Santa Cruz Nomad - Review
Santa Cruz's new Nomad created quite a stir when it was introduced earlier this season, and the video accompanying the launch, which had Dylan Wolsky and Iago Garay channeling their inner caballeros and riding horses to the top of a peak in Chile, sparked plenty of good-natured comments, much of it related to the magenta and aqua frame color, a combination not seen since Don Johnson appeared sans socks in Miami Vice. Luckily, for riders who aren't quite ready to be seen on a bike that screams 'look at me', the Nomad is also available in stealth black, and comes with matching fork and shock decals that should help make it easier to fly under the radar.
With 165mm of travel, 27.5” wheels, and a full carbon frame, this bike was designed to excel on the most challenging courses of the Enduro World Series circuit, while at the same time being versatile enough to serve as a daily driver for riders whose terrain tends to be rough and rowdy. Santa Cruz isn't known for skimping on their build kits, and the Nomad we tested checks in at $9995, a hefty sum no matter how you look at it, but by forgoing the high zoot carbon wheels and dropping down to an X01 drivetrain from XX1, that price can be brought down to a slightly less wallet-emptying $6599, and there's also an X1 / SLX equipped version for $5899 USD. Santa Cruz recently updated their build kits for 2015, with Race Face's SixC carbon cranks now available as an option, along with Santa Cruz's own 800mm carbon bar and Palmdale lock-on grips.
Nomad Details
• Intended use: all-mountain / enduro
• Wheel size: 27.5''
• Rear wheel travel: 165mm
• Carbon fiber frame
• VPP suspension
• RockShox Pike RCT3 160mm fork
• RockShox Vivid Air shock
• Sizes: S, M, L, XL
• Colors: magenta / aqua, black
• Weight: 28 lb (size L w/o pedals)
• MSRP: $9995 USD
Frame Design
Work on the revised version of the Nomad actually began before the 150mm Bronson was conceived and released, but Santa Cruz wanted to make sure that the Nomad had a clear purpose, and wasn't just a set of slightly larger wheels slapped onto the previous frame design. Taking into consideration rider feedback and changes in drivetrain technology, the length of the bike's top tube and front center have been increased, and the decision was made to do away with a front derailleur entirely. This allowed for the aluminum lower link of the VPP suspension design to be tucked up even higher into the frame, protecting it from damage and making a lower bottom bracket height more feasible. As far as number go, on paper the Nomad looks ready to take on the burliest terrain around, with a slack, 65 degree head angle, low, 13.4” bottom bracket, and a relatively short 433mm chain stays. It wasn't long ago that these numbers would have been found solely on full-on downhill bikes, and in fact, the new Nomad's geometry numbers are reminiscent of those found on the Iron Horse Sunday. But the DH sleds of years past weighed 40 pounds and weren't meant to be pedaled uphill, while the Nomad tips the scales at 28 pounds and has a 74.2 degree seat angle for a comfortable pedaling position.
 |
 The Nomad's frame is an exercise in aesthetic excellence - internal cable routing where it makes sense, plenty of tire clearance, a threaded BB shell, and a well thought out suspension design. |
Aesthetically, the Nomad is incredibly clean looking – there's no rat's nests of cables, no convoluted rear suspension linkages, just smooth lines that are fitting for a carbon fiber machine of this caliber. Internal cable routing has come back in favor over the past few seasons, since enough time has passed that everyone seems to have forgotten about the headaches that a fashion over function approach can bring mechanics. Luckily, the designers at Santa Cruz remembered, and they have incorporated a continuous carbon tube on the inside of the frame. Simply feed the housing into the top tube opening and it will emerge low on the downtube, eliminating the fiddling about with flashlights and bent spokes that can happens with other internal routing designs. There's even room to mount a regular sized water bottle on the down tube, a nice touch, especially since this is typically a rarity on longer travel bikes.
