Santa Cruz Bicycles

5010 Carbon CC Chris King Limited Edition Mountain - 2016

Somehow, 40 years have passed since Chris King started crafting headsets and testing them on the misty, loamy trails around Portland, Oregon. To celebrate the brand whose logo itself can elicit sighs of envy and whose headsets, bottom brackets, and hubs grace dream bike builds everywhere, the brand partnered with longtime collaborator Santa Cruz. The two manufacturers have enjoyed a strong relationship for years, so they teamed up to produce the 5010 Carbon CC Chris King Limited Edition Complete Mountain Bike as a fitting commemoration of Chris King's 40th anniversary.

The bike is a limited edition 5010 that's complete with etched Chris King Olive Crate Components on a limited-edition matte olive frame — notably quieter than most Santa Cruz paint schemes — with a top-end build kit to match. Plus, the powers-that-be decided to only build one bike for every year Chris King has been in business, which equates to only 40 of these covetable bikes in existence.

This special edition of the 5010 uses the same 2.0 geometry as the standard 2016 5010. The changes have brought the 5010 far from what we knew it as in 2013 when it was first introduced to a mob of eager XC and trail riders. Instead, the 2.0 geometry delivers it closer to the grasps of rowdy all-mountain riders looking to ride harder and faster without making sacrifices in speed and handling.

The head tube angle was dropped to a slack 67-degrees, bringing it in-line with last year's Bronson and ensuring it stays a few notches more energetic than your buddy's lumbering slacked-out enduro monster. The frame's reach and bottom bracket follow suit, with the former tacking on an additional 20-25mm, depending on size, and the latter dropping slightly. We'd be remiss if we left out the fact that this special edition model includes a brand new 30mm BSA threaded bottom bracket from Chris King, whose value we cannot overstate. Not only is a threaded bottom bracket more precise, which results in less creaking and greater longevity, but it's a Chris King model, so the already desirable qualities are further magnified.

As much as the front end and bottom bracket tout long, laid-back geometry, that attitude doesn't translate through to the rest of the frame. Rather, Santa Cruz aimed to tighten things up for more pedaling efficiency and versatility in the cockpit. The seat tube is now steeper, longer, and wider, which benefits the ups and the downs of all-mountain riding. The steeper angle allows for a more efficient posture and pedal stroke when you're spinning up a dizzying climb, and cleaning a line through a descent littered with unforgiving rock deposits becomes more stable with the shorter, fatter seat tube's allowance for more dropper travel.

Though Santa Cruz achieved an impressively squat 17.12in chainstay length last year, the brand refused to congratulate itself for long, striving to shave even more length off the chainstays for an even stubbier 16.8in this year. Stubbier and stiffer, they'll respond quickly whether you're dicing gnarly, unpredictable lines or seeing how fast you can take a spiraling descent. The frame's rear triangle terminates in a beefy 148 x 12mm Boost rear axle, which generates more clearance to allow for shorter chainstays and a stiffer, more responsive rear end overall. Though this version comes set up for one-by, Santa Cruz did bestow side-swing compatibility on this year's 5010, making for clean routing and sharp shifting for those of us that prefer the leg-saving graciousness of a double over a pared-down one-by.

Like the frame itself, the third generation of Santa Cruz's VPP suspension also got a makeover this year. The most obvious, external changes to the 5010 2.0's suspension are an additional 5mm of travel and a relocation of the system's counter-rotating links. These changes make for a better standover height, ground clearance, and stiffer rear end; however, VPP's real proof is in its revised tuning. The altered suspension curve keeps VPP riding even higher than its predecessor, increasing small bump compliance and keeping the tires glued to the trail for more efficient traction across the successive impacts of lumpy courses and rooty climbs. The initial stroke's reliance on the upper link activating for a vertical wheel path remains unchanged, maintaining the firm feel during accelerations while jockeying for position in a mass start or a finishing sprint.

As the suspension compresses deeper, the lower link takes over, letting the rear wheel back out of big hits. The overall curve across travel is less dramatic with the new VPP. Where the old design's suspension curve describes a deep "U," the latest VPP's curve resembles a flattened check mark — an appropriate shape considering that the design checks off many of the points on our pedaling-platform wish list. When paired with FOX's Float Performance Elite Shock, this makes for a ramp-up arc that doesn't dramatically alter as the shock compresses, so the pedaling platform stays consistent across travel, with less wallowing, bob, and bottom-outs.

Of course, all of these changes manifest on an "olive crate brushed" monocoque frame that is built using Santa Cruz's top-end Carbon CC construction method and materials. These allow the engineers to use less carbon but still hit stiffness targets. This obsessively precise construction method makes an almost perfect companion for Chris King's fastidiously clean, reliable componentry, which on this frame, in addition to the bottom bracket, includes a Chris King tapered headset, as well as the brand's ISO hubs, whose confidence and fast engagement you'll find consistently on display as huge arcs of dead pedaling before the freewheel engages becomes a distant, hazy memory.