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new heckler!

revmonkey

revmonkey

Monkey
Sep 6, 2005
129
0
it's been redesigned!

available spring 2007
Heckleriffic!
“Sweet and simple” are words that usually have some sort of double meaning when strung together. They damn with faint praise – “Sure is a sweet dog you got there. Shame it’s so dang ugly...” “These directions are so simple, a monkey could understand them...” But in the case of the new Heckler, the third and final member of our single pivot revival, those words are perfect.

All the lovable traits of Hecklers past are retained, with some new tweaks added to make a good thing even better. The stout 6069 aluminum front triangle features advanced gussets reinforcing the headtube without adding boat anchor weight. The shaped downtube leaves enough space for any single crown fork to fit with room to spare. The rear swingarm now pivots on an optimally placed, 15mm diameter axle, rides on lifetime guaranteed bearings and coughs up 5.9-inches of travel. A new replaceable rear derailleur hanger sits independently of the rear dropout, and all the frame components can be disassembled or put back together with a few allen wrenches.


Light & durable advanced 6069 gussets
It’s an all-season, all-terrain all-rounder. It’s a tough duty trailbike that can be ridden hard and put away wet and always be ready for more. It’s sweet, like alpine singletrack on the first warm day after the snow has melted. It’s simple, like a real sharp ax. Sweet, simple, and proud of it.

Replaceable rear derailleur hanger

Plenty of tire clearance
# Burly 15mm main pivot, lifetime bearing guarantee!
# 5.9” rear travel, 6.4lb frame and shock weight (medium, Fox Float R shock)
# Clearance for 8” brake rotors
# Updated geometry designed around 140mm forks, able to take up to 170mm
# Super clean replaceable derailleur hanger
# Recessed, threaded shock mounts and tool friendly design
# Available in choice of five powdercoat, two anodized, and one polished finish


Production models expected to start shipping in April, Santa Cruz Bicycles will be accepting orders after January 15th.

 
manhattanprjkt83

manhattanprjkt83

Rusty Trombone
Jul 10, 2003
9,646
1,217
Nilbog
this is awesome they are putting this stuff back out, i hope they arent spreading themselves to thin though...I can think of about 6 bikes i could use for an all mountain bike in thier line up...
 
Bicyclist

Bicyclist

Turbo Monkey
Apr 4, 2004
10,152
2
SB
Manhattan I was thinking the exact same thing. I mean Superlight, Heckler, Nomad, Bullit, VP-Free, they're all semi-similar in that they're trail bikes. They seriously need to make a fully 4X bike now, and then maybe eliminate one line.
 
manhattanprjkt83

manhattanprjkt83

Rusty Trombone
Jul 10, 2003
9,646
1,217
Nilbog
yeah i can see bringing back the bullit and the superlight at a super low price point but now the hecklernot sure about this...Cool bikes but it's alot of choices.
 
OGRipper

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,655
1,129
NORCAL is the hizzle
Biased SCB whore here chiming in to say that I think the new heckler is rad and that the SCB line shouldn't be that confusing, they're just offering complimentary lines, one being virtual pivot and the other being single (actual) pivot. Others do the same thing: IH, Trek/Fisher, etc. They have different price points, different maintenance requirements, different performance, and they will appeal to different people.

And Bicyclist, you can't be serious when you say a superlight and a vp-free are similar. I mean yeah they are both "mountain bikes" but otherwise...? If you were in the market for a bike like a vp-free would you really be confused into indecision by the existence of the superlight?
 
OGRipper

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,655
1,129
NORCAL is the hizzle
Bicyclist said:
All I'm saying is they have a ton of trail, XC, and FR bikes for such a small company.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I can see how it seems that way, but (depending on your definition) those are three different kinds of bikes, and for each one they offer one vpp and one single pivot. I mean, the definitions of "trail" and "FR" are loose enough that more than one bike might fit, but when you really check them out each bike has a distinct personality.
 
sanjuro

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
Bicyclist said:
Manhattan I was thinking the exact same thing. I mean Superlight, Heckler, Nomad, Bullit, VP-Free, they're all semi-similar in that they're trail bikes. They seriously need to make a fully 4X bike now, and then maybe eliminate one line.
Click to expand...
What's the Blur 4X for?