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| The lower aluminum link has been tucked up and away into the Nomad's carbon frame, providing more ground clearance and allowing for shorter chain stays. |
Suspension Layout
Santa Cruz's VPP suspension design has served them well over the years, receiving praise for its crisp pedalling characteristics, which is thanks to the two counter-rotating links that join the rear swingarm to the front triangle. The suspension layout on the new Nomad isn't drastically different than the previous version; it's mainly the location of the links that has been altered, with the lower link being raised up to provide more ground clearance and shorter chain stays, while the upper link has been shifted slightly backwards to allow for a lower top tube height. The Nomad uses Santa Cruz's collet type axle retention system, a design intended to keep the bearings running smoothly for as long as possible. In addition to being able to adjust the angular contact bearings if any play begins to develop, the lower link, the one exposed to the most possible contaminants, has a grease port that can be used to push old bearing grease out of all four bearings and new grease in.
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 | The Nomad wants to be pushed to the ragged edge, urging you to carry just a little more speed into that steep chute filled with a lattice work of roots, or down that nearly vertical rock face that doesn't seem to ever end. |
Climbing / Fit
With the recent increase in the number of bikes with longer front centers, it makes sense that Santa Cruz has been touting the fact that the new Nomad has an inch more room in the cockpit than the previous version. However, it's worth keeping in mind that Santa Cruz's bikes have traditionally run a little smaller than others, and the size large Nomad's 609.6mm top tube length and 437.8mm reach aren't as extreme as what's found on bikes like the Orbea Rallon or the Kona Process. That's not meant to take anything away from the Nomad's geometry, though, and with a 50mm stem and Race Face's 800mm wide carbon SixC handlebar, the cockpit felt spot on right from the beginning; we didn't need to make any changes to make the bike suit our needs.
The number of all-mountain bikes that are mediocre climbers and excellent descenders keeps growing, and looking at the numbers it'd be easy to lump the Nomad into that category. A bike with such a slack head angle and 165mm of travel isn't going to climb very well, right? Wrong. Even when equipped with the Vivid Air rear shock, which is oriented more towards downhill rather than climbing performance, all it took was adding a few clicks of compression to create a firm enough pedalling platform to resist the forces generated by out of the saddle cranking while still being able to respond to larger impacts. It's the VPP suspension design's pedal-friendly performance combined with the bike's 28 pound weight that makes the Nomad able to keep up with shorter travel trail bikes and then leave them in the dust once gravity takes over. Even on five or six hour outings with 6,000+ vertical feet of climbing, rides with enough pedaling where a trail bike would typically be the machine of choice, the Nomad did just fine, and was definitely worth it on the way back down. Its front end handling might not be the quickest when it comes to slow speed, technical bits of trail, but that never prevented us from being able to get up and over whatever tricky obstacles got in the way. The only small issue we ran into was that the 175mm cranks and the low bottom bracket height meant there were more pedal smacks than usual - we'd recommend that potential customers consider running 170mm cranks in order to save those pedal pins and crank arm ends from encounters with the ground.
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| Whether it's popping over little rollers or hucking off big drops, the Nomad takes the concept of a do-it-all bike to the next level. |
Downhill / Technical Riding
From Nevados de Chillan, Chile, to Whistler, British Columbia, our Nomad saw action in three countries and two continents over the course of the testing period. No matter whether it was pounding through dusty, volcanic soil or skidding through muddy piles of pine needles, the Nomad never missed a beat, consistently leaving us floored by its capabilities. We've mentioned multiple times how much fun shorter travel bikes can be, but there's still something to be said about having that extra bit of travel to really let you peg the fun-o-meter in steep, technical terrain. The Nomad has the feeling of a big bike, in that it can be ridden full speed into the roughest sections of trail and come out none the worse for wear on the other side, but it also has a nimbleness to it that you wouldn't typically expect from a bike with this much travel. It's a bike that wants to be pushed to the ragged edge, urging you to carry just a little more speed into that steep chute filled with a lattice work of roots, or down that nearly vertical rock face that doesn't seem to ever end. All manner of drops and jumps were handled without any trouble, and the Nomad's light weight made it easy to carry speed and pop over tricky gaps that usually take a full speed sprint to clear.
