REVIEW - Santa Cruz Driver 8

I hope we can answer CL's question. I experienced this stuff on my VP-Free and hated it. There have been a few generations of shock and VPP updates since then so maybe things have changed?

Whenever I see any VPP bike I think of the horrors of my VP-Free. It may be unfair to paint a new bike with my old experiences but most people only know a few bikes intimately so when they read a review they'll try to assess it in terms they're familiar with.

The Instant centre, or whatever it is they call it where the chain controls the sag point, is part of the SC VPP design, and all the VPP's I've been on (BlurXC, Nomad, V10, VPFree) all suffered from it, and it annoyed me a lot, especially on the Blur for tech climbing, it would feel like the bike was trying to pull me backwards off the step.

I gathered from the review that he was reviewing the complete bike and figured if you go to a SC dealer and bought a Driver8 then this is what you get. I admit I don't know a lot about buying a Santa Cruz.

If I dropped 4 or 5 grand on that bike and the suspension blew up in 2 months I'd be pissed. It'd be hard to swallow the argument that 'oh, it's ok.. it's rock shox.. it always blows up; everyone knows that.'

simon - I'm not knocking connor's review or the choice of the Totem. Ive ridden the Totem but never owned it long term.

All I'm saying is that I agreed with DD's take that if front and rear suspension are deficient then that's a pretty big part of the bike and not necessarily dismissed as a component issue. I haven't checked Feral's point that the front and rear suspension is selected by the rider so don't really have an opinion on that.

Reviewing is hard! To Connor - criticism makes you a better reviewer so don't get all mad at the critique. You do stuff on a bike that I'd break my neck

yo - no worries… stock suspension options are riders choice - RC4 or vivid; totem air/coil, boxxer or 40… interesting that there are ZERO marzocchi options in there…

yeah connor rips… knowing his suspension was pooched for rat race is salt in the gapping wound of how much slower 99[HTML_REMOVED]#37; of riders are…

DD - i agree… it sucks… but i can pretty much guarantee you that 2 months of hard riding a fork right out the box with zero maintenance and it will feel and perform like ass afterwards… that goes for totems, boxxers, any marzocchi air product, anything with talas in it's name or adjustable travel… that's just how things are IMO… 40s ain't much better from what i've heard… everything blows up - its just a matter of how hard you ride and the amount of time put into keeping things in tune… tester rides hard… not surprising IMO…

back to Driver 8 review… if anyone's got one, i've been riding a new nomad for a month or so (also with totem and coil shock) and would love to compare to the D8… i'm betting the new nomad will give the D8 a serious run for it's money on the DH/FR side and absolutely slay it at anything less aggressive…

Connor isn't one of our regular testers, so he didn't go into as much detail as he could have in some areas of the review, but I think he did a good job explaining the strengths of this bike and its ability to rise to the challenge in Shore-like situations as well as on the DH course.

While I think outside opinion can be just as valuable as feedback from a "regular tester", I'd like to see a long-term review of the D8 from one of the old heads.
I remain pessimistic about this rig nonetheless. Lots of mass and only a nine gears makes for a tough sell in the PNW. Wouldn't it anywhere, though? Who's going to rail Soquel Demo Forest on that thing? Or Pine Mountain? Or Zippity Doo Dah? I'm confused about the purpose of this rig. I think they should have just called it the "Manager's Special" and sold 'em exclusively at the Bike Park.
Maybe the 2nd gen bike will take inspiration from a different R.E.M. song, like "The Ascent of Man" and drop five pounds…

The Instant centre, or whatever it is they call it where the chain controls the sag point, is part of the SC VPP design, and all the VPP's I've been on (BlurXC, Nomad, V10, VPFree) all suffered from it, and it annoyed me a lot, especially on the Blur for tech climbing, it would feel like the bike was trying to pull me backwards off the step.

I've always assumed that the newer generations of VPP would be refinements of what came before, rather than totally different beasts. I always thought the way it felt would be awesome for the shorter-travel bikes in an XC application where the chain tension juju could be used purely for propulsion. On my VPF I could never predict when it was going to (seemingly randomly) lock out or extend and I found it really scary and ultimately sold the bike at the first opportunity.

…reviewing is hard! To Connor - criticism makes you a better reviewer so don't get all mad at the critique. You do stuff on a bike that I'd break my neck

Truer words have never been spoken. Connor, flak is part of the process, you just learn from it. Its hard to separate the feelings and objectivity especially when you are having so much fun! Enjoy the testing process, I sure do, its the writing part that is difficult.

I'm stoked about my Demo 7, but it definitely has some shortcomings that I don't mind admitting and discussing with others when the opportunity arises.

Well go ahead then :D The whole review I was thinking "How does it compare to a demo 7?" I

Well go ahead then :D The whole review I was thinking "How does it compare to a demo 7?" I

lol does anything SC makes compare to a demo 7??

SC offers bikes in both completes and customs. Completes run cheaper, but have limited component/colour options along with rear shock, vivd or RC4. I assume the DH build kit will be the only one offered on the D8 from the demo bikes spec. Not really sure about the difference between SCs DH and FR kits.
At 42 lbs and a single ring only bike, I would look at other options before this bike, but thats just me

I'm sure the bike can perform - overall I think VPP has more proponents then opponents… But looks wise I think it looks like some fastened the rear end of a VP Free to the front triangle of an '01 Specialized BigHit…

I thought Connors review was fine. My only question is how does he blow both the front and rear suspension and then claim that the bike spent no time in a bike stand getting maintenance? Unless of course he never fixed the parts?

Hey guys, Connor here. I have enjoyed reading all your comments on the bike and my review - and appreciate them as it is my first test/review.

The Driver 8 was a tricky one to review b/c it has created its own market as a AM/FR/DH/PRK bike.

I purposely didnt break into the nitty gritty technical details for a number of reasons. I rode the bike as a complete bike therefore reviewed the complete package. If you are looking into a frame than take it for that if, if complete than there you have it.

For those of you that believe I was emotionally attached and had new bike envy, your wrong. I have had many great new bikes in my days riding and racing and I truly just enjoyed every minute behind the D8.

I want to clarify that I rode the bike as it was handed to me, and rode it hard at that.

As far as the suspension, all performance suspension needs to be tailored for performance riding. As I only had the bike for a few months I wasnt jumping to invest in custom mods. Like any like, you need to ride it off the shelf to discover what needs to be changed and thats what I did.

Since the modifications at Suspension Werx the bike has surpassed all expectations. I was able to confidently pilot the bike over everything it claimed to achieve.

All in all the D8 was truly a blast to ride, if you are considering a bike of this sort, I urge you to check one out b4 you make a decision.

I hope I have another opportunity to review gear, I have learned alot and enjoy the process.

Thanks to D. Dix for some stellar shots!

Cam-I'd like to see more reviews like this in future.

Seconded. I don't think Connor came off as a SC fanboy, I think he was just enthusiastic about how the bike felt.

connor do you still have the bike? Did you hit WBP with it?