Competitive Cyclist

SANTA CRUZ SUPERLIGHT

The Santa Cruz Superlight is a great, lightweight, fast-handling, bump-eating cross-country frame. 'Nuff said. Weighing in at a few ounces over five pounds, with 100mm of travel, and proven cross-country race geometry, there is plenty to recommend this frame. But it always gets compared to others. To bikes with more sophisticated rear suspension linkages and to its brother, the Santa Cruz Blur XC.

Yes, reference points are good things, but often they serve as a disservice. The single-pivot design and frame geometry aren't new (something you'll hear over and over), but it's a successful, proven design that rides well, both on its own and in comparison to other bikes. As if just because the design is highly evolved, it should be discarded in favor of newer designs.

With an aggressive geometry, a short head tube, long seat tube and moderate bottom bracket height, the Superlight is designed to be a balance of stability and mobility, ride well at low speeds and high, feel agile going up the mountain and stable going down. In other words, it's a great XC ride.

When people compare the Blur to the Superlight it's often because of the differences in suspension design. The Virtual Pivot Point of the Blur is sophisticated, but the single pivot swingarm of the Superlight is refreshingly simple. The bikes come in at the same weight, have nearly identical geometry and come in largely the same colors. Both have ISO brake mounts and a replaceable derailleur hanger. Both have the Santa Cruz bent top tube to achieve lighter weights and good standover clearance.

But the simplicity of the Superlight has many benefits. Many would say that cost is the first one. A single pivot frame is far easier to produce -- less tooling, less machining, less assembly, etc. As such, the savings get passed on to the customer. Easier has other benefits. Fewer parts to put together and maintain, and fewer parts to break. Arguably, with more welds and fewer pivots, single-pivots can be torsionally stiffer as well.

Single pivots are back. People who have been around since the early days of rear suspension might be a bit surprised, but advancements in pivot placement and axle-path have refined the design. Paired with the latest-generation of rear shocks, the result is nothing short of amazing. Things like unwanted bobbing, a drawback of early designs, is no longer a worry. The reliable, lightweight Fox Float R damper is standard for the Superlight. Or, but for a $92 upcharge, the incredible Fox Float RP23 with ProPedal can be yours. Each provides 100mm of travel in the rear. The front end of the frame is designed to work with forks that have 100-125mm of travel, making it a great option for both XC and Marathon/endurance riding.

The Santa Cruz Superlight frame is crafted from shaped 6069 aluminum tubing. The main triangle is largely round, but the swingarm tubes have more of a squared shape. Round allows for great all-around stiffness, while the squared shapes allow for better tire and frame tube clearance. The bent top tube, while seen at first as an odd design, it's actually an elegant solution to a problem. If the tube sloped at a constant angle, it would need to be higher for the pivots to work. Even if it were possible to keep the slope constant at the angle it exits the head tube, the resulting bike would be heavier because seat post tubes are heavier than seat tubes. The swingarm pivot is 15mm in diameter, adding both durability and lateral stiffness.

The Santa Cruz Superlight is available either powder-coated in Black, Lime, Liquid Blue, Red, White, or Yellow, or anodized in Blue or Slate (for an upcharge of $250 assessed after checkout). It requires a 30.9 seatpost and a 34.9mm top swing front derailleur. The max rotor size is 160mm. There are braze-ons for an under the down tube water bottle cage. The weight, with Float RP23 shock, is 5.2lbs (2.363kg) according to Santa Cruz. The frame has a two year warranty against manufacturing defects, while the bearings are guaranteed for life.

If you'd prefer a complete Superlight with a Santa Cruz pre-configured package, please click here.

US Santa Cruz dealers are prohibited from shipping Santa Cruz bicycles outside of the United States.

 Share this Page

2010 Santa Cruz Superlight Pricing