As adept as it is monster trucking down the trail in a straight line and lofting skyward off of the lip of a jump, the Nomad is quick through the corners as well, with no wallowing or feelings of sluggishness, just a satisfying forward surge when you power down on the pedals to accelerate out of a turn. That blend of quick acceleration and the ability to smooth out rough trails is what makes the Nomad stand out from the crowd - it's no one trick pony, and is just as capable on a smooth jump line as it is on the most heinously steep and rough portions of trail.
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| It doesn't get much better than this. Roosting loam aboard the Nomad deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. |
Component Check
• RockShox Vivid Air: We chose to go with the Vivid Air on our test bike, since it better matched our plans to take the Nomad onto the wildest terrain we could find. The small bump sensitivity and controlled stroke of the Vivid Air is excellent, good enough that we found ourselves wishing that more bikes (even trail bikes) came equipped with this shock. The highest praise for an air shock is usually “It feels like a coil shock,” but in the case of the Vivid Air, it feels even better, with a liveliness that makes it easy to preload and get airborne, while still maintaining the supple, bottomless feel to take the edge off harsh landings.
• ENVE M70 Wheels: At $2700 per set ($999 for each rim), the M70s are a large part of the reason why our test Nomad's asking price is situated in the stratosphere. On the trail, the M70's are as stiff, light, and responsive as ENVE claims, but they're not flawless. After hitting a small stepdown and landing into a rooty section of trail, the rim's sidewall cracked the whole way through with a loud 'snap' and a belch of Stan's fluid. The landing itself wasn't the smoothest, but it also wasn't hard enough that we would have even expected a flat tire, let alone a cracked rim. We spoke to ENVE, and they said they had determined that the stiffness of the spokes, DT Swiss Competitions, was causing more stress than the rim could handle under certain situations. We sent the wheels back to ENVE's Utah manufacturing facility, and they were returned laced up with DT Swiss's bladed Aerolite spokes. According to ENVE, once the issue was discovered, "We set out to find a solution immediately and ultimately made improvements in a running change to accommodate the added stiffness of the Competition spoke. The end result is a wheel that exceeds the performance criteria we’d established prior to the launch of the M-Series." We haven't run into any other structural problems on the new set of wheels, even after hitting the same small drop that did in the original set, plus countless other hard landings and rough trails.
It's also worth mentioning that the M70 wheels can't be trued without taking off the tire and rim strip, which is less than convenient, especially if you've set them up tubeless. ENVE says that using an internal nipple "produces a more consistent build, and a stronger structure. This process yields a superior build quality and virtually eliminates the need to true the wheel assuming the builder does a thorough and quality build." In the end, carbon wheels continue to be heralded as 'the next big thing,' but it's still a tough sell – the cost just doesn't seem to match the benefits, and if you're going to spend close to $3k on a set of wheels it'd be nice to at least be able to true them without taking off the tire. That being said, ENVE's wheels do come with a five year warranty and a lifetime crash replacement program, so it's not as if customers would be left high and dry if they ran into any issues.
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| The Nomad's cockpit is dialed in, as is the Vivid Air shock, but the ENVE wheels left us less than impressed. |
• Race Face SixC 35mm handlebar, Atlas stem: There's usually something we can mention about the handlebar, stem, dropper post or brakes on a test bike that could be done better, since it's difficult to get all of the little details correct, but not on the Nomad. Race Face's stiff and wide SixC bar mounted to a 50mm Atlas stem, and the RockShox Reverb dropper post remote under the bar on the left hand side are exactly what should be found on the front end of a bike like this.
• SRAM XX1 rear derailleur: We didn't have any troubles with the shifting performance of the XX1 rear derailleur, but it did develop a nasty creak that took a full disassembly and rebuild to chase away. Our bike did see rather harsh testing conditions, but it still seemed like the creaking developed sooner than we would have liked.
