Santa Cruz Stigmata

The Stiggy. On one side, it crushes the domestic gravel scene. And on the other, it’s an immensely versatile drop-bar bike. It handles every ride with surprisingly sprightful agility and endless composure, carrying you as fast as you wanna go and your stuff as far as you wanna go.

How’s It Ride?

Santa Cruz makes mountain bikes; you’ll feel that on the Stigmata. It handles much more like an MTB than its original incarnation as a cyclocross bike. The Stigmata’s geo is ready for big rides and complex features, which goes a long way for comfort over hundreds of miles of gravel. It’s also strong as an ox for fully loaded bikepacking excursions—accommodating up to 700c x 50mm tires.

How Ours Is Equipped

Despite being so dominant in racing, the Stigmata doesn’t have a racing-build out of the box. So, if you’re looking to put power down in an event, chat with a Gearhead® Expert to get the right components on your build. We equipped ours with RockShox’s Rudy Ultimate XPLR fork. That gave us 40mm of cush to take ours into some rather hellish terrain for bikepacking and enjoy the bike to its fullest. Paired with the SRAM Force AXS XPLR groupset, we have the range to cover quite a bit—outside of the most punishing grades.