Suck Creek Cycle » Santa Cruz

The demo crew life; Anthony Bourdain wannabes and Ariel is top American

wondertwin A — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:48:04 +0000

Hi Everyone Sorry it’s been a bit since I updated anyone on what Ariel and I and the demo bikes have been up to. July has been insane. Ariel went to France and got 13th, top American ever, in the pro field at the Mega Avalanche at Alpe D’huez. Go Ariel! Check this video clip from his 3rd [...]

The D-Ville in The Details

dark lord — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:27:43 +0000

Garen Becker, above (photo courtesy of the sharp-eyed strange angel, is showcasing the highly evolved scoring system we employed at this year’s Downieville Classic to keep track of the BronsonPeople and their standings in the annual Cannery Cup Bragging Rights All Mountain Gongshow. He may have just gone swimming with the results. That’ll happen sometimes. [...]

S.C.B!

dark lord — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 22:11:28 +0000

Most people assume that the initials SCB stand for Santa Cruz Bicycles. What they don’t know is that the initials are really shorthand code for an end of the month all hands on deck phenomenon known as Shitloads of Cardboard Boxes. Kinda cool to see all those boxes get emptied out, turned into bicycles, then [...]

Mondays, Better for Some than Others.

dark lord — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:26:38 +0000

The above video is a poached screen-capture of Mark Webber’s absolutely spectacular and amazing crash at the Formula One GP of Valencia this past weekend. Since the powers that be controlling how Formula One broadcasts are handled tend to have a dim view of rebroadcasts, even when taken by pointing a camera at a TV [...]

Carbon Based Lifeforms…

dark lord — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 23:18:12 +0000

While the worker bees, sales guys and marketing stooges keep trucking along arrow straight and tight like a muthafukin’ tiger down here at the cannery, the engineers are up in Whistler, entertaining journalists and dazzling passers-by with some carbon fiber v-10s. Hey, wait, didn’t they just go to Portugal to do that? Oh, lookit that, [...]

The Gravity of Things.

dark lord — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:22:43 +0000

2010 Teva Games Slopestyle – More Mountain Bike Videos Exhibit A, the above gem from Spomer’s alter-life, Vitalmtb.com. Of note, Santa Cruz free agent Logan Peat sneaking a 4th overall in the Teva Mountan Games slopestyle competition AHEAD of Santa Cruz Syndicate’s lovable wall of muscle, Jamie Goldman. Not too shabby on either of their behalfs, [...]

Ahhh, Fort Bill, You Scottish Heartbreaker.

dark lord — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:37:55 +0000

After an epic weekend of World Cuppery in Fort William, Scotland, when the (uncommon) dust settled, and the midges stopped biting, the Syndicate boys walked away with a third place courtesy of Greg Minnaar’s performance (you can read team den mother Kathy Sessler’s report here). Peaty was busy launching a new team and learning how [...]

Wednesdays With Who?

dark lord — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 22:31:44 +0000

Meanwhile, as Warranty Guy and I were enjoying gentlemanly conversation and colorful springtime trails aboard our Stigmatas over Memorial weekend, the usual, but of late invisible, hero of Wednesday – mister Mark Weir – was in Pennsyltucky, preparing to get beaten like a baldheaded, hairybacked stepchild. The venue for said beating being the very painful [...]

Four For The Weekend

dark lord — Fri, 28 May 2010 20:03:56 +0000

Don’t forget to be careful around the gasoline: Best you survive the holiday, so that you can do your civic duty the weekend after: And finally, words to live by. Enjoy the weekend:

Strangulation

dark lord — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:37:24 +0000

It has been a while folks, and aside from a gargantuan list of “shit that must get done” there is no excuse for the silence from this end of the wire. We shall try to be more proactive about not being silent in the upcoming days/weeks/months, especially since we just got guilt tripped by the [...]

E-spec Ma Auth-ah-rah-tee!

dark lord — Fri, 14 May 2010 00:01:54 +0000

The above video, following one Doctor Steve Peat, of Sheffield, England, as he competed in the Lisboa Downtown urban downhill race last weekend, serves as a good cautionary tale in the land of internet marketeering. In the video, we see the good Doctor, evidently running a good four seconds up on the hot-seat rider, pile-drive [...]