Pinkbike's take:
| Santa Cruz has hit a home run with the new Nomad, blending big hit capabilities with excellent pedaling performance to create a bike that raises the bar in the all-mountain category. Of course, with our test bike ringing in at nearly $10k you would expect this type of top tier performance, but a good portion of that expense comes from the carbon wheels, which aren't a necessity to enjoy the Nomad's impeccable trail manners. The Nomad is a bike that would have been a daydream only a few years ago, when the technology didn't exist to create a 28 pound bike with 165mm of travel. Luckily, those dreams have come true, and the reality is even better than anyone could have imagined. This is a bike from the future, except that it's available now. - Mike Kazimer |
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Waiting for Ambatt to chime in with some angry and irrational reply..
Like the article says "the cost just doesn't seem to match the benefits"
Enough said.
While I am no wheel building expert, I do know marketing and PR quite well and this wreaks of a "distraction of the truth".. That being said, they will probably have no recall or running change for that matter, because it has nothing to do with the spoke tension....\
@manchvegas - I have the same LB chinese carbon rims, take a look at my album and see a carbon rim that was destroyed and SENT ME TO THE HOSPITAL at the first stage of the BME in Snowmass last week. I like LB rims and I have never had issues with them until now, but I can tell you that I have lost some faith in LB and their product after that and I wasnt even jumping the bike...
Hope EVO Hubs: $300
Derby CF rims: $660
Sapim X-Ray Spokes: $150
That's a damn nice wide carbon wheelset comparable to the Enves in every way for about $1100. Thats just a bit more than ONE Enve RIM. And with this build, you don't have to remove the tire and tape to true it.
Enves warranty sound great. But at that price, you could buy TWO sets of the above and still have $800. Maybe even spend some if that cash on a set of Enve deals.
I cant imagine dropping 3ft and have my $2700 wheelset blow apart ! hahahaha what a joke
It's like having your balls on your knees!
For me, wheels are a consumeable.
But the marketing seems to work.
I know I've built 100s of wheelsets using DT Swiss Comps and never had a rim fail that way for any of my customers?
I often hear how "stiff" a CF rim is reported to be, which concerns me as an experienced wheel builder because a wheel is the sum of all its parts
good wheels rely on 'flexure' to absorb impacts as the wheel as an overall structure is well balanced, and very dynamic when experiencing loads put into the wheel structure
any weakness in one of these parts (hub, spoke, nipple, rim) or a badly balanced wheel will cause a failure, even in normal use
if an overaly stiff rim requires more flexible spokes to maintain a sustainable structure, the rim designers have gotten their calculations very wrong, or are using the wrong material for the application?
"Make sure you do this, and this, and this, and THEN your big dollar 'investment' might actually depreciate slower than stock in Zynga."
youtu.be/1Dlsi1N7kPY
www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/article/fort-william-mtb-world-cup-downhill-pits-gallery-41274
Jason Marsh was uniquely lacing the spoke to help with flex in the wheel. Carbon rims are exceptionally stiff, which has both pros and cons, so adding some flex in the spokes can help balance it out - some flex is a welcome attribute on rough courses such as Fort William. So??
Does it means there's no exact way tp handle your enve rim??
Guess hope pro II and Flow EX all the way..
Since the wheels first made their way onto the Syndicate’s rigs they’ve undergone major revisions, both in terms of profile and material. During the 2010 season, the Syndicate’s first on the carbon rims, they replaced 53 wheels, which was down from a reported 180 wheels per season when the team was on alloy. In 2011, the team had to replace just 11 wheels.
Over both seasons, ENVE say there wasn’t a single catastrophic failure. “It was only eight up until the world champs,” Jason Schiers, ENVE’s founder told BikeRadar. “We were hoping to keep it under double digits for the year, which would have been huge. Steve Peat raced the same set of wheels all year long, which was unheard of [he used a separate set of practice wheels].”
www.vitalmtb.com/product/guide/Wheelsets,44/Enve/M70-Thirty,14694
Back on good old alloy rims now!
They didn't, however offer any increase in performance, or speed on the bike. I'm sure, as and when the Syndicate riders switch teams, or drop Enve as a sponsor, we won't all of a sudden see people's results drop accordingly
All of these points make them a winner in my book.
