Nickel and Butcher - two new sleds from Santa Cruz

APP - kind of bogus?

You decide. Lots of shots, text from Mike Ferrentino and three vids from the folks at Santa Cruz here...

rumors suggested these may have been 4X bikes. too bad.
these are basically just fresh heckler's, nothing special, but will be great bikes, especially for the price.

What size of steer tube? On the pic's of the butcher it looks tapered.

APP lulz. At least you won't have to change bearings so soon.

What size of steer tube? On the pic's of the butcher it looks tapered.

It indeed looks tapered to me but with an internal 1 1/8 top and an external 1.5 bottom. It doesn't look as radically tapered because of this combo.

I have a real problem with getting excited about "new" single pivot bikes. Nothing new here…next!

rumors suggested these may have been 4X bikes. too bad.

i think the original pics that were leaked were of custom 4x bikes built for minnar and gracia based on this platform

Sweet, linkage driven single pivot. Sign me up.

i think the original pics that were leaked were of custom 4x bikes built for minnar and gracia based on this platform

Butcher front triangles and Nickle rear swingarms.

Linkage driven single pivot might not be sexy, but they work really well.

^^and they are laterally stiffer than non-linkage single pivots like the heckler so its an improvment.

Cannondale has done the same thing, they stuck to the single pivot recipe until recently, now the rize, moto, are linkage driven single pivots. Improved laterall stifness and shock rates.

I don't see the point. Blur LT, Heckler, Nickle and Nomad, Bullit, Butcher. 3 bikes each in 2 different segments - all competing against each other. You can also add 2 more if you factor in the carbon versions. No shop is going to be carrying Santa Cruz as there primary line. Its to suppliment either Specialize, Rocky, Giant or Trek. IMO from a retail stand point, Santa Cruz should focus on doing one (maybe two at the most) bike super good for each segment. And cut the bikes that aren't. I have a Blur as my back up bike and enjoy it. So this isn't intended to be a slam to Santa Cruz.

^^and they are laterally stiffer than non-linkage single pivots like the heckler so its an improvment.

Cannondale has done the same thing, they stuck to the single pivot recipe until recently, now the rize, moto, are linkage driven single pivots. Improved laterall stifness and shock rates.

Other than some odd geometry, the carbon moto I tried last year was easily one of the best bikes I have ever ridden. It was super active over everything but if you hammered hard on the pedals (out of the saddle) it didn't bob one bit.

Too many people are blinded into thinking that linkage driven sp's are junk when they can easily outperform many linkage bikes (ie: Horst links).

I don't see the point. Blur LT, Heckler, Nickle and Nomad, Bullit, Butcher. 3 bikes each in 2 different segments - all competing against each other. You can also add 2 more if you factor in the carbon versions. No shop is going to be carrying Santa Cruz as there primary line. Its to suppliment either Specialize, Rocky, Giant or Trek. IMO from a retail stand point, Santa Cruz should focus on doing one (maybe two at the most) bike super good for each segment. And cut the bikes that aren't. I have a Blur as my back up bike and enjoy it. So this isn't intended to be a slam to Santa Cruz.

agreed. logically it doesn't seem like they can carry the heckler (and bullit and sl) with these two new bikes. but they're still producing the chameleon, which seems like an evolutionary throwback. so who knows

Too many people are blinded into thinking that linkage driven sp's are junk when they can easily outperform many linkage bikes (ie: Horst links).

too many people like to state opinion as fact

mattbc, I believe that the Heckler and Superlight are going to be replaced by the Nickle and Butcher.