Santa Cruz Carbon Nomad

[Brad@TheRiot]

12kg's for a 165mm travel bike!

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n130/hellchops/IMG_1374Medium.jpg

 

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n130/hellchops/IMG_1375Medium.jpg

 

Enve (prev. "Edge")

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n130/hellchops/IMG_1380Medium.jpg

 

 

Some custom anodised bits...

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n130/hellchops/IMG_1376Medium.jpg

 

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n130/hellchops/IMG_1377Medium.jpg

 

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n130/hellchops/IMG_1381Medium.jpg

 

Santa Cruz Carbon Nomad frame (L)

Edge carbon bar

Thomson stem

Chris King headset (devolution top, std 1.5 lower)

Fox Float Fit RLC w/tapered stearer

Formula R1's

XTR 10spd groupset

Enve XC rims on Tune Prince & Princess hubs (modified to 15mm)

Schwalbe Racing Ralphs

Selle Italia SLR TLD Pistone Bone

CB Joplin 4

XTR pedal (IPDM980)

[ichnusa]

thats damn beautiful, best bike i've seen for a while

 

just left out one critical bit of information... price! is it sold already or in the shop as a show-off?

 

cheers

a

[Brad@TheRiot]

just left out one critical bit of information... price! is it sold already or in the shop as a show-off?

 

cheers

a

 

It's Mike's own bike. He built another, about two months ago. That one lasted less than 24hrs before an offer was made and it was sold. Mike wont sell this one anytime soon...

 

This would retail for around R80k.

[rock]

very hot, didnt expect that to be a local bike!

[crasher]

STUNNING saw this bike for real a few weeks back its just perfect

[Iwan Kemp]

Yeah, it's pretty and if the purpose of the exercise was to see how light you can build a 6" bike then he kinda succeeded. Scott Genius Ltd is close to 2k's lighter. But who in his right mind buys a Nomad to fit XC rims, racing ralphs and a non-6" fork? Plus at that weight R1's will have enough power to stop the bike, but not enough to stop a properly build Nomad being properly ridden.

 

Anyway. Someone will buy it and feel good about life.

Edited November 2, 2010 by The Crow

[Brad@TheRiot]

Yeah, it's pretty and if the purpose of the exercise was to see how light you can build a 6" bike then he kinda succeeded. Scott Genius Ltd is close to 2k's lighter. But who in his right mind buys a Nomad to fit XC rims, racing ralphs and a non-6" fork? Plus at that weight R1's will have enough power to stop the bike, but not enough to stop a properly build Nomad being properly ridden.

 

Anyway. Someone will buy it and feel good about life.

 

Firstly, it can be built lighter. It was actually at 11.3kg's with some different bits.

 

The rims are Enve's "XC" rims, the difference between those and their "AM" rims (which the Syndicate raced the '10 WC season on) is 4mm in width (24-28mm). The depth is the same. If the Syndicate can race World Cup DH on the "AM" rims, then I'm pretty sure that their "XC" rims are tough enough for trail/all-mountain riding. What would you say of Mavic 721? Most would consider that a good DH/AM/FR rim... Tim Bentley destroyed three rear rims at Mont St Anne at this years World Champs! I'd be willing to bet that the Enve "XC" rims are tougher than the majority of the "DH" rims on the market!

 

The fork has a 150mm travel. Santa Cruz recommend anything from 150 -180mm, so no problem there. Considering that most of the riding that this bike will do is aggressive trail riding and AM, then I think that Mike's choice is spot on. Also considering that up until 2 years ago, 32mm stanchioned Boxxer's were winning DH world cups.... I don't think that the 32mm Float is insufficient. Float vs Vanilla, the damping of the Float suspension is really good and if Fabien Barel could race the 2009 Aus DH World's on a 160mm Float, then I can't see any problem with it on a trail/AM rig.

 

The tyres are 2.25 and actually ride nicely, they offer more grip than a lot of 2.35 tyres with more aggressive tread patterns. If Mike was going to do some more serious AM riding, he'll certainly change to something a bit bigger.

 

160mm might be a little more than necessary for trail riding. But if you're not into marathon type riding or XC racing then why not have a little more travel for when you need it? It's light enough to do a 2hr trail ride on and has enough travel to thrash on the descents.