As for wc racers being quick on anything well look at Gwin,top 10 women's time with no tyre,but does that mean we should now see racing without tyres? It's all about little advantages and advancing the sport.
Carbon rims have proved themselves and I'm obviously a fan,doesn't mean everyone will be,but I'd bet most given the choice would pick carbon over alloy nowadays.
For that money, I'd fly over, buy one new, ride it in the US for a week and return home with my used bike, save on shipping, import duty and vat.
Not only that, it weighs 15 lbs less than the bike I used to push to the top of DH trails. That means getting to the top quicker and less exhausted. That means more laps. That's what it's all about.
You can stick your Enve wheels up your ass as well. Oxidising nipples. Spoke issues. Cracks. Failures. Just stop eating pies rich folk and enjoy the ride, not the push home.
Bi metalic corrosions issues with carbon wheels?.
Companies weren't giving you options before, now you can choose three different wheelsizes....
Moving on, I demoed a bike with ENVE AM wheels last year. yeah, they felt great, but not $2500 (now $3000) great. I have yet to meet a wheel builder that wasn't leery of the internal nipples. Sure, ENVE says it adds strength, blah, blah, blah however you are f#*ked if you go out of true trailside. This happens more than ENVE would have us believe. My money will go to either a set of Industry-Nine Torch wheels which are massively stiff, same weight, better hubs, less drama to repair them, local in NC and less than half the price or custom built Derbys. Party.
I'd love a yt Capra and have a friend in an EU country to ship to but the availability is too long a wait.
On Enve wheels, I have them and like them but broke 3 no name carbon rims before them so I'm kinda psychological scared re carbon rims, should have gone Stans flow again, if break an Enve I will, a set of Stans with hope hubs is cheaper than one Enve crash replacement wheel build without the mind f#*k.
I think it is great that ENVE backs up their confidence with a great warranty and crash replacement and I think their wheels are awesome, but lets be real, no one likes to wait to have to ship out your wheels and have to sit and wait for them to come back to ride again.
Either ENVE keeps on getting bad luck on pinkbike reviews or they are not what they claim to be. Thoughts fellow pinkbikers?
As the Canadians would say "Hyeah, right..."
www.mtb-news.de/news/2014/03/19/intense-tracer-t275-carbon-test-review
fotos.mtb-news.de/p/1586461
like... at least 2/3 of the reviews should contain bikes that are under 3500USD.
not always bikes were i start reading and when i saw the price tag i stop reading and just look at the pictures and then skip...
i think carbon is still a viable material for rims and in some cases superior to aluminum. and i also feel that Enve is at the top of the manufacturer list of carbon rims. they're not infallible, but i do think they back their products. i've had no ill experiences with their customer service. i own the 1st gen 27.5 AM rims, and i've beat the crap out of them. cased square edge rocks on low tire pressure, shove my wheel into more bombholes and sketch ruts than i can count. now i'm not hitting WC/Pro dh speeds but i've done some pretty bone-headed moves and these wheels have just shrugged them off.
i trust them. Did the Enves take a big chunk out of my wallet? Yup Are they gonna break sometime in the future? yup. Would i buy them again? Abso-fcuking-lutely.
Good for you for being able to buy Enves, and being able to buy more when that set breaks. Must be nice to have that kind of cash to splash around. But don't try to convince the rest of us that they're worth it.
I'm one of those people who could buy a set, but I'm too cheap and feel the performance versus cost doesn't jive. I'll just ride my stan/hope setup and marvel at the 2k left in my account. I'm lucky enough to have a couple MTBs that are worth more than my car, but it goes back to being responsible and affording nice things because of wise financial decisions. I've ridden them and think they're worth $1,000ish for a 29er but I don't think I'd ride a set on my 26" bike unless I could get them for $800 or so with decent hubs.
I still laugh at all of these people marketing "affordable" bikes costing 3k and these wheels costing $2800. To each their own, though.
