Why Santa Cruz?
We’re huge fans of all forms of cycling, but when faced with the choice between pavement and dirt, we choose dirt most every time. It always has been and always will be in our blood. For the last fifteen years we’ve been Knoxville’s go to choice for mountain bike specific brands, and throughout that time it’s hard to name a popular mountain bike brand that we haven’t represented.
Here’s our reasons for choosing Santa Cruz.
Did we settle in with Santa Cruz randomly?
Of course not.
So what makes a good mountain bike? How about a good mountain bike company?
In our opinion, a good bike has two top jobs: durability and performance. A mountain bike in some ways is a tool, and one built for a particularly hard job. Hundreds of shifts and tons of hard braking per ride, thousands of cycles by the suspension, along with forces and impacts to the frame from virtually all directions. Life as a mountain bike is far from easy, and Santa Cruz mountain bikes are by leaps and bounds the most well built and tough bikes we’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with. Period.
Care to guess what our Santa Cruz carbon frame failure rate is?
Essentially 0%.
We’re talking big riders, who go big, on a daily basis, and nothing.
So is that really a big deal? Only when you consider what real world failure rates are by other top end companies in the industry, and from experience we can say they can be quite high. Throw in Santa Cruz’s lifetime warranty and free lifetime bearing replacement, and from a durability standpoint, they have few parallels in the bike industry.
So how about performance? Where does Santa Cruz stack up among a crowded field of top notch companies?
You only have to look at the success of Santa Cruz’s Syndicate World Cup Team to understand the impact their geometry and VPP linkage design has had on the top of our sport. As consumers our technological expectations and need for improved performance are insatiable, and Santa Cruz’s willingness to adapt and stay in front of industry trends is remarkable. However, they aren’t afraid to buck trends that don’t make sense, like their commitment to sticking with thread-in bottom brackets(any mechanic can relate). If you want a closer glimpse into the minds of Santa Cruz’s tech department just hop over to Joe’s Corner.
Are you cross country racer? Just out for fitness? Maybe you want to hit a few jumps? Maybe all you want to do is jump? Do you get to the top of the mountain in the back of a pick-up truck? Or do you want to traverse multiple mountains in a single day? Maybe you just want to spend the day with the family in the woods.
Regardless, Santa Cruz has a bicycle specifically designed for how YOU ride, and we have the expertise to help you hone in on exactly which model is right for you.