo. (more…)
Santa Cruz have obviously been listening to their feedback. They have sneaked the new 1×10 all mountain build kit onto their website.
It consists of the elements below. Most notably Syncros is gone and DT Swiss is back but this time on a Chub/DT240s mix rather than Hope hubs. Fifteen.G cranks in their single speed mode are being used and a gear ratio of 34 x 11-36 using SRAM XX. Easton Haven carbon bars, MRP chainguide and Thomson finish things off with Formula The One supplying ample stopping power.
Maxxis High Rollers replace the enduring Kenda Nevegal aka “Nevergrip” tyres. (more…)
Check out the EDGE carbon rims…
The brand new Nomad Carbon is the natural evolution of the MK2 Nomad we introduced two years ago. Offering the same suspension performance and geometry but in a package delivering over a pound of weight saving. The Nomad Carbon is ready to take on all the same terrain as it’s sibling with our proprietary one piece layup process adding extra strength and stiffness to keep you pinned though the bends.
Our proprietary one piece lay-up process eliminates excess material, ensures optimal fiber compaction, and incorporates the suspension pivots, disc mounts and ISCG tabs seamlessly into a single, ultra-light, mega-strong piece of composite art.
RRP £2,499 with Monarch 3.3. (DHX 5 Air and DHX RC4 Coil upgrades)
Availability June 2010
UK Shock Options:
UK Fork Options:
Size Options:
Colour Options:
Note: The current Aluminium Nomad will remain part of our range.
other carbon nomad pics…
CG on the Nomad-C and Lopes on his Mojo with a little ripper!
Some magazine pics from a random forum…
Despite the date, this is no joke: Santa Cruz will offer their Nomad all-mountain bike in carbon fibre from this summer.
The last revision to the Nomad came less than two years ago and focused almost solely on the bike’s suspension design. That bike went on to garner acclaim from the industry as well as scoring an excellent 4.5/5 stars on BikeRadar.
The mk2 bike will remain in the line but Santa Cruz will add a new version, the Nomad-c, that takes all they have learned building the new Blur XC, LT and Tallboy in carbon.
Carbon fibre frame
The new carbon chassis chops a whopping 1.25lb off the weight of the aluminium model, while at the same time, according to Santa Cruz, increasing strength and stiffness by large margins. Keep in mind, the aluminium Nomad isn’t exactly a porker and has proven its strength for the past year-and-a-half. Early production Nomad-c frames are weighing in at a claimed 6.1lb with RockShox Monarch 3.3 shock.
“Before anyone calls foul about using a light shock like a Monarch for a hard hitting bike like the Nomad, add a third of a pound for a Fox DHX air or just over a pound for a DHX RC4 coil,” said Michael Ferrentino, the brand’s marketing manager. “Then go compare …”
VPP suspension
The suspension on the Nomad-c is the same found on the aluminium Nomad. It features Santa Cruz’s latest generation Virtual Pivot Point design with 160mm of travel. VPP is defined by a pair of counter-rotating links that offer a falling to rising shock rate, along with instant centre migration traits that minimise chain growth and maintain lively pedalling with a designed-in degree of anti-squat.
The shock rate allows for plush, compliant suspension behaviour in the early part of travel, letting the shock react quickly to trail debris and smaller impacts. Then, as the shock rate flips to a rising rate later in the travel, it offers progression to resist bottom-out near the end of the stroke.
Santa Cruz pay special attention to the hardware they use within their VPP suspension system. The lower link is aluminium and equipped with a pair of grease ports to ease maintenance. The upper link is moulded carbon fibre. The pivot axles are 15mm diameter aluminium rods that thread into the frame on one side, with locking collet heads on the other. This allows them to tighten down and correctly preload the angular contact pivot bearings.
By threading into one side of the frame and then locking into the other, the pivot hardware plays an important part in maintaining the stiffness produced by the carbon front and rear ends. The axles are designed to allow for easy removal for service and there isn’t a need to remove the cranks or disassemble the bike around the pivot hardware.
Frame construction
Santa Cruz say that by laying up and curing the entire front triangle as a single piece, instead of assembling or bonding pieces together during the process, less material can be used to achieve the same end. Suspension pivots, disc mounts and ISCG05 tabs are all moulded into the frame in this process.
“We overbuilt things in critical areas,” said Ferrentino. The underside of the down tube features five layers of uni-directional fibre, two of Aramid fibre and one layer of 3k weave. This is all in an effort to ward off all things sharp and pointy. The chainstays have extra layers of material for the same purpose.
The one-piece layup and moulding allows the use of continuous fibres throughout the frame, which is said to allow the structure to more widely distribute loads and absorb impact energy. A proprietary manufacturing process allows Santa Cruz to precisely control both the outside and inside frame shape while compacting the laminate layers, which in turn results in superior stiffness and strength while eliminating excess material.
“We don’t have any fancy acronyms for this, but it is unique – nobody else is making carbon fibre mountain bikes this way at this time,” said Ferrentino. “And, while we don’t have the selling power of a carefully focus-grouped nickname behind the process, the results are pretty enough that we are proud to show off what the insides of our frames look like. You’d be surprised what you might find inside some of the other frames out there.”
Details, and stuff
Alongside the carbon fibre makeover, the VPP suspension and solid pivot hardware, Santa Cruz have added an impact absorbent protection strip underneath the down tube and along the drive side chain- and seatstays. There’s a metal plate to protect from chainsuck and you’ll find cable stops for telescopic seatposts integrated into the frame.
An ISCG05 chainguide mount is moulded into the bottom bracket area during layup, as are the disc brake tabs and dropouts. Up front, there’s a 1.5in head tube since Santa Cruz believe this bike can take more abuse than most tapered-steerer forks are intended to see. “You can have it any colour you want, so long as it’s white with black decals or a matt carbon colour with gold pinstripey decals,” said Ferrentino.
The Nomad-c will be available for delivery from mid-June, in all the usual build options per the Santa Cruz website. A Nomad-c page is still in the works. Prices start at US$2,499 for a frame and Monarch 3.3 shock (approx £1,650 – direct currency conversion).
Here is a photo from the cellar! (more…)
Ahh cr*p. Santa Cruz have updated my tango beast… and as you would expect it is a absolutely beauty. Why oh why do I even look!?
Freshly redesigned, reaping the benefits of next generation VPP technology, the all-new Nomad further messes up the boundaries between trail riding and gravity performance. 160mm rear travel meets 1.5″ headtube and ISCG05 chainguide mounts in a lightweight but aggressive aluminum frame. Newly revised shock rates, grease ports in the lower link, carbon fiber upper link, 15mm diameter pivot axles rolling on angular contact bearings are part of the plush, stable, flex free design. So, what is it? A heavy-duty trail bike? The new all-mountain contender? Freeride lite? Yes.
Have a look at the catalogue here: http://www.santacruzbicycles.com/nomad/catalog.pdf