 

Have you ridden the R1's? They offer a lot more breaking power than you would think!

 

Santa Cruz themselves dub the Nomad as a "go anywhere, do anything" bike... obviously you need to spec the bike according to what you want to do with it. Mike has done just that ;-)

[rock]

I like everything part form the seatpost, just dont get the point of them, never had a problem with my seatpost getting in the way - suppose if he was really after a light build it would have been an easy weight saver slapping a thomson on there......

 

I'm smelling a Mojo vs. Nomad thread coming on.....

[MoreTrails]

Oooo that thread could get rather interesting! I suggest The Crow and Brad start one up!

 

Brad - are the black and gold bits on the fox kit custom or standard? I've never seen that before...

[Brad@TheRiot]

Oooo that thread could get rather interesting! I suggest The Crow and Brad start one up!

 

Brad - are the black and gold bits on the fox kit custom or standard? I've never seen that before...

 

Mike had the gold bits anodised.

 

Mojo HD vs Nomad... I won't get involved in that.

 

Edit to add: By "black bits" do you mean what looks like the rebound adjuster? That is actually the threashold adjuster (previously at the bottom of the fork) for the new RLC models, and comes stock as black.

Edited November 3, 2010 by Brad@TheRiot

[LazyTrailRider]

But who in his right mind buys a Nomad to fit XC rims, racing ralphs and a non-6" fork? Plus at that weight R1's will have enough power to stop the bike, but not enough to stop a properly build Nomad being properly ridden.

 

I disagree.

 

This bike would suit a very specific rider and style: Lightweight, very smooth with a lot of finesse. I could get up to some serious speed on this machine...

 

Oh, but back to my original thoughs:

 

#u3k me, that's hot.

[Pappa Bear]

Ask Mike if he will shop the bike for my wife...... willing to throw a kidney or two in as well

 

Mojo vs. Nomad.... no contest nomad. I recently bought a Nomad 1 and can not wait to give it go

[Wernervdmerwe]

I like everything part form the seatpost, just dont get the point of them, never had a problem with my seatpost getting in the way - suppose if he was really after a light build it would have been an easy weight saver slapping a thomson on there......

 

I'm smelling a Mojo vs. Nomad thread coming on.....

 

Hehe - this is becoming a very aggressive thread!

 

Rock - you should try a drop post sometime - I went from 'normal' post to Joplin3 and it changed my riding for the better, thought that was enough, then upgraded to a 5" KS and it made an incredible impact on the comfort and confidence in riding. If you ride only XC, then yeah, it'll still be cool, but not as big a change. If you like to spend more of your trail time in the air than on the ground, then the post is worth the weight and money hands down!

 

As for HD vs Nomad.... I think it comes down to preference, I am willing to bet large portions of money that the guys so far that said Nomad every time has not spend any time in the saddle of an HD, so it is not really an educated choice from personal experience. On paper they are geared for mostly the same riding, although the HD is definitely capable of more than the Nomad (BL won a DH race on one against 8" bikes), but more is not always better. So for me, unless someone who has actually ridden both (I have only ridden the HD myself), I would not add value to their opinion, but that is for me personally.

 

As for Mikes' bike - make no mistake - it is VERY beautiful and sexy! Overkill for the type of riding for sure, as the frame it is definitely designed for more narly things, but then so is a 4x4 in the city, yet they are EXCEPTIONALLY popular. It is hawt and I say the best rider of the day is the guy having the most fun!

 

Congrats and many happy miles Mike - you will certainly turn heads with that!

[rad006]

I think its an awesome bike.

Wonder what Crow would say about my old bikes build specs as seen below

 

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/58500-you-asked-i-present-my-tightass/

[Iwan Kemp]

I think its an awesome bike.

Wonder what Crow would say about my old bikes build specs as seen below

 

http://www.thehubsa....nt-my-tightass/

 

Cool build. Build crazy light, but still build for what it is. I you'd slap a 100mm SID on there to save more weight I'd feel the same as Mike's SC. But that build makes sense on that frame. Nothing on there compromise what that bike was designed for.

 

Cool bike btw, I had one myself. Pity they closed their doors last week.

 

 

 

[rad006]

Yeah big pity they closed their doors