Official press release from the site that shows Canada's true colors, stinkbike:
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/santa-cruz-driver-8-2009.html
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/santa-cruz-driver-8-2009.html
Press release of Driver 8
- Thread starter boogenman
- Start date
I dunno, they say it's designed to get thrashed at whistler but it has a carbon link. Last year it was stated as fact by ridemonkey's sophomore engineering class that the carbon link was a bad idea and it was guaranteed to break . . . oh wait, never mind.
Pfft... Front mechs are overrated. None of my bikes have had one for the last 10 years.
The same people who are going to complain about a front derailleur probably still have the seat tilted back on their trail bike and would walk any challenging climb anyway.
Come ride with me, my do all bike, and without a front derailer.
You wouldnt have much fun.My version of a do all bike has to have a front derailer. We have to get to the top of our trails. I rigged up a front derailer on my Socom even.
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Hammerschmidt! 
Its a pretty slick looking bike, Id rock it!
Its a pretty slick looking bike, Id rock it!
Now you are talking.Hammerschmidt!
Its a pretty slick looking bike, Id rock it!
Its suspension isn't designed around a granny ringHammerschmidt!
Its a pretty slick looking bike, Id rock it!
Can I use the Truvativ Hammerschmidt on the Driver 8?
Yes, it is Hammerschmidt compatible. Unfortunately, pedaling performance with the hammerschmidt will be compromised a bit, as the Driver 8 is designed around a 36-40t chainring, but this will bother some people more than others. This may be a good option for riders climbing up smooth fire roads and descending steep downhill trails from there, or some similar situation. In general, if you are sensitive to how a bike behaves under pedaling, you probably won't like it. If you just want to get up a hill, and don't care what it feels like, give it a try.
Yes, it is Hammerschmidt compatible. Unfortunately, pedaling performance with the hammerschmidt will be compromised a bit, as the Driver 8 is designed around a 36-40t chainring, but this will bother some people more than others. This may be a good option for riders climbing up smooth fire roads and descending steep downhill trails from there, or some similar situation. In general, if you are sensitive to how a bike behaves under pedaling, you probably won't like it. If you just want to get up a hill, and don't care what it feels like, give it a try.
Have a machined 36th ring to fit the hammerschmidt and remove the one in it! A gide can be moved backwards to allow for the chain to go in. Chris and I have been going over this for the Jedis for a couple of months and hes got a guy thatll machine a new ring to fit. Bump up to a 34th to get it close enough to react right.Its suspension isn't designed around a granny ring
Wouldn't that be a 36t small ring then?? IE the ring size of hamme**** is the small ring equiv??
Theres 1 drive ring that the chain goes around the rest is internal. The ring the chain goes over is like 22 or 24 tooth. 36 is a middle ring! Have a bigger ring equivelant to a 34th and have the internal specss the same so it can replace the small ring.
why not just get an 11-25 road cassete instead of fycking with the hammerssh!t technology????
Yeah? I dunno man, if require gearing smaller than what's on my bike, then pushing is usually just as fast.Come ride with me, my do all bike, and without a front derailer.
Front deraileurs are overrated.
How are those two things even close to substitutes for each other?
Pushing on steep fire roads for 5-10 miles is not fun. Id rather be in a granny or 2 or 3.
Yeah I, like Toodles havn't run a front mech on any bike for ten years, but we don't ride up five mile hills.
The reason they're talking about changing the Hamerschmitd gearing is to change the chain output position so it has the chain line the bike's designed for, not to change the gearing for gearings sake.
The reason they're talking about changing the Hamerschmitd gearing is to change the chain output position so it has the chain line the bike's designed for, not to change the gearing for gearings sake.
i like how the driver 8 release has become a front mech battle...push or get the schmidt...i like this bike
More importantly, where in the hell are the bottle cage mounts? 
i really like this bike, never was a fan of the huge v10 cuz u sunk so much i like flicky bikes close geo. as the giant glory too.
here's the prototype with hammerschmidt on it.
Uh, it doesn't work that way. There is no reduction gear. If you put a physically 34t ring on that thing you'll have a 34t and a 52t equivalent.
I dig it. I wish i knew when it was coming out, I'm in the throes of picking out a new frame and this kind of fits the bill.
Can anybody comment as to how this compares to the socom, for curiousity's sake?
Can anybody comment as to how this compares to the socom, for curiousity's sake?
Has anyone peeked at the geometry numbers?
67*HA, 14.5 BBH, 17.4 CS.
Sounds a little funky to me. I completely understand not running a super slack HA and retarded low BB (though I wish they would), but numbers like that equate into a bike that is good pretty much nowhere. Twitchy at speed and top heavy when cornering hard means high speed won't be as fun as it could be. Longer CS means riding tight shore style trails won't be too fun, either.
