Competitive Cyclist

SANTA CRUZ BUTCHER (FOX RP23)

The Santa Cruz Butcher was born to slice its way down any kind of trail, or, best of all, a trail with everything. It's named after Downieville's Butcher Ranch Trail: Smooth and fast in some places, ultra rocky in others, with no shortage of swoopy, jumpy thrills. With the Butcher, Santa Cruz mates the legendary reliability of their single pivot bikes, like the Heckler, with the "feel" of their VPP bikes, like the Nomad. It's a bike that pedals as well as it coasts, brakes, and sucks up bumps. They bring it all together by engineering a set of linkages to manipulate the shock rate as the swingarm directs the rear wheel through its 160mm of travel.

The all-mountain Butcher is actually a single pivot bike. And like the Heckler, it uses a pivot forward of the bottom bracket and about level with the top of the middle chainring to locate the swingarm. This location was chosen because it gives the bike a couple of desirable traits -- slight anti-squat under power and a neutral braking reaction so the suspension doesn't buck or wallow when you hit the binders coming into a sharp corner. The question could be asked -- if it's a single pivot, then how does it differ from the Heckler?

The difference is the APP linkage's generation of a variable rate shock curve. If you've ridden Santa Cruz' VPP and single pivot bikes side by side, then you know that they each provide a different feel and experience out on the trail. Their single pivot bikes typically have a rising rate shock curve that translates into a fairly progressive feel as the suspension cycles into its range of travel. The suspension can be counted on to be quite firm in the mid-stroke, making it feel somewhat harsh over small to medium sized bumps. Air shocks on these bikes sometimes lead to the feeling that the bike doesn't get all of its travel.

Santa Cruz VPP bikes, on the other hand, are well known to give a very different feeling. As the VPP linkages swing opposite to each other through the range of suspension travel, the shock rate goes from falling, to flat, to rising as you compress the suspension towards the bottom of the stroke. The feel is that you have a very supple initial bump response for smaller obstacles in the trail and that the VPP rear end is actively smoothing the trail for you, but the rising rate at the end gives you the bottom out resistance needed for ledges, jumps, and g-outs. The APP suspension 'feels' like the VPP suspension, giving you their high end performance with the value of their single pivot aluminum bikes.

The Butcher uses 15mm aluminum pivot axles in the main swingarm and at the APP link/swing link pivots. We like that they thread directly into the swingarm or link opposite the entry side. That threaded interface combined with locking collet heads on the other side makes for no wiggle or play and no chance for accidental loosening of the pivot axles as you ride. All of the pivots use angular contact bearings to ensure silky smooth suspension action.

The Santa Cruz Butcher is available in six powdercoated colors -- Black, Chocolate, Red, Seabright Blue, White, and Yellow. It comes in four sizes from Small to X-Large. The rear suspension relies on a Fox RP23 air shock, and it's built to accept a mixed tapered headset -- 1-1/8" semi-integrated top and 1.5" traditional bottom. It can be built with 140mm to 160mm forks depending on your riding preference. It takes a 34.9mm top swing/top pull front derailleur and a 30.9mm seatpost, and it has ISCG '05 tabs on the bottom bracket shell. The top tube has an extra set of cable guides for a remote seatpost lever and a water bottle mount on the downtube gives you a place for your liquids.

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2010 Santa Cruz Butcher (Fox RP23) Pricing