Santa Cruz V-10 Carbon - Previewed

Here it is, a bike that if given the chance, a lot of readers would gladly trade a kidney or loved one for without batting an eye. With its scheduled release date fast approaching in the coming new year we thought it was high time to swing a leg over this superbike of superbikes to find out exactly what makes it tick, and let me tell you, there is a whole lot more to talk about than Santa Cruz's use of carbon fiber to build their premier downhill bike. The new V-10.4 is not only more adjustable, letting you tweak both the travel and head angle, but also sports new larger pivot bearings and hardware, a 1.5" headtube, and a longer stroke shock than what was used in the not so distant past. Total weight of our test bike? 35.6 lbs! Impressive considering that this is a stock build straight from Santa Cruz - some extra coin spent will have you in the mid 33's without getting too crazy. Keep reading to get your geek on.

The engineers at Santa Cruz knew that they could design and produce a lighter, faster, and stronger carbon version of their much loved V-10 downhill bike, but you have to wonder if they were 100% sure that today's riders are ready for such a thing. I mean, it wasn't that long ago that most of our minds were not open to the idea, and I would say that there are those out there who never will be, no matter how many stringent tests it passes or how reliable it is in the real world. As for myself, I say bollocks, this is the real deal. Not only is it impressively light, our carbon frame and Vivid Air shock weigh in at 8.6 lbs, but it's also said to be as strong and even stronger in some regards than its aluminum predecessor. A perfect example of this would be the headtube and downtube junction where the carbon material is nearly half an inch thick. This really highlights carbon's ability to be used sparingly where not much material is needed, but layered on thick or even in different layups in high stress areas. While the burly junction up front may not be able to be seen without looking at a cutaway, the frame's smaller than average diameter downtube is more obvious. While everyone seems to be going towards massive, but thin, tubes that can be susceptible to rock strikes, the engineers at Santa Cruz went the opposite direction. Not only does the smaller diameter present a smaller target for impacts, but thicker material has been used to resist any damage that could be caused by rocks being thrown up from the front wheel or in crashes.

The carbon frame is the big news, but this bit of detail is what should excite a lot of people as well. With its 10" of travel the previous iterations of the V10 may have been pigeonholed by some as simply being "too much bike", even if they hadn't ever ridden it in anger. The 2011 V-10.4 goes a long way to appealing to more riders by featuring a simple and easy to use adjustable travel system on the lower link that lets you reign in the travel out back to 8.5", which also lowers the bottom bracket and slackens the steering angle. All one needs to do is remove the shock bolt and flip the aluminum inserts, quick and easy. This should completely change the character of the bike and allow you to decided how much feedback from the terrain you are looking for and whether you want a more playful steed or a bike that stays low and fast. While this may necessitate a spring change on frames equipped with a coil shock, the Vivid Air bolted to our carbon '10 will require only an air pressure adjustment. Working with the travel adjust to let you have your cake and eat it as well is the bike's adjustable head angle via the included Cane Creek AngleSet headset. Depending on your rear wheel travel choice, you can settle on a head angle as slack as 63 degrees in the 8.5" travel mode and 66 degrees in the longer travel setting by using different cups. This nifty piece of hardware could well be the product of the year.

It isn't always about being as light as possible. Much hoopla has been made about the carbon frame's impressive weight, and rightfully so, but this has allowed the bike's designers to actually beef up other aspects of the bike without being penalized for it. For example, larger and therefore heavier pivot bearings have been utilized, but the benefit should be even better reliability. The bike also uses expanding collet pivot axles to keep everything tight, but also quiet, during the season. Hidden from view is the bike's ISCG05 chain guide tabs. Made from carbon, the tabs are incredibly beefy and the frame is now fully taco approved (tab mounted chain guides voided the aluminum frame's warranty).

If you're going to test out one of the most advanced and anticipated downhill bikes ever made you should probably hang some of the best components possible off of it. Two complete bikes are available, both using the same frame, but differing in parts. Our test bike comes kitted out with the higher end parts, including a beautiful set of black Race Face Atlas cranks and DT wheelset that is built around their premium 440 hubs. The black machine is air sprung on both the front and rear, with the RockShox BoXXer World Cup fork complimenting the new RockShox Vivid Air shock. Keeping the chain in place is a proven e.13 guide.

While they certainly could have made the rear end of the bike out of carbon, Santa Cruz didn't see the advantages of it at this point in time. This aluminum swingarm, the very same as you can find on the Driver 8, is not only as light as they thought a carbon version could be, but it's also easier to produce and keeps the price reasonable as well I'd imagine. Carbon used where it makes sense, up front, and not where it isn't needed, out back. I have to say that it is refreshing to see something not being done simply because they can, but because it isn't needed.