Santa Cruz Bicycles VP-Free

 After Heckler and Nomad .... I tried something more hard, so I sold my little gypsy .... and I took the beast .... What about the descent is his main dish, and a chassis a bit dated, but once accustomed to the movement down and mounted with a single plate-excursion is truly reborn! Copy all the jumps makes them alone, and the scree .... such as rocky as I'm new

 I bought a VP Free in 2004 and haven't needed another bike since. I have it built with a Marzocchi 66RC (single crown) and first-gen Saint. I pedal it all over the place, and then take it to ski areas for DH. It pedals uphill really well, and it super beefy and takes all the abuse my 6'4/225# frame will give it. After seven years of trashing it, the paint is super scratched and chipped, but the frame is fine and it just keeps going. I haven't even replaced the bearings more than twice. This bike needs to go to the hall of fame or something.

 I have owned this bike since 2006 and it has gone through two setups, stock 215mm rear shock and 203mm Travis fork up front. It truly excelled at downhill but was way too much for general trail riding in Ontario. It's current setup is a marz 55rc 160mm fork and dhx air Kashima short shock from a nomad, set up with a dropper post and 1x this bike is truly a do it all burly bike.

 Great overal FR/DH bike! This is my second vp free and I am glad to be back in the saddle again. This is my only bike, so I have to earn my truns. I have owned several Santa Cruz bikes and would recommend them to all who ride.

 i own / ride one mmine is an 05 and i love the way it feels with the totem on it allarround good ridding bike ,headtube angale is nice im 6' and i done feel squished ridding a medium .

 Ride the Free as my everyday trail bike, it loves to climb, those 8.5" of VPP really hook up. Extremely versatile, bomb proof beast, the only bike you'll ever need. Short shock it for dedicated DH duty, which will lower the (tall) BB, slacken the head angle, and it's a competitive weapon.

 +Able to take a beating.....................................................................................
+Can handle huge drops and jumps............................................................................
+Vpp linkage nearly eliminates all pedal bob................................................................
+Vpp linkage and 8.5" rear suspension creates endless travel feel ..............................
+Durable/lasts a lifetime..........................................................................................
+Can shred going UP.............................................................................................
+Riding style can go from AM to DH depending on components and setup..................
+Race-able.............................................................................................................. ================================================================
-No ISCG mount (can be solved with a ISCG-BB adapter)..............................................
-High BB makes DH a smidgen harder for some...........................................................
-Advanced VPP makes having the perfect drivetrain setup a little harder to achieve.......
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Anyway.... I have owned my VP Free for 1 year now and its by far the best bike i have ever rode. I have ridden GT Fury's, Specialized Status's, Kona's, Trek Sessions and none of them have come close to the feel of the VP Free. With the BB 15.4 inches of the ground you can easily roll over anything without worrying about scratching the frame or damaging your gears. With the right shock setup in the rear you can have the feeling of Endless suspension and even bottoming out is not that noticeable. The cool thing about the VP-Free is that it operates like a AM bike if you put low-suspension travel on it but then if you max out the 8.5 in the rear and put a 203mm fork on it operates just like a DH rig. No matter what setup you have on the VP Free, they can seriously climb and you will be coming down the mountain before your friends are halfway up. These frames are also bombproof (don't blow one up) Ive never seen a picture of a broken VP Free frame and they WILL NOT break unless it's horribly horribly misused. Bottom line, if you can get your hands on a VP-Frame buy it, people do not realize the potential in them, the one i bought was on the market for months. This of course means resale is difficult but if you can get somebody to test-ride it that can afford your price and they are looking for a bike you will have no problem selling it, which you should never have to unless you want to upgrade and have some $$$ for your new bike because you could ride this bike to the end of time as long as you keep the parts on it in good shape and don't do 50FT drops none of your other "smart" friends do, every other weekend. Just remember, this is a BIG bike made for BIG hits, if your only going to do 8ft drops, go with something with less travel such as the Santacruz Nomad, it will be better suited for your type of riding

 one seriously bad ass do everything bike! slam on some single crowns for free ride or even triples for dh! rails berms, soaks up harsh landings and jumps with the best of them! buy one!

 I have owned one for 3 years and it was one of my fave all around bikes, had it setup for light DH and pedaled well enough as a XC rig! Too bad it's gone away as the Driver 8 is not really a replacement for this ... need something a bit longer to pedal.

 Great bike for Freeriding and downhill. It can soak up the terrain, but is still great for jumps. The VPP system allows the bike to be "not too bad" for grinding up trails to get the gravity fed goodness.

 the bike as whole feels good though when on hard pack dirt it feels a bit sloppy when turning hard. but your riding style just has to compensate so its takeas a bit of getting used to

 Great frame. Works very well in enduro and DH riding. Probably the best do-it-all machine that was manufactured so far. Only disadvantage is quite high standover. That's it, that's all.

 I've been shredding a free for 10 yrs and went through 2 Frame one was crash replacement and I ride year round full on love it hit anything

 I've got an 05' with Fox 40. 5.0 coil. love the bike! pedals well and performs well. great all around bike its taking a beating and still going strong. like the geometry. large fits me well at 6'3"

 I ride one of these as my downhill bike(2005 model).. Doesn't track the ground as well as a proper downhill bike, but other than that it rides like a charm

 Love this ride. I had a V-10, and really enjoy the pedal ability of the VP. It's lighter and has a double crank, which is great for the Oregon trails.

 if you want a nice bike that handles amazing easy to chuck around and will handle everything? get this!

 This bike can pretty much do anything from DH to XC. A nice bike if you can only have one for everything.

 I WILL BE SUPER Great if you send me this super Vello and my dream that the santa cruz v10 th't cool