It amazes me that people are vain enough to buy their (ENVE) products, but I guess there is a market for it... Heck people buy super cars for normal road use. One thing is for sure... The ENVE marketing team deserve a raise because the business is still running.
As a side note, I really hope YT successfully shake the industry. It needs it to grow.
As a responsible, money saving adult with a family to provide for I can think of better, more responsible things to do than buy a wheel set worth more than my bike, and hope it doesn't break. I've read about way more failures than the two Pinkbike reviews...
I'm not rich... I work...
I've sold two 26" bikes I built up cheaply from used frames in the past that were getting no ride time and are putting any spare cash I have into building this new Nomad....
Just looking forward to getting out on the trails with it soon!
They were three rides old and were sent back to the UK distributor. They took all week to respond and then said that it was crash damage and I could pay half price for a replacement.... Thanks, that's only £400 plus the rebuild cost !! Luckily I had the whole thing on my gopro and sent them the video of the exact moment and terrain I was riding when it broke, they still wanted my money under the crash replacement scheme.
I have never been so angry and ended up having to rely on Tweek cycles where I bought them to deal with Enve direct in America. They were both brilliant and it was rebuilt and replaced under warranty. I had no bike in the middle of summer for 4 weeks and spent almost everyday on the phone and emailing.
I sold then straight after at a considerable loss.... Lesson learnt.
The prices below are in Canadian dollars.
Yt capra pro is $5839.71
Similar specced Santa Cruz Nomad is $6599
My apologies
10k good joke. I can buy a DH rig and a carbon enduro rig at YT for that price
I bought a wicked ltd off yt last year so here's my two cent.
If you can afford to then pay on a credit card then do, as if your selling your bike to pay you might be bikeless for a very long time while you wait for it to turn up.
Be mindful that your warrenty is basically 'send back to Germany and wait' and that applies to all the components as well (ie BOS suspension).
I don't know if the Capra is different but the build quality of the frame isn't as good as your boutique brands, the paint flaked off my rocker link quite badly.
Before I thought Nomad would be the winner with no chances to others.
After – I don’t know.
I don’t like 29er, so Enduro 29 is not for me.
If I try to think about ride quality - Nomad wins. If I don’t think but ride - I like Enduro 26 more.
I am strange)
To be honest the WTB ST i23 wheelset seems more than legit enough.
Buying a nomad at £4k with an SLX / X1 setup is more than enough component check for most riders i'd imagine.
More upto a XO1 / XX1 gets insanely expensive to service as well.
Compared to a high end 26" 150mm trail bike, this bike rils up and down. Period.
Previously you had folks like Canyon which maybe was dead cheap, but to this day has a messed up geo and quality issues. They used to be fugly to top it all. YT is a different, new breed. Spot on Geo and authentic price. Their bikes aren't made in any different way than the ones of the top dogs. This is just going for way too long. A Giant XTC hardtail aluminium frame made for less than 10$ and sold for 300$... the more someone tries to reason it, explaining the whole chain of getting the product from production line to clients hands, the more delusional he is.
Aside from that, I still want one. I'd love to see a DVO Jade option too.
I salute SC for their frames layouts for setting up a bike, the most straight forward build for me. Why IS in the rear? because I stripped the PM threads on my frame and now I need a descent fix or a new rear triangle with IS I would only need just a new adaptor. I prefer an extra adaptor than damaging a 1000$ part of a frame and the existence of a disc brake adaptor or not is not my definition of a clean build, by bike is always dirty anyway. With SC I can choose the BB's that I want and not some cheap plastic adaptors to fit my shimano cranks & the headsets I prefer. IMO SC makes he right choices in their lay outs out there, nice & easy.
Half (if not all) of the bikers have eventually damaged their threads in someplace on their bikes sometime. All I am saying is that IS is less prone to damage.
I am buying and building used frames like yourself - as you stated- so it seems that the previous owner of my frame .. was hitten by a car, wouldn't be nicer if there was a pedestrian bridge to cross??
