2025 Santa Cruz Vala eMTB

Many of the e-curious seem to be looking for something a little different in an eMTB, and larger manufacturers are trying to cover all the bases. Maybe you are looking something to replace shuttles that take you to long gnarly descents, so you want all the power and all the travel; a dh bike with an electric assist. Some of you are considering something that isn't as big a leap from the trail stealthy bike you still enjoy riding, particularly in weight, but you'd like a little more vertical, distance and speed than your heart, lungs and legs will provide. Maybe even something that could pass as a pedal bike.

My suspicion is that most riders are somewhere in the middle, not wanting a beast they think will be hard to handle in their every day terrain but still capable descending when they approach the limit of their abilities and experience or go on a trip to Whistler, Moab or the Alps, and with enough power and battery capacity that they won't get dropped chasing their buddies who have already dipped a toe into the electric pond. If you are in that last category, this could be the kind of eMTB you've been looking for.

What is the Vala?

If this is the first you've heard of this bike, and you missed my first impressions review, the Vala is a new eMTB platform for Santa Cruz. You could call it a replacement for the 2023 Heckler(not to be confused with the Heckler SL) and it has a similar use case, geometry numbers and travel (160 front and 150 rear). So why did Santa Cruz break tradition and run with a new name? One with deep roots in the company at that?

2025 Santa Cruz Vala Highlights

• BOSCH Performance Line CX 85Nm motor
• 600 Wh battery (250 Wh aftermarket extender)
• MX (mullet!) Wheel (29 front, 27 rear)*
• 150mm Rear Travel
• 160mm Fork Travel
• SM-XXL Frame Sizes
• CC & C Carbon Frames
• All bikes under 50lb (22.7kg)
• Adjustable Geo
• Adjustable Progression
• Four Bar Suspension (with Horst Link)
• Size-specific rear centres

The now-discontinued Santa Cruz Heckler is powered by a Shimano motor and by most accounts, it works pretty well. This time around Santa Cruz was eyeing up the Bosch Performance CX motor and they found they couldn't hit the kinematic numbers they were looking for using VPP because of the size and alignment of the Bosch Motor. In particular, the engineers were looking for lower anti-squat values. Getting the number right meant choosing another motor or swapping VPP for another suspension platform. Santa Cruz chose the latter, going with the Horst Link design that until 2014 was controlled by Specialized. This caused much brouhaha on social media, mainly from riders of bikes from other brands, but not so much from Santa Cruz customers. My take is that I'll choose the bike that works better over the one that uses a particular suspension platform, whether it works with the platform or not. And this one works pretty well.

I have ridden this bike a lot, particularly in the last month. We had an incredibly dry and sunny January and the trails were mint. While it was snowing in New Orleans and on the Florida Panhandle, we were enjoying dry trails and temps that would freeze up over night to firm up the trails and then warm up during the day; as close to perfection as you can get. Since then it's been chilly but the snow riding has been pretty good as well. In six months I've gotten to know the Vala pretty well, and the news has been mostly rainbows, unicorns and brown pow.

The Buddy Test

When I'm testing a bike I often let some of my riding buddies borrow it. This gives me some good feedback and allows me to get second opinions for my impressions. This was one of the most universally well-received bikes I've loaned out. Riders called it easy to get comfortable on, described the chassis as solid ("typical Santa Cruz"). The Maven brakes and Schwalbe Radial tires were also very well-received. These match my impressions closely and I think one reason why riders who weren't used to eMTBs felt so comfortable was because of how closely this resembles a pedal bike. In fact, it feels more like an Amish bike* than any other full-powered bike I've ridden. Much of this is to do with the svelte weight of just under 21.8kg/48lbs on my scale.

*Used ironically of course. And it's actually ironic; the Amish do in fact ride e-bikes but they only charge them with solar power (power from God). True story.

One Problem Solved - Mysteriously

When I first rode the Vala I was smitten. This happened more quickly than usual despite the very challenging trails we started with. The overwhelming sensations were balance and composure. We were riding terrain that was mostly very steep and quite rocky and rough on the first day and I rode lines that were close to the limit of my abilities with some confidence. Everything seemed rosy and pretty much perfect until I got the bike back on the North Shore. The bike continued to be fine on lower speed tech trails or faster lines that were relatively smooth, but when speed ramped up, and the trail surface was very rough or loose, that early confidence and composure was gone. The bike felt skittish and a little unpredictable. I wondered at the time if I just hadn't set the bike up well enough for that condition so I went over my settings again. Everything seemed fine but the skittishness persisted.

Searching for a solution, I started from scratch on the suspension set up, removing all the air from shock and fork, and I arrived at roughly the same spot. My suspicion was there could be a problem up front so I pulled up on the fork from the handlebars (while holding the wheel between my feet) to make sure there wasn't lube clogging a port. I also opened the relief valves to see if there was air pressure building up in the lower legs. I didn't notice any air release and the ride height of the fork hadn't seemed low so I assumed I hadn't solved anything.