It looks like a real cool setup, but numbers like a Socom would be much more justifiable than those.
67*HA, 14.5 BBH, 17.4 CS.
Sounds a little funky to me. I completely understand not running a super slack HA and retarded low BB (though I wish they would), but numbers like that equate into a bike that is good pretty much nowhere. Twitchy at speed and top heavy when cornering hard means high speed won't be as fun as it could be. Longer CS means riding tight shore style trails won't be too fun, either.
It looks like a real cool setup, but numbers like a Socom would be much more justifiable than those.
My glory 0 had a 67 degree HA, 14.5BB, and a 17.5 CS, and I ran a 36x11-32 and could climb just about anything. It was a slight detriment in super steep sections, but it was pretty easy to move around through technical sections, and it did everything at northstar very well, if not necessarily excelling on livewire or karpiel. It also worked well at my local "FR" spots that I'd shuttle about 3/4 of the time, pedal the rest, as well as an occasional "XC huck" ride.
It didn't excel at pure DH, there are better bikes for jumping, there are better bikes for XC, but there weren't really many bikes that could do everything as well. It was much more stable and less twitchy then a reign X, SS, nomad, etc on the DH's - it felt much more firm, planted, and tracked a lot better. I like the idea, it was a great bike. Of course, now I'm on a bike with a longer WB, a 13.8 BB 17.1 CS, and a 65 degree HA so I guess if were talking where my money is...
It didn't excel at pure DH, there are better bikes for jumping, there are better bikes for XC, but there weren't really many bikes that could do everything as well. It was much more stable and less twitchy then a reign X, SS, nomad, etc on the DH's - it felt much more firm, planted, and tracked a lot better. I like the idea, it was a great bike. Of course, now I'm on a bike with a longer WB, a 13.8 BB 17.1 CS, and a 65 degree HA so I guess if were talking where my money is...
Have to agree in many ways...I'm a huge SC homer, but I was just thinking about a Mongoose Pinn'r and how it compares...The Pinn'r has a 66* and 13.9" BB and 190 mm of rear travel. I would even guess that the frame is a little lighter, but not sure. Also not sure about what fork the Pinn'r is measured with, but it's something like a Totem or 66. That said, I suspect SC won't have any trouble selling everyone they make.
As for the V-10, it gets pretty low when sagged out at 40% (or more), but I wouldn't think the Driver would need that much sag (and thus still be a little on the high side).
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Again, classic ridemonkey example of reading more into the numbers then into the ride itself.
Numbers don't always tell the story. If you go strictly by the numbers, the Large Glory was unridable by anyone under 6'7, but that was not the case at all.
Numbers don't always tell the story. If you go strictly by the numbers, the Large Glory was unridable by anyone under 6'7, but that was not the case at all.
so a typical 3" of sag would put the driver 8's HA and BB to what... ?
surely the pulley on your jedi cancels the need to modify the hammershmidt chainrings
something SRAM may want to think about in future is having the h/shmidt chainguide set so it guides the chain onto the ring from a higher position than the chainring.. so its more compatible with the majority of frames out there
It's not like I am evaluating leverage curves, wheelpaths, pedalling/braking performance, etc. This is purely handling characteristics based on experience with other rigs.
I can estimate the dynamic numbers of that bike with about the suggested sag, then use those numbers to compare to other rigs I've ridden and enjoyed, or despised. That is the point of posting numbers - boss. It is an indication of about how the bike will handle compared to others on the market. This bike will steer more quickly than an 8" bike with 65* HA. BB height is more difficult to speculate ride characteristics, but I do know that this bike will not sit as deep into turns as others w/ lower static BB heights and 8" travel.
I like SantaCruz and I think they build great bikes, I just don't think the geo of this rig is as modern as it could be if they're marketing it as a daily duty DHer/DHinfluenced FR bike.
Wow. I am as big an internerd as a lot of you but some of this is really ridiculous.
SCB is not claiming this is a "do it all" bike. The press release is pretty clear it'll shine as a gravity/park bike, with slightly snappier handling and nothing more than the limited ability to get you up a climb a little better than a regular DH bike. Knock yourselves out trying to categorize it if you want.
And as for hammerschmidt, I can only imagine the reaction here if the suspension layout was optimized for peak performance in the granny ring.
SCB is not claiming this is a "do it all" bike. The press release is pretty clear it'll shine as a gravity/park bike, with slightly snappier handling and nothing more than the limited ability to get you up a climb a little better than a regular DH bike. Knock yourselves out trying to categorize it if you want.
And as for hammerschmidt, I can only imagine the reaction here if the suspension layout was optimized for peak performance in the granny ring.
ha ha hilarious! :biggrin:
I see they are offering it with a fox dhx rc4 upgrade. Anyone have any insight on that shock?
Frame is 10.5 lbs with shock.
Frame is 10.5 lbs with shock.
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