Sorry, no hard feelings, I got inspired by your tone
Also a point often missed is that by buying cheap from another country you aren't covered by service centres in your country. Why would a UK BOS suspension importer want anything to do with a faulty pair of forks attached to a bike you bought direct from Germany, same goes for SRAM UK service centre.
Im all for cheaper bikes but LBS already have to deal impossible competition from the likes of CRC/Merlin etc on parts so once you take bikes sales away as well then they aren't left with much.
The other thing that annoys me is that people just see the price difference and assume that SC etc are just ripping them off, what they often fail to realise is where that the extra cost goes. It helps to pay for Demo bikes so people can try before they buy, reps that travel up and down the country dealing with shops for customers, having frames bikes in stores so people can go and have a look before they lay out large sums of money etc etc.
Santa Cruz are ripping us off in that their frames are made in China in large quantities and I am led to believe cost less than $300 American to actually make. The difference between UK and US prices is tax. Well blame yourself or your parents for voting for the commie wannabes that have been in power since whenever if you're in the UK.
I can't see LBSs surviving and frankly it's unavoidable. It would be good to keep them open, but I care more about my bank account than theirs... nuff said. I can fix my own bike and the local shops rarely have what I want at the price I want so there you go.
geometrywise theres is not much difference:
WS S WB CS BB HA SA TTL SH REACH STACK
Nomad 27,5 M 1170 433 340 65 74,2 584 725 415 600
Bronson 27,5 M 1139 439 346 67 73 584 731 403 594
just a little slacker, and a little more capable of the rough stuff? ok, 2 degree less headangle is a message, but 67 aint bad (sb66c, enduro, process).
I`m undecided - plus the new bronson colors look good too
If you had a nomad and a dh, you'd probably sell the dh.
And, many nomad owners will likley have another xc bike for fitness rides.
The bro is enough for most, but isn't gna feel like a mini dh bike on dh tracks.
At this point, seeing the success of all these German online retailers, I'm surprised no one is planning on starting up the same business in America. If all Americans who say they'd buy the Capra, buy a similar bike in his country, that sort of business would be a success for sure.
Anyway, we have some of that kind of thing here, but it's not geared towards AM/DH riding usually. And bike shops hate you if you bring them in.
This is a very good bike, anyone who can tell the difference between 650 and 26 in a double blind test must be spiderman with a spider-sense.
Also, the enduro 29er simply handled better. A well built 29er makes 650b pointless. The Enduro 29er did just as good in the rough and steep, but gripped better even though it had small, faster-rolling tires than the Nomad. This was especially true in the loose and steep, and big, banked turns. It struggled on some of PCMR's smooth, tight switchbacks compared to the nomad, but who cares about switchbacks?
If you're going to divorce your wife so you can buy a $10k bike, the enduro 29er is better in my opinion. It handles so well that it makes 650 just pointless.
Note: I rode Lower Empire, Moose, and Redbull, all off Cresent
However, they already have a very similar, seriously good bike that comes in at half the price of the SLX kit, and it has the SLX kit too.
The Bronson is going to be the biggest competitor to this bike, because it can be purchased at $3500.
There is no way that a nomad is worth twice the price of the Bronson .
Although I could never ride this bike, my legs aren't strong enough for a one -by set up.
Also hopefully by that time Shimano will have pulled its head out of its @ss and will have XT and SLX 1x11 drivetrains to compete with SRAM's offerings.
Santa cruz aren't the only company undersizing bikes. Treks come up really short too in my experience.
Some people might be OK with a shorter top tube but personally I like having a long enough reach that I'm not sat bolt upright like a granny heading down to the shops without having to run a long stem.
Ya at 6'2" sc/intense larges too cramped (modern bikes shld fit w/55or less stem), and the xl usually too long as they're for 6'3"+.
I'm waiting for the slash carbon, altho slash al is pretty light.
If you compare Nomad's geometry for example with Kona Process, GT Sanction, Lapierre, Canyon Strive etc you instantly notice that SC's are "one size smaller". Of course choosing frame size is always a question of personal preference and body measurements. Capra is actually pretty close to Nomad in the geometry.