Despite everything seeming fine, and changing nothing, the problem went away after that. It may have been related to the fork in some way but, considering I didn't identify a problem, it could have been something else, like me. Sometimes when a bike feels off I wonder if I'm the system that is glitching. It seems unlikely though, considering the bike only felt off in one particular trail condition. What I can now say with some certainty is that the problem wasn't the geometry or kinematics of the Vala. This was a problem that either wasn't a problem, or one that cleared up mysteriously.

Bosch PowerMore Range Extender

When the bike arrived I was promised a battery booster but it didn't arrive in time for my first article about the bike. I've been using the bike exclusively with the Powermore attached lately and I haven't been able to kill the combination of the 600Wh internal battery and the 250Wh extender for a total of 850Wh. I was on a night ride recently with a bunch of fast characters and we did two top to bottoms of Mount Fromme, led by Wade Simmons himself, climbing exclusively on singletrack. We did around 1100m/3600' of climbing and covered roughly 20km/12m and I finished with 34% of the combined 850Wh still to burn. I didn't spare the horses much because of the pace and I spent most of the ride in boost. Another ride was a little longer with 1325m/4350' of climbing and 26.6km/16.6m distance and I finished with 18% of that same 850Wh after 3:06 riding time.* Similarly, I spent a lot of time in boost and I was hammering pretty hard (for me). Both of these rides were done in chilly weather which has a significant impact on battery life but hopefully these are still useful as reference points.

For reference, yesterday I did a quick rip in the snow without the Powermore and I climbed 456m/1496' and travelled 10.1km/6.3 miles in 52 minutes and used 42% of the 600Wh battery. The temperature was -3ºC/27ºF which undoubtedly impacted battery performance.

The interface that bolts to the bike works well but I neglected to clip it fully on a recent ride and it bounced out and hung from the cable, seemingly without damage. The system didn't like it though and it went into limp mode, which worked fine until the climb got steep. I had to cycle the power and then everything went back to normal. Despite a few glitches, like this self induced one, the Bosch system has been very reliable and consistent.

Powermore Downsides

There are a few of downsides to this Range Extender, and to others as well. The most obvious one is that when it's installed, you won't have a water bottle cage on your bike. I used to wear a pack all the time but now I try to avoid it whenever possible, particularly one with water inside. Another is cost. After you've dropped a very large packet on your new Vala, you'll need to drop another 690 CAD or 525 USD if you decide you want more electron storage. Finally, it adds 1500g or 3.3lbs of weight to your bike. And that weight is fairly high on your frame and concentrated in a small area. I can't tell you I could feel it on a ride, but I haven't tried back to back laps, which might be reveal a difference.

Vala Battery Size

The 600Wh battery strikes me as an odd choice for this Santa Cruz. Bosch's new 800Wh battery weighs 600g (1.3lbs) less than their previous 750Wh for a total of 3900g/8.6 lbs. This is 900g/2 lbs heavier than the 600Wh juice box the Vala comes with. The Powermore stores 250Wh and weighs 1500g, or 600g/1.3lbs more than an extra 200Wh housed in the downtube. I would also bet you the price difference between the 600 and 800 is much less than the cost of the Powermore. Because the 600 and 800 are the same length, other brands have given riders the option to choose either one. Santa Cruz decided, based on weight and the more svelte silhouette allowable with the narrower 600, not to go with the 800 or offer it as an option.

I like going for huge rides on eMTBs and I'm no fan of range anxiety so I would go for the 800 all day every day if it was offered. When Norco gave the option of 540, 720 or 900Wh batteries in their previous generation of VLT bikes, I chose the 900 and never regretted it for a moment. While we were testing the bikes we had all three batteries and I used the 540 a couple of times but then slid the 900 in and never looked back. I wish Santa Cruz had given riders the choice of batteries but I understand why they went with the 600. And TBF, the range of the smaller battery is impressive all things considered. If you are a heavier rider and you like big rides, the Powermore will be your friend. If you are lighter and/or you only want a portion of the max power the Bosch motor can provide, from one of the useful three modes below boost, the 600 could be just fine.

My Least Favourite Part

This is the second bike I have tested with a Bosch motor and, particularly when I started using the Powermore, I noticed something that had been annoying me. The plug interface, to either charge the battery or attach the Powermore, is a complicated pattern with intricate shapes. This makes sense because it can only be plugged in one way. The male and female ends are almost square and the female end can't be easily deciphered at the bottom of the bike if you are in a dark space or if your vision isn't ideal. Even when you can see it clearly, and at eye level, the correct orientation isn't easy to determine. This means fumbling around with the plug, at the bottom of the bike, until you find the sweet spot.