The Madness Continues

dark lord — Thu, 06 May 2010 22:20:17 +0000

The above image was just poached from Syndicate rider, reigning World Champion, Rhys Ifans impersonator, and pride of Sheffield, Steve Peat’s twitter feed. The Syndicate lads, our engineers, the guy who owns our company, a Welshman, a couple spare South Africans, and various other members of an entourage that would make any rock star proud, are [...]

springtime new bike fever

Joe Graney — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 02:08:43 +0000

Besides the shiny poison oak, flightless Europeans trapped in Santa Cruz clamoring for bikes to borrow, three new bike launches in as many weeks and over-caffeinated co-workers, the last couple weeks has the annual springtime influx of “bro” requests from all over for a new bike. That’s when I know Spring has come around, [...]

The Happiest Little Trainwreck on Earth

dark lord — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 21:23:39 +0000

We are not a big company, and we don’t do a good job of presenting a glossy facade to the world. Nobody here wears collared shirts, at least not if they don’t want to be made fun of, we don’t have inspirational posters hanging from the walls, there is not a museum in the lobby, [...]

We Otter Know Better By Now…

dark lord — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:54:16 +0000

We should know better. Really. But every spring, like Lemmings, we return to Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey to get destroyed by the elements and our own excesses. And every year, we limp home broken in some way or another. This year was no different. But at least we had some fun along the way. [...]

Santa Cruz Newz: Gracia on V-10, Syndicate on Edge

Gilligan — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:13:03 +0000

CGRB to pilot Santa Cruz frames in ’10

“Santa Cruz Bicycles is very excited to be the frame supplier for Cedric Gracia’s Racing Brigade. There are few riders who are competitive in multiple disciplines these days, especially one’s that have a great attitude and personality such as Cedric. We look forward to helping Cedric achieve his goals” – Rob ROSKOPP

Roskopp Tells Syndicate to “Lighten Up”

Syndicate members were reportedly “iffy” about the decision to run Edge Composites carbon fiber rims on they 2010 DH rigs.

“I was probably the least skeptical, because I had some time on some other carbon rims,” said head cruzer, Rob Roskopp, who rode the Downieville all-mountain race on a pair of DT Swiss carbon cross-country wheels.

Roskopp cites multiple benefits of the carbon hoops for the team, including carbon fibre’s memory – its ability to bounce back from a bend rather than deform – the material’s help in resisting flats, wheel stiffness and lower rotating weight.

“The cornering speed is noticeably higher,” he said. “They can go in [to corners] harder and there’s less wheel flex; it’s a bonus for sure.”

Yeti 4X and Santa Cruz Tallboy mix it up in Baja

dark lord — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:56:12 +0000

Just how light can you get a 29′er with 100mm travel on both ends?

dark lord — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 01:03:40 +0000

Santa Cruz bossman Rob Roskopp’s new bike is a Tallboy, size large. It weighs 23.6 pounds, with pedals. This was achieved via RaceFace Next cranks, XX drivetrain, ti-Eggbeater pedals, Edge carbon seatpost, tubular rims and Geax sew-ups, and some really ugly red foam grips. That’s right. 29″ sew-ups. Only thing more exorbitant would perhaps be having the sew-ups hand sewn with from the intestines of an incredibly lightweight but endangered animal of some sort.

23.6 pounds, with pedals, fully built, 100mm travel, 29″ bike. We live in a time of magic.

Santa Cruz Heckler: Super Fun All Mountain Machine

Gilligan — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 06:41:12 +0000

Gilligan built this black Santa Cruz beauty on a long Friday lunch. It’s a 2008 Heckler with X9 All-Mountain gruppo and Rock Shox Pike. This thing should be a serious all around trail machine that can handle steep climbs, jumps and drops.. and haul ass on descents and single track.

Check Us Out » for more photos!

Update from Gilligan… indeed it is an awesome ride. Total comfort, total speed. It stays glued to the trail… except, of course, when it’s in the air… and that was pretty often today. It was the most fun I’ve had on a bike in ages. It was almost like cheating after years on a Litespeed hardtail. I am an old codger now, so I need the plushness of 5.5″ of air suspension.