Santa Cruz Bicycles

5010 2.0 Carbon GX Eagle Complete Mountain Bike - 2017

The 2017 Santa Cruz 5010 2.0 Carbon GX Eagle Complete Mountain Bike lets you take your creativity on the trail to the next level. From the root-latticed trails of the Pacific North West to the rolling slickrock of Moab that emerges from dirt like the petrified bodies of buried dinosaurs, the 5010 has one thing on its mind—fun. It offers nimble handling for playful encounters, weaving through dense old growth forests, and pumping undulating rollers of sandstone to pop-off of natural diving boards into perfectly smooth transitions, while soaking up the chatter for you with 130mm of plush and responsive VPP suspension. This version combines Santa Cruz's Carbon C frame with a SRAM Eagle drivetrain for a ride with stiff and strong responsiveness and gears to gobble up any trail you point it at.

Now that bikes have grown slacker, longer, and lower, it only makes sense the 5010 has adapted to reflect changes in modern trail geometry. The second generation 5010 has a longer reach and wheelbase in conjunction with a slacker head tube angle of 67 degrees. By making the front end longer, Santa Cruz gives the 5010 a much roomier cockpit without it requiring a longer stem, especially if you're on the upper end of Santa Cruz's sizing range. These changes in geometry retain the original bike's agile handling on the trail, yet they instill a bit more confidence when you're dropping into steep descents and holding your line through rough terrain, such as rock gardens and root-latticed sections. By chopping the chainstays below 17 inches (16.7 inches to be exact), Santa Cruz equipped the 5010 to navigate around tight switchbacks and lean into corners with flickable precision, hinting to its slalom-inspired Blur lineage.

Looking at the VPP suspension, you'll be pleased to note it carries the 2017 redesign for improved suspension performance, increased durability, and better stand-over clearance. The lower linkage is neatly tucked above the bottom bracket, which protects it from damaging rock strikes and flinging debris on the trail. The upper linkage is not attached to the top tube for increased stiffness and greater stand-over clearance, which is especially useful if you're a shorter rider on a small frame.

Compared to the previous 5010, this model gets the slightest increase in travel, bumping up from 125 to 130 millimeters to give you a boost in support on rougher trails. However, the bigger story with the second generation 5010 is the improved suspension performance, which provides increased sensitivity to small bumps, like small rocks and roots we encounter on climbs. The mid-stroke is more supportive as well, with it being more linear for greater consistency without the tendency to settle in the middle of its stroke like previous generations of VPP. However, you'll find it's still quite progressive at the end of its stroke, ramping up aggressively to prevent you from bottoming out harshly.