Heckler
Mountain Bike Action
January 2003
Santa Cruz made the leap from skateboards to mountain bikes with the introduction of the Tazmon in the early 90s when the concept of a dual-suspension cross-country bike was mocked by rank-and-file mountain bikers. Santa Cruzs gamble paid off. The Heckler survived to witness the overthrow of the hardtail and the dawn of a new era when small, forward-thinking bike brands like Santa Cruz would grow from blips on the radar screen to industry leaders overnight .
The completely redesigned Heckler is poised once again to defy popular mountain bike convention by demonstrating that a long-travel freeride-oriented chassis can roll handlebar to handlebar with some of the most efficient cross-country bikes on the market today. If you need specifics, were talking five inches of rear wheel travel, a five-inch-stroke Fox fork, big knobby tires, disc brakes and drop-in-certified frame that that weighs in at 27 pounds and climbs better than a Trek Fuel.
No Way!
Santa Cruz says "Yes, way." To prove the point, they put together a mid-sized chassis with their standard Super X component ensemble and sent it over to MBA. Thats right, you can buy the Heckler as a frame and assemble it as a custom ride or buy it complete, like our test bike, for a paltry $2420 and ride it tomorrow. If you refuse to believe that a big fat Heckler can roll down a singletrack side by side with a skinny-tired, flat-bar, racer-boy snob cycle, you are not alone. MBAs test staff didnt believe it either until we rode it.
Meet The New Heckler
"The new Heckler is a totally different bicycle," says Santa Cruz co-founder Rob Roskopp. "Every tube is different, the swingarm is all new, and its geometry has been changed. Its a heavy duty trailbike in between a racer and a freeride bike.
"You can beat the crud out of this one," he commented. "We sent one of the first Hecklers to our dealer up at the North Shore. They have been using it for sick drops and all that stuff up there, and it is still going strong"
Technically, the Heckler offers Santa Cruzs time-proven single-pivot monoshock swingarm, with a dropped-top-tube main frame. The obvious updates are the swingarms heavily ovalized lower tubes and a single connector strut between the shock mount and the swingarm pivot. Extra gussets near the head tube junctions are also new items. The Heckler frame is configured to use a lightweight Fox Float air rear shock or the Progressive Fifth Element coil-over damper.
Less obvious, but critical for performance, is that the Hecklers swingarm pivot has been moved to moderate the tendency for single-pivot rear suspensions to extend under braking. Also, the seat and chainstays have been widened to accept all but the widest downhill tires. Look more closely and you may notice the Hecklers multi-mount cable and brake hose guides. The guides use small zip-ties to bind full-length cable housings or hydraulic brake hoses to the sides, and are drilled and slotted to accept conventional brake and derailleur housing stops.
Three cheers for the Hecklers beefy replaceable dropouts. It is highly unlikely that anyone could hurt one, but if you did manage, Santa Cruz can sell you a new piece. Anyone who believes that the wafer-thin replaceable derailleur hangers that most bicycles use are a good idea is either naive or just plain stupid. No engineer would dangle the most important component of a mountain bikes transmission on a flexible chip of aluminum and then expect it to hold up in the woods. Its time to follow Santa Cruzs lead and end this foolish fad.
Intelligent Component Selection
Super-X is the middle of three component groups that Santa Cruz offers for the Heckler. Headliners include a carbon fiber riser handlebar and seatpost, and an aluminum stem, all from Easton. The Super-X suspension package includes a coil-sprung, 125mm-stroke stroke Fox Vanilla RLC fork and a Fox Float AVA shock. Our machine used the $110 upgrade Fifth Element coil-over damper.
Wheels and brakes edged toward the cross-country side of the spectrum. Bontrager 538 Disc rims were laced to DT Onyx hubs and clothed with Intense medium-compound cross-country tire in the rear, and a Sticky Rubber SR-50 up front. The Hecklers transmission was a mix of Shimano XT and LX items. Brakes were Hayes hydraulic discs. Santa Cruzs smart parts selection keeps the Hecklers sticker price reasonable and delivers reliable performance. The bike is a ready-for-anything machine that weighs a very respectable 28 pounds.
