VPP doesn't inherently suck.
Every iteration besides the intense and SC dh bikes up to this point, have however sucked
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Next generation Nomad?
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Every iteration besides the intense and SC dh bikes up to this point, have however sucked
unless, of course, you use a custom vpp un-fucker
HOW DARE YOU!?!?VPP doesn't inherently suck.
Every iteration besides the intense and SC dh bikes up to this point, have however sucked
What the hell is that front pivot on the swingarm for?
Looks like someone stuck an I-drive dingle berry in there.
Looks like someone stuck an I-drive dingle berry in there.
Not even all of those. The 951 sucked too.VPP doesn't inherently suck.
Every iteration besides the intense and SC dh bikes up to this point, have however sucked
forgot about that masterpiece 
Okay, and the original v10
RECENT dh bikes for fucks sake
RECENT dh bikes for fucks sake
Made even more hilarious by the fact that they came out with the Evo, which took the worst parts of the original and accentuated them.forgot about that masterpiece
You can't even write that pile off as being ancient history either.
God dammit okay!
The m9. The m fucking 9 rode okay.
The m9. The m fucking 9 rode okay.
that's where all the vpp fuckery happens, only with bushings in 1996 sizing
So did the M6, honestly.
Yes, after she got her extra balls chopped off.
Nothing like that at all.
More like VPP is the band name and the famous one is a horrible person with no redeeming value at all.
But everyone knows the less famous one is way cooler and shouldn't have died in that bus crash, it should have been the drummer because he's a dick. But both technically in the same VPP band.
But they're definitely two very different people because no amount of makeup or playing hot for teacher while she takes her glasses off is going to make a first gen bronson not be a hag.
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...and now we have the next generation Bronson. Looks tasty...and with an aluminum frame only option no less
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/first-ride-the-new-santa-cruz-bronson.html
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/first-ride-the-new-santa-cruz-bronson.html
...and now we have the next generation Bronson. Looks tasty...and with an aluminum frame only option no less
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/first-ride-the-new-santa-cruz-bronson.html
Although, 13.5" BB height is still too high.
Probably a good time to share some impressions after owning a Nomad for a few months and finding most reviews of that bike pretty useless and not really reflecting how the bike actually rides. Bar one or two, the gist of most reviews seemed to be "It's way too much, bike! Why would you even own such a thing if you don't live next to a bikepark?"
After riding it a bunch my conclusions differ quite a bit and I can pretty much echo what kidwoo wrote about the bike last year. This is not some sluggish Super-Enduro / Freeride bike that should only be pedaled up the hill when your shuttle dies, but a long travel trail bike that you can ride every day. I can't even speak to its full downhill capabilities as I haven't taken it to the Alps yet.
My hometrails are short but technical, with terrain that is comparable to the American Northeast. I came off a Giant Trance with 160mm in the back and actually sank some more money into that bike before purchasing the Nomad as I wanted to keep it around as an everyday bike for my local trails and intended to mostly use the Nomad for more downhill focused riding and park days. Turns out I could have saved that money as the Nomad is just so easy to live with every day and noticeably outperforms the Trance even on the climbs. The more appropriate sizing will certainly play a role here (the medium Trance has 430mm of reach compared to the large Nomad’s 460mm for my 5'10 height), but I’d put the improved climbing performance mainly down to the combination of sensible anti squat and leverage values, non-idiotic seat angle and low weight. Even with the relatively big 2,5” WT DHF in the front, this thing is a surprisingly eager and quick climber on both fire roads and technical climbs. There is a prolonged climb to one of my favorite descents that I used to hate. It is on that climb that I decided I no longer wanted to torture myself on my fully coil Reign X and get something lighter and more trail bikey, which ended up being the Trance. With the Nomad I’m noticeably quicker than on both previous bikes and almost enjoy that climb now, and it’s certainly not down to better shape as procreation has cut into my ride time.
As I said above, I can’t even assess the Nomad’s full descending capabilities properly yet, but it’s been really, really good on my local terrain. Very confidence inspiring without feeling like a freighter in the tight stuff. The level of progression feels just right to me with a Float X2 sans any spacers in the back, and no matter where you are in the travel, there is a nice level of resistance when you pump the bike. This is also why i can't agree with the reasoning that this bike will turn any mellower trail into a boring stretch of Autobahn - maybe compared to a hardtail, but certainly not compared your regular 150mm jack of all trades. At slightly less than 30% sag and on trails without major jumps and drops I usually have about 10mm of the 60mm stroke left, which I think is just fine for having something in reserve for the bigger stuff. I can see this working very well with a coil shock as well. I haven’t played with the geometry adjustments yet as working on the lower shock mount isn’t exactly a pleasure. Even without a fully triangulated rear end, the bike is more than stiff enough for my 165 lbs.