OGRipper said:
Yeah, I can see how it seems that way, but (depending on your definition) those are three different kinds of bikes, and for each one they offer one vpp and one single pivot. I mean, the definitions of "trail" and "FR" are loose enough that more than one bike might fit, but when you really check them out each bike has a distinct personality.
Click to expand...
This is the way to see it from a rider's perspective. I already have VP-Free and I am planning on getting a Nomad this year, that bike being more for "trail/xc". Basically, I have my 888 on the VP-Free and I am going to put on a 36 on the Nomad.

The Blur LT and the Nomad are very similar, but the difference I see is not the one inch of travel, but that the Nomad is designed to handle a 36mm stanction or bigger (now with the 1.5 ht). Very close those.

But the way I see the single pivots and the VPP bikes is strictly from a manufacturing and sales perspective. Santa Cruz is not as small as people think, and they are trying to put out a quality, Taiwanese made and assembled bike at a lower price point than the mostly American made VPP bikes.

For example, last year the Hecklers and Superlights was being sold as a complete bike-in-a-box, just like the major bike companies. You could buy it as a frame, but it was an extremely good deal as a complete.
 
sanjuro

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
Bicyclist said:
Doh! That totally slipped my mind.

I guess I didn't realize how big they are, I always thought they were a smaller company but now that I think of it they've got a lot of bikes out there.
Click to expand...
It is not just a bunch of bikes. They have expanded to other companies, like Ibis and Swobo (which hired Sky Yaeger, Bianchi's product manager), and hired Mike Ferrentino as its PR guy.

I think they do a great job in a lot of ways, and I am very happy I own a Santa Cruz.
 
S

SDH

I'm normal
Oct 2, 2001
374
0
Northern Va.
Dogboy said:
Just curious, but why do you think the Superlight and Bullit should be at super low price points?
Click to expand...
1) single pivot, granted there is some engineering involved, patents do not have to be paid etc so generally engineering costs should be realitively low. CAD time is not that expensive.

2) Made oversees. Granted labor is rising oversees from a cost perspective, but it is still significantly lower than the US.

3) Finish, it is not secret that finish on painted SC is not the best from a wear perspective

4) the only significant cost driver is material these days, but every manufacture must pay these costs........

All of the above translates into a lower cost to manufacture and should equate to a lower retail cost. However, the cost of the frames will still be significant ~$1100-1200 but I believe that is b/c of branding and not cost to manufacture.
 
kidwoo

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Aug 25, 2003
42,146
13,340
Squirtin ketchup n' mustard on charred flesh
BIGHIT8989 said:
well... Not necissarily DH, but Freeride/Trail riding. If i remember correctly it is 5 - 7 inchs of travel. and Instead of having the top tup arch up to connect to the seat post. it stays strait. It looks much more like a gravity fueled bike is what i am trying to say, and it built to be that kind of bike
Click to expand...
I wonder if it will be called "bullit"
 
OGRipper

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,655
1,129
NORCAL is the hizzle
BIGHIT8989 said:
well... Not necissarily DH, but Freeride/Trail riding. If i remember correctly it is 5 - 7 inchs of travel. and Instead of having the top tup arch up to connect to the seat post. it stays strait. It looks much more like a gravity fueled bike is what i am trying to say, and it built to be that kind of bike
Click to expand...
If it had as much as 7 inches of travel, maybe your friend was riding a bullit? Anyway, the top tube doesn't arch up on the smaller sizes of most of these bikes, so that's not much to go on.
 
sanjuro

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
Tonycalves said:
You relize that 125 to 200 from every frame goto paying for there race team. And could be more those numbers where from 99.
Click to expand...
That sucks. I think they should take that money from sponsorship and put it into advertising.

Wait, sponsorship is advertising...
 
Tame Ape

Tame Ape

BUY HOPE!!!!!!!
Mar 4, 2003
2,284
1
NYC
SDH said:
1) single pivot, granted there is some engineering involved, patents do not have to be paid etc so generally engineering costs should be realitively low. CAD time is not that expensive.

2) Made oversees. Granted labor is rising oversees from a cost perspective, but it is still significantly lower than the US.

3) Finish, it is not secret that finish on painted SC is not the best from a wear perspective

4) the only significant cost driver is material these days, but every manufacture must pay these costs........

All of the above translates into a lower cost to manufacture and should equate to a lower retail cost. However, the cost of the frames will still be significant ~$1100-1200 but I believe that is b/c of branding and not cost to manufacture.
Click to expand...
You forgot to include all the custom tubes that go into the new frame. They didn't have to change much within the context of the numbers of the frame, but that tubset is probably 95-100% custom. That sort of 3D modeling and construction isn't cheap.
 
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