For 2008 Santa Cruz have repeated their succesful refinement of the Heckler, Bullit and Superlight frames late last year by updating the V-10 and the Chameleon. The company have also added a new frame to the line-up - the Stigmata...

V-10

First up is the mighty V-10. Being piloted to much success by the Santa Cruz Syndicate team of Nathan Rennie and our very own Steve Peat, the V-10 has been through many subtle changes since its release six years ago. Changes centre mostly on the teams desire for a lighter bike, so the front half of the frame has been redesigned: there's less metal and the standover clearance has been increased and these changes, combined with a new carbon fibre upper link, have resulted in an impressive 2lb drop in the frame weight. The suspension has also been tweaked: to achieve a livelier rider the suspension now sits higher in its 254mmm travel.

Chameleon

Despite the developments on their VPP bikes headlining the company's range, Santa Cruz's humble hardtail, the Chameleon, hasn't been immune from development either, constantly evolving since we first saw it all those years ago. It's now designed to accept 160mm forks with considerable reinforcing of the head tube, top tube and down tube junction. The top tube is now hydroformed, the seat and chainstays have been tweaked and, replacing the previous horizontal dropouts, vertical dropouts (with the replaceable hanger from a Heckler) with an eccentric bottom bracket for singlespeeding.

Stigmata

While the V10 and Chameleon were both subject to subtle changes, the Stigmata is an all-new release. Yes, it's not a MTB, but as the press release says, “We are based in Santa Cruz, California, after all, and that implies a winter's worth of mucky run-ups at the Watsonville fairgrounds, sand pits at Fort Ord, and that sketchy off-camber bit at Soquel high school.”

So the Stigmata is a no-holds barred Cyclo Cross bike. Made from Easton's new EA6X tubeset (a 6061 tubeset developed for TIG welding usage), its light - 1,300g quoted for a 54” frame - with no concessions being made for versatility: that means no rack or mudguard mounts. Only hardened cross racers need apply.

Santa Cruz importers Jungle are expecting availability of the V-10 sometime in November, the Chameleon in September and the Stigmata in October. No prices yet.

www.santacruzbikes.co.uk