So as someone who values his descents but does not own a downhill bike at the moment, this is a great bike for both normal trail riding and park days and I see absolutely no need to own anything else in the 130-180mm category. If I got another non-downhill bike beside the Nomad, it would have to be far closer to the cross country end of the spectrum to make any sense.
TL;DR: climbs surprisingly well.
After riding it a bunch my conclusions differ quite a bit and I can pretty much echo what kidwoo wrote about the bike last year. This is not some sluggish Super-Enduro / Freeride bike that should only be pedaled up the hill when your shuttle dies, but a long travel trail bike that you can ride every day. I can't even speak to its full downhill capabilities as I haven't taken it to the Alps yet.
My hometrails are short but technical, with terrain that is comparable to the American Northeast. I came off a Giant Trance with 160mm in the back and actually sank some more money into that bike before purchasing the Nomad as I wanted to keep it around as an everyday bike for my local trails and intended to mostly use the Nomad for more downhill focused riding and park days. Turns out I could have saved that money as the Nomad is just so easy to live with every day and noticeably outperforms the Trance even on the climbs. The more appropriate sizing will certainly play a role here (the medium Trance has 430mm of reach compared to the large Nomad’s 460mm for my 5'10 height), but I’d put the improved climbing performance mainly down to the combination of sensible anti squat and leverage values, non-idiotic seat angle and low weight. Even with the relatively big 2,5” WT DHF in the front, this thing is a surprisingly eager and quick climber on both fire roads and technical climbs. There is a prolonged climb to one of my favorite descents that I used to hate. It is on that climb that I decided I no longer wanted to torture myself on my fully coil Reign X and get something lighter and more trail bikey, which ended up being the Trance. With the Nomad I’m noticeably quicker than on both previous bikes and almost enjoy that climb now, and it’s certainly not down to better shape as procreation has cut into my ride time.
As I said above, I can’t even assess the Nomad’s full descending capabilities properly yet, but it’s been really, really good on my local terrain. Very confidence inspiring without feeling like a freighter in the tight stuff. The level of progression feels just right to me with a Float X2 sans any spacers in the back, and no matter where you are in the travel, there is a nice level of resistance when you pump the bike. This is also why i can't agree with the reasoning that this bike will turn any mellower trail into a boring stretch of Autobahn - maybe compared to a hardtail, but certainly not compared your regular 150mm jack of all trades. At slightly less than 30% sag and on trails without major jumps and drops I usually have about 10mm of the 60mm stroke left, which I think is just fine for having something in reserve for the bigger stuff. I can see this working very well with a coil shock as well. I haven’t played with the geometry adjustments yet as working on the lower shock mount isn’t exactly a pleasure. Even without a fully triangulated rear end, the bike is more than stiff enough for my 165 lbs.
So as someone who values his descents but does not own a downhill bike at the moment, this is a great bike for both normal trail riding and park days and I see absolutely no need to own anything else in the 130-180mm category. If I got another non-downhill bike beside the Nomad, it would have to be far closer to the cross country end of the spectrum to make any sense.
TL;DR: climbs surprisingly well.
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ummm...ditto!Probably a good time to share some impressions after owning a Nomad for a few months and finding most reviews of that bike pretty useless and not really reflecting how the bike actually rides. Bar one or two, the gist of most reviews seemed to be "It's way too much, bike! Why would you even own such a thing if you don't live next to a bikepark?"
After riding it a bunch my conclusions differ quite a bit and I can pretty much echo what kidwoo wrote about the bike last year. This is not some sluggish Super-Enduro / Freeride bike that should only be pedaled up the hill when your shuttle dies, but a long travel trail bike that you can ride every day. I can't even speak to its full downhill capabilities as I haven't taken it to the Alps yet.
My hometrails are short but technical, with terrain that is comparable to the American Northeast. I came off a Giant Trance with 160mm in the back and actually sank some more money into that bike before purchasing the Nomad as I wanted to keep it around as an everyday bike for my local trails and intended to mostly use the Nomad for more downhill focused riding and park days. Turns out I could have saved that money as the Nomad is just so easy to live with every day and noticeably outperforms the Trance even on the climbs. The more appropriate sizing will certainly play a role here (the medium Trance has 430mm of reach compared to the large Nomad’s 460mm for my 5'10 height), but I’d put the improved climbing performance mainly down to the combination of sensible anti squat and leverage values, non-idiotic seat angle and low weight. Even with the relatively big 2,5” WT DHF in the front, this thing is a surprisingly eager and quick climber on both fire roads and technical climbs. There is a prolonged climb to one of my favorite descents that I used to hate. It is on that climb that I decided I no longer wanted to torture myself on my fully coil Reign X and get something lighter and more trail bikey, which ended up being the Trance. With the Nomad I’m noticeably quicker than on both previous bikes and almost enjoy that climb now, and it’s certainly not down to better shape as procreation has cut into my ride time.
