Santa Cruz Heckler 27.5

BIKE TEST
smooth operator
birthday blues
The long eye-to-eye
length and shock
stroke helps the Fox
Evo damper suck up
the big hits smoothly
and safely
Santa Cruz have given
this 18th birthday
model of the Heckler a
suitably lairy ‘Club
Tropicana’ paintjob.
There’s a black and
orange version too
last a lifetime
The single pivot uses
collet-secured angular
contact bearings
which come with a
lifetime warranty
Santa Cruz Heckler
£1,349 Santa Cruz’s entertaining evergreen all-rounder gets faster and smoother
SO GOOD
Surefooted and stiff
enough for serious
speed confidence
Simple, interactive
suspension action
Tough frame with
lifetime warrantied,
bearings
Even the basic build
kit is ready to rage
NO GOOD
Rider reactive
suspension action
will annoy fans of
neutral machines
Not hugely stiff or
accurate tracking
Jargon buster
142x12mm
Refers to the rear hub
axle length and the
external diameter of
the hollow axle that
screws into the frame.
There are various
designs but they’re all
more secure and
stiffer than the old
135x9mm quickrelease standard.
S
anta Cruz’s Heckler celebrates
its 18th birthday with a totally
new chassis, rolling on a totally
new wheel size. The result is a
faster and smoother but still
entertaining all-rounder at an
affordable price for a boutique brand.
The frame
The frame layout is barely changed
from the Mk6 Heckler apart from a
stiffer solid tube swingarm above the
pivot and a DT Swiss 142x12mm rear
axle. Its travel and 3kg (6.7lb) frame
weight stay the same despite the
bigger wheels, as are the tapered head
tube, ISCG05 mount, conventional
bottom bracket and lifetime
warrantied, user-serviceable bearings.
The top tube and wheelbase are
longer though and the fork angle and
bottom bracket height are reduced for
a more planted stance on the trail.
The kit
Even the most basic ‘D AM’ kit is a
really good balance of Deore drive and
Avid stop performance for price and
the RockShox Sektor fork, mid-width
i23 WTB tubeless ready rims and new
High Roller II tyres are firm favourites.
At £2,829, with a £230 Reverb dropper
post hop-up, it’s well priced for a
boutique brand offering.
Various fork, headset and bottom
bracket upgrades are also available, as
well as Shimano SLX, XT, SRAM X01
and ENVE carbon wheel options.
The ride
The obvious competitor to the Heckler
in terms of design and cost is the
Orange Five and we spent a lot of the
test blitzing back-to-back laps of the
same sections to get the differences
between the two bikes nailed.
Given that the pivot point, handling
angles, wheelbase, bottom bracket
height and other key metrics are
almost identical, it should be no
surprise that both bikes are very close
in terms of overall character.
The mid-height, slightly forward
pivot position of the swingarm gives a
noticeably pedal- and brakeresponsive suspension feel. If you’re
on the gas, the chain torque drags the
wheel down onto the trail for a more
powerful, potentially tractionincreasing action at the rear axle.
Keep pedalling smoothly and the
way it lifts up will do the same for your
morale when sprinting and climbing,
compared to a softer-feeling low pivot
or neutral linkage set-up. If you learn to
work with it the significant change in
suspension feel between pedalling/
braking and freewheeling can also help
you pop the front wheel up off drops or
up steps or deliberately nail it into the
ground for extra front wheel traction.
This inevitably has downsides
though, and there’s a noticeable loss of
impact absorbtion and a thump
through your feet if you’re heavy on
the pedals or brakes through rock
gardens. You’ll have to be prepared to
throttle your effort carefully as the
wheel humps up and over roots and
rocks or threatens to spin rather than
dig in on climbs. There’s no shortage of
communication from tyre to rider
though, and it doesn’t take long for this
interaction to become instinctive.
While both bikes use an Evolution
spec Float CTD shock, the Heckler has
a damper with a significantly longer
overall length (215 vs 190mm) and
stroke (57 vs 51mm). In other words,
the shock is working with a higher
volume at a lower compression ratio
with 10mm more wheel travel. This
means the Heckler hangs up
noticeably less on big square-edge hits
and swallows big slams better too. A
lighter compression tune means it’s
Mountain Biking uk 109
BikeTest
650B full sus frames
£1,350-1,900
It flicks from turn to turn with proper
commitment and responsiveness on
tight, fast trails
a little more active under pedalling or
G-out compressions than the Orange
unless you flick it into trail mode.
Overall we were happier to run it in
descend mode most of the time
though as the shock had more room to
breathe and respond consistently
rather than feeling like it was drowning
when the trail got properly rough.
The Heckler frame is stiffer too,
particularly through the swingarm. It’s
not as brutally stiff and locked into the
trail as the Pyga and the suspension
action occasionally threw it high and
110 Mountain Biking uk
wide under brake or power, but overall
the rear wheel follows the front end
obediently and it flicks from turn to
turn with proper commitment and
responsiveness on tight, fast trails.
The Sektor fork impressed us with
its accuracy and consistent control in
all but serious staccato step/rock/root
situations and the High Roller IIs are
rapidly establishing themselves as our
favourite rubber from the latest
generation of Maxxis tyres. The extra
circumference of the wheels also adds
lumpy terrain speed sustain and
cornering grip without significantly
compromising agility or acceleration.
Add the confidence-inspiring geometry
that naturally firms and steepens in
response to power on climbs and the new
Heckler is an immediately fun, friendly,
enthusiastically interactive yet still
bravery-boosting all-rounder.
Speed- and-control boosting update to
a characterful, simple and responsive
all-rounder at an affordable price