My bike is 99% as good as that bike, but I built it up for half the cost by searching for deals and including some used parts (including some bought here on PB). If you can do your own maintenance and builds, it's not that hard.
People always freak out about retail prices, but you could find a deal on the same bike for a fraction of the cost. Unless you need the newest, most hyped bike immediately after its released, why worry about retail? Most people will get the same shit for far less.
onze familie verhuisde naar Seattle! grote bergen hier
BTW, those Enve rims are the silliest way to burn money. For that price you can get a decent set of tougher wheels and a boat.
The Nomad is such a sick bike!
that's the small bike when I win the lotto, until then I'l keep dreaming!
(not sure about them wheels tho)
I half expected their BS "Never had a failure before."
www.last-bikes.com/products/complete-bikes/herb-160-sl-2014-2.html
or this
www.last-bikes.com/products/complete-bikes/herb-180-sl-2014.html
Nomad is no where near as exclusive either if thats important to you....
www.mtb-downhill.net/video-carbon-vs-aluminium-test-santacruz-bicycles
Save your money and spend it wisely, don't waste it on drugs, alcohol or cigarettes. I don't see this as a bad investment, as it ISN'T an investment, it's a part of my life that I very much enjoy, it keeps me fit, healthy and sane, I enjoy riding expensive bikes, so I ride more often and get more health benefits.
My real MTB first bike 20 years ago was a $700 Giant ATX hardtail that I saved for a year for, hopefully the Nomad when it finally turns up crates as many happy memories as that old Giant did.
My other favourite Connolly quote that applies really well to MTB is "there is no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes"
3.bp.blogspot.com/-83Ty551qM70/Uzs9rM4uwuI/AAAAAAAASZg/0jb1eLZkoIw/s1600/Santa+Cruz+Nomad+III+2015_LevRatio.gif
What if you ride hard and like strong wheels?
Hidden nipples is bullshit. Alloy nipples are bullshit.
Weak flexy bladed spokes are also bullshit.
Total rip off.
Strange they never mentioned the fact that most people are riding around with nearly seized pivots on these bikes since nobody understands how sense rice sc's pivot situation is to pivot axle over torquing.
Which everyone does to their sc pivots.
What happened to the classic no fail
Bearing/sleeve/bearing tag green as hard as you want pivot design?
Oh yeah. In the bike biz. More complicated and more likely to fail is better cuz it saves you a meaningless amount of weight.
Carry on idiots
But yeah. Proofreading is cool.
Ya so sorry about the auto correct situation
You guys are stupid.
You might feel a little different then. BTW - when you get there, make sure you give some of your surplus to Evergreen, WTA and all the other great groups out there. If you talk to those folks - I am sure they are very grateful and appreciative of those "d-bags" you are hating on who are major supporters of the groups that help build and maintain the trails you love to ride.
Hey, and just lighten up and have fun - we are all here to ride and have fun..
I am there! My 401K is very happy, I give to local causes (I'm a member of WTA, WWTA, and Evergreen) and I just bought a new house with over 20% down. And guess what? I still wouldn't even consider buying a 10K bike that will be yesterdays news before the sun sets. If you're idea of buying the nicest of something is to just buy the most expensive of something, then that's treading into d-bag territory.
Also, I'm not bitter nor jealous, but it does make me a little sad when someone drives a Porsche that will never see a track and over spends just to compensate.
And I agree - we are all here to ride and have fun.
Only a douche bag would think like that?
I like Ferrari's... I'm glad someone can afford those cars or they would cease to exsist!
What a sad world that would be... We only make things that everyone can afford???
Make no mistake, I'm sure this is an outstanding bike, but I'll wait for it to show up on E-Bay (ridden twice) for 5K
That says more about who you are, than who they are... :- /
Besides that, SC have discontinued the 26" Nomad and have not produced an alloy version of the latest frame.
So if you want to move into the 27.5" domain, which is clearly going to be the norm in the future of MTB frames and you want a SC Nomad, you will be buying this bike regardless...
I'm far from sad about my new frame and you won't find mine on eBay