As I said above, I can’t even assess the Nomad’s full descending capabilities properly yet, but it’s been really, really good on my local terrain. Very confidence inspiring without feeling like a freighter in the tight stuff. The level of progression feels just right to me with a Float X2 sans any spacers in the back, and no matter where you are in the travel, there is a nice level of resistance when you pump the bike. This is also why i can't agree with the reasoning that this bike will turn any mellower trail into a boring stretch of Autobahn - maybe compared to a hardtail, but certainly not compared your regular 150mm jack of all trades. At slightly less than 30% sag and on trails without major jumps and drops I usually have about 10mm of the 60mm stroke left, which I think is just fine for having something in reserve for the bigger stuff. I can see this working very well with a coil shock as well. I haven’t played with the geometry adjustments yet as working on the lower shock mount isn’t exactly a pleasure. Even without a fully triangulated rear end, the bike is more than stiff enough for my 165 lbs.
So as someone who values his descents but does not own a downhill bike at the moment, this is a great bike for both normal trail riding and park days and I see absolutely no need to own anything else in the 130-180mm category. If I got another non-downhill bike beside the Nomad, it would have to be far closer to the cross country end of the spectrum to make any sense.
TL;DR: climbs surprisingly well.
Well said Sandro. I find mine to behave in a very similar fashion with the sag set as you describe and set in the 'high steep' position. With the sag increased to 33-35% and set in the 'low slack' position the bike takes on the characteristics of a mini dh sled. And I mean that in the best way possible. I spent a couple weeks in Whistler last year with both my V10 and the Nomad, and reached for the Nomad more often than not. On the machine built stuff; freight train, dirt merchant, etc it felt like cheating. Maintaining speed effortlessly and being so much fun in the air. In the tech up on Garbo it took more focus and commitment, but was plenty capable.
The Nomad is crazy versatile and just plain fun to ride. Nice that SC finally got it right.
The Nomad is crazy versatile and just plain fun to ride. Nice that SC finally got it right.
I'm kind of excited about that new bronson.
New Bronson sure does check a lot of boxes. A lot to like. Imagine the Hightower LT will get the same upgrade suite over next year or three.
Yeah, me too.
Not that I care all that much, but I'm surprised how heavy they are. My Nomad3 is about the same weight @ 31lbs-ish
The thing is, you'd want to put the same parts on a Bronson or a Nomad if you're going to ride either properly, at which point the difference is just frame weight. And turns out, the amount of material you need to make a 150mm bike not explode is about the same as you need for 165.
True, but even the ballerest of baller versions of the bike are still that "heavy".
I'm riding a Marzocchi fork, heavy wheels and tires,etc...all on the lowly "C" version.
Maybe my scale is off and mine is actually 37lbs...
I'd have a hard time deciding between a Bronson and Nomad nowadays.The Bronson is certainly prettier...
28lbs is heavy? I don't think I've ever had a bike that light. Not for more than a day before I kill a wheel or tire at least.
This. I can't figure out how people don't destroy sub-30 lb bikes...
...even with the assploding crabon barzNot HEAVY, but for $12k...
I admit I haven’t taken the time to figure out what components make the difference in their build kits.
I’ll assume the reserve wheel set.
Most of the builds are 30lbs, which is just fine.
But if the seat angle is just fine on the nomad, which allows it to pedal quite well, all the other stuff that’s great about the nomad, why not pick a nomad if there is no weight/performance penalty?
Apart from looks, of course. @jstuhlman’s bike makes his butt look big.
Given the choice between the two, I can’t say I know which id choose...
37 pounds? Holy shit. I thought the Tracer was pudgy at just under 33...
My mid-wheeled aluminum Rallón weights 31 lbs, with no weight weenie setup.
Yup, my L Endorphin is 30.5 lbs with <gasp> air suspension.
All alloy 'cept the crabon bars that will kill me when 'woo gives the word.
No w-weenie parts.
How are these plastic wonder bikes lead-sledding their way to the top end of DH bike weights?
All alloy 'cept the crabon bars that will kill me when 'woo gives the word.
No w-weenie parts.
How are these plastic wonder bikes lead-sledding their way to the top end of DH bike weights?