Source: Santa Cruz Bikes Here's our new bike. We call it the Driver 8.
It has 8 inches of next-generation VPP rear wheel travel. It also has enough room to raise or lower the seat through a 7-inch range. It's got a 1.5" head tube, an 83mm wide bb with ISCG05 mounts and 150mm rear spacing with a Maxle thru-axle. So, just what kind of bike is it supposed to be?We designed the Driver 8 to be a general duty, daily driver gravity hauler. It is a super tough, super versatile bike that is ideal for life at Whistler. It's a damn good long travel high speed trail bike (Wait, is that freeriding, or all-mountain high speed trail riding? What about low speed, sphincter pinching gnarl? Does it speak with a Canadian accent? Man, this gets confusing...)
12mm Maxle rear thru-axle
12mm Maxle rear thru-axle
83mm bottom bracket with ISCG 05 mounts
Anyway, it's a kickass park bike, more lively and poppable and jumpable than the V-10. And it is also a very handy downhill race bike, probably a better race choice for most riders who aren't World Cup pros on most courses that aren't World Cup courses. But it can still plow through big rocks and huge drops with the best of them. 8 inches of travel is still a whole lot of cushion for the pushin'...
8" of next-generation VPP travel
Mud flap shock cover
Mud flap shock cover
When the seat is slammed all the way down (7 inches of up and down adjustability, remember?), it is in a similar fore/aft location to the seat on a V-10, but can be run even lower. However, due to the angle of the seat mast, when the seat is raised up as far as it will go, the pedaling position is about the same as that of the Nomad, which is a pretty good location to kick at the cranks and point a bike uphill.
7 inches of up and down seat adjustability
With regard to that "general duty, daily driver" comment, we've gone heavy duty with the VPP links. The upper link is carbon fiber, insanely strong, and pivots on four beefy radial contact sealed cartridge bearings. The lower link gets grease ports for easy service, huge 15mm pivot axles with the same trick locking collet head feature as the Blur LT, Nomad and new Blur XC, and it swings on EIGHT angular contact bearings. All bearing sets, top and bottom, are encased in a further set of lip seals and labyrinth washers to further combat the ingress of dirt. The bike comes with its own grease gun, and you won't need a personal mechanic to deal with any of that.
Carbon fiber upper link with 4 radial contact sealed bearings
Easy service grease ports
You can call it a freeride bike, if you're into that. You can call it a park bike. You can call it a downhill bike. It can do all that, and more. We're sticking to our guns. We call it the Driver 8.
-$2399 US MSRP, powdercoat frame w/RockShox Vivid 5.1
-$2561 US MSRP w/Fox DHX RC4
-(add $200 for anodized finish)
Click here for full geometry details Available to customers mid-May, 2009, in all the usual powder coat colors as well as an anodized, as yet to be named, sort of golden color.
*Accepting orders for FRAMESETS now
*Accepting complete bike orders April 1st, 2009
For more info including sizing and geometry, please visit
www.santacruzmtb.com.
dirtmag.co.uk/news/category/dirt-team/exclusivedriver-8-photos/dirt-1234474.html
no, it looks sex
then i wanna get laid!
http://dirtmag.co.uk/news/category/dirt-team/exclusivedriver-8-photos/dirt-1234474.html
maybe the black one is more of a prototype and this ano orange is more of a production? idk... but i like the looks ofthis one much better
many riders talk about freeride a way off life,
but is fk=&%· expensive,
so is not FREEride
why instead of making expencive bikes,create something more economic with the same stuff?
is just my opinion so dont talk shit to me
Totem takes the credit...!
would love to ride it though...
but my race season starts in april and this thing aint ready till mid may.... darn it, back to the bigger bikes.
i think sc could have timed release better, but the bike is just rad.
On another note: Dazem: if you want a nomad that's built for DH and slopestyle, check out the intense SS. Pretty similar to what you're looking for...
In any case, this bike looks beautiful, and I might just have to upgrade my frame this summer.
tt=22.8
st=17.5
HA=67
wb=44.3
cs=17.4
bb height = 14.5
Built around 560mm A2C fork
the rearend looks sick though... nice design.
lol
think its worth a devorce!
http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/2943610/
http://www.santacruzmtb.com/driver8/
Its very nice I f I had the cash id buy one
Although its about time they re-juvenate the VP-free...
In any case it's always nice to see new frames with already efficient and proven suspension designs.
ive been waiting for santa cruz to build a nice DH/Freeride bike
looks super sick
Woah
it looks great!
oh my god i want one
ahhhhhhh!
Now! :-)
Love it! (except the colour!)
Clever name... "Driver 8", as in "i>Daily/i> Driver, 8" Travel." Get it? Funny stuff.
Despite that, I don't get the point of the bike. No FD? So it's one of nu-skool Hammerschmidt rigs?
personally, I think the driver 8 sounds too much like the demo 8, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion... unless your opinion is that V8 juice is good, then f*ck you
but when you're talking about freeride/race, carrots and tomatoes just don't seem to fit to much... still just my opinion, maybe some people would love to race on carrots and jump/huck tomatoes?
dazem, i get what your saying, i thought i had seen V8 instead of V6. my mistake!