2001 Santa Cruz Superlight
Well, after years of riding my 1996 Klein Pulse Comp hardtail, I finally
decided to go the full suspension route. After much debate, I settled on the
Santa Cruz Superlight.
It has 4" of rear suspension travel, and with the RockShox SID XC fork up
front, just over 3" (80mm) of front suspension travel.
Other bikes I'd considered were the Specialized Stumpjumper FSR-XC Pro and the
Gary Fisher Sugar-1. Both were very similar price-wise, but would require
swapping of a lot of the cheap house-brand stuff. In the end, it made the most
sense to buy the Superlight frame, and custom-spec the rest.
Reviews of the FSR are generally quite positive, with the only complaints being
the low bottom bracket height and creaky pivots out back. The Sugar has quite
mixed reviews, with some people loving it, and others saying the 2.5" of rear
travel is quite limiting. I'm not a big fan of the Trek/Klein/Fisher/Bontrager
conglomerate - too cookie-cutter now.
Based on reviews, talking with shops, and everyone else I could get hold of who
had experience with the above bikes, it seemed like the Superlight was the way
to go. The simple single pivot setup is nice. The quality of the frame itself
in terms of welds and prep is just amazing, though. Add to that the first-rate
anodizing (rather than painting/powdercoating), and there really was only one
choice.
I took pictures when I got the bike, as I figured it wouldn't be long until I
dirtied/crashed it.
...did I say crash?
Well, the helmet definitely did its job. I got the usual road rash, but the
bike is pretty much unscathed. Amazing, given the length of the drop/jump, and
the resulting impact with terra firma. Oh well...that's what mountain bikes
are for...
More information:
Santa Cruz Mountain Bikes
MTB Review
Last modified: Wednesday, 30-May-2001 22:43:38 PDT
Questions/Comments/Problems: Paul H. Yoshimune