Considering all the smart people at Bosch, it's surprising they couldn't create an easy to use interface so the plug would be idiot proof to line up - even for this idiot. It seems to me if the frame of the opening where the plug goes in was an easy to decipher shape with a clear top and bottom, this would solve this problem. Even simpler might be a coloured arrow on each side that needs to be matched up. If I was keeping this bike, I would do that with some nail polish. This is a minor gripe in a complicated system that has few flaws, but it's also one that is easily solved.

More on The Ride

After partially recovering from an unfortunate partying injury, made vastly worse by a riding mishap a few days later, I felt like I was starting from scratch. I spent about 5 weeks doing nothing while my bruised ribs and spine healed, and coming back was daunting. Luckily the Vala had my back (and ribs). I didn't mind the weight of the 60lb Norco Range VLT when I was able-bodied but dealing with an injury that was still tender made it too much for me.

Getting on the Vala allowed me to slowly build my fitness and deal with a more manageable bike that was easier to move from place to place before, after and during the ride. As I began to feel less like an invalid, I seemed to get to know the bike on a different level, cornering and carrying speed better and gradually attempting moves I was doing way back at the end of 2024, and the bike felt better than ever.

Early on while I was riding the Vala, it felt like a normal 160/150 bike with progressive geometry but lately I've been starting to push it a little harder and it's been responding enthusiastically. This is a very versatile machine that excels on long trail rides, tight tech terrain and even chunky high-speed sections and steeps that make your nose bleed. It's not a monster truck and plowing isn't the way to extract the most performance from it, but I have been surprised by what it can handle. This is a very well sorted machine in terms of geometry* and suspension kinematics, both up and down.

*I stayed in the low/slack setting

Component Performance

One of the most remarkable elements of this bike is the tires. Schwalbe's Radial Magic Marys are unlike any tire I've ridden. The carcass is much more compliant for a given pressure and the grip is amazing. I have been riding higher than usual pressures but getting more compliance and grip. They've also stood up remarkably well, considering lots of road miles to and from the trails, and I haven't had a single flat. I'd urge you to give them a try.

The Maven brakes were also a hit, both with me and others who rode the bike. And there were no complaints about sore hands. Other than that, the AXS stuff worked well, the Reserve carbon wheels were flawless, and the spec. was very well chosen indeed.

Bosch Performance CX System

There was a lot of fanfare about the updated Bosch system this bike ships with, but I only noticed one dramatic difference from the previous system; it is quiet on even rough descents unlike the previous version. I don't find it much quieter on the climb but it isn't loud or annoying ether. Beyond that the batteries are lighter and the system is said to be more efficient, but unless you are very sensitive to a little descending rattle in some conditions, I wouldn't steer you away from the previous system if you are hoping to save some money.

The app works well and if you set it to allow location tracking, even when you aren't using the app, it will record every ride. If you always remember to turn on the app before your ride, this isn't necessary. If you happen to have two Bosch-equipped eMTBs, the app can only handle one at a time and you'll need to remove one bike to pair the other. This will apparently change in a future update.

The motor is responsive and powerful and even relatively natural feeling, particularly in eMTB mode, which responds closely to your inputs and will only give you max power if you really put your own power down.

Closing Thoughts

As I mentioned earlier, the Vala rides very much like a pedal bike on most of the trails I generally ride. And the ways that it rides like an eMTB aren't all bad either. After some time on an EEB you start to recognize what a heavier bike excels at. The most noticeable to me is suspension performance. The extra weight pushes through the resistance of the suspension seals more easily and the fork and shock simply work better. The lighter you are the more noticeable this will be. Obviously climbing is improved thanks to the motor but cornering is more solid, as is riding through rough and loose sections. This bike hits several sweet spots in terms of geometry, travel, weight and motor and battery. It's not finicky and has stood up well to moisture and muck.

I'd prefer to see a small display, like Shimano's EP8 system is spec'ed with, to give you more detailed information on your ride, current speed, and battery life. There is one available now and there are rumours that a more detailed display will be made available to replace the multi-coloured bars that give you battery life in 10% increments. While we are on my preferences, I'd love to have tis bike with the 800Wh battery from the factory.

Beyond that, this is a thoughtfully (and luxuriously) spec'ed bike with a well built and sorted frame. The Bosch motor is among the best out there with a very dialled system to control it, and wireless components for controlling and monitoring power output. The details are good and everything feels solid. And if you go for this spec. level, you're going to pay for it. Carbon wheels are nice on an eMTB because of the extra weight, but you can compromise with heavier tires and/or inserts to keep aluminum hoops running true. The same goes for componentry weight, particularly when you are starting with a light frame and a battery that is smaller than most, so I wouldn't discourage you from going down the a few levels if you'd like to save some cash. The S spec level, for 11,000 CAD or 8500 USD looks like the sweet spot to me, if you'd like some money left over for a trip. Or for food.