Taking The Heckler To Task
The profile the Heckler cuts is very similar to that of the Santa Cruz Bullit freerider. I left the long-legged bike, with its heavy-looking coil-over shock, propped up against the wall until a flat tire on my cross-country bike enticed me to take the Heckler out for a serious ride. Only a couple of pedal strokes were necessary for me to realize what I had been missing out on. What a sweet pedaling bike! There was magic in this bike that begged to be put to task on the nearest singletrack.
Looks can deceive. Fat as the Heckler appears, it feels light as a feather. There is no need to heave your weight fore and aft to maintain traction, because the Heckler can be commanded with subtle movements from the center of the chassis. I quickly learned not to manhandle the Heckler. Point the front wheel where you intend to go and it will obey. Wank on the handlebar and it will send you off willy-nilly into the brush.
Experienced trail riders understand that there is a distinct difference between a quick-steering chassis and a precise-steering one. Quick-steering bikes feel responsive, but are unstable at speed and require constant attention to keep them on line. Precise-steering designs (Like the Heckler) may feel slower to respond, but they move from point to point like laser guided cruise missiles. Straighter lines between corners dramatically reduce the possibility of unforced errors.
I couldnt believe my legs. I still felt fresh after 15 miles of rolling singletrack aboard the Heckler. Santa Cruzs semi-active high-pivot swingarm cancels most of the Hecklers tendency to settle with each pedal stroke. Combine that with the anti-bob feature of the Fifth Element shock and you get a very plush-riding five-inch rear suspension that turns almost every Newton meter of torque that is delivered to the crankset into forward motion. Relying on the shock to filter out much of pedal stroke bobbing kept the long-stroke rear end rolling smoothly over the uneven trail surface as I delivered each successive power stroke to the wide-track Intense knobby tire.
As long as we are talking suspension, you will be happy to know that the five-inch stroke Fox Vanilla RL for is well suited to trailbike use. Coil forks are better than air-sprung types at leveling chatter bumps, or any small-amplitude, high-frequency impacts for that matter. The downside of most coil-spring forks, however, is that they tend to ride low in their travel, especially under braking. Fox got the compression damping right with its 125mm version of the Vanilla slider. It rode in the middle of its stroke while I was descending, which maintained the Hecklers steering precision when it was needed most, and it didnt feel bouncy while I was climbing.
Rough and tough is how the Heckler likes to play. Its suspension feels balanced and bottomless in the trail bike role. Its quite a confidence-builder to know that you can focus well ahead to the next corner, for instance and let the Heckler take care of everything in between. The Santa Cruz jumps flat and lands gracefully. I never hit anything hard enough to toss me off the line in a singletrack situation, and the bikes suspension was sensitive enough to maintain traction on slippery off-camber sections.
Get into a hucking war with some of your freeriding buddies and you will wish for stronger wheels and a heftier fork. The Super-X component ensemble is tailored for heavy-duty trail riding, and occasional freeride use. A true 28-pound freeriding sled does not exist. If you do get a wild hair to convert a Heckler chassis into a hucking machine, talk it over with your Santa Cruz dealer so you can get yourself some beefier hoops and a dual crown fork. The chassis can take a beating, but you must dress it for success.
So, What's Not To Like?
Trail riders will have a hard time finding fault with any aspect of the Heckler. If you plan on riding stunts, however, youll probably want a quick release seatpost clamp The Santa Cruz is capable of descending the steepest chutes, but you survive them without first lowering the saddle.
(Note from SC: Production Hecklers do now ship with a QR seatpost clamp)
Low bottom brackets are in vogue at the moment, and our Hecklers measured at 12.5 inches off the ground. Subtract a generous amount of suspension sag from that number and you will be bouncing pedals off of boulders on a fairly regular basis. An inch higher wouldnt hurt the hecklers performance. I dont like sudden surprises when Im at speed.
(Note from SC: Production model Hecklers have a static BB height of 13.2-inches)
Who Should Be Riding a Heckler?
Santa Cruz admits the Heckler is a bit of a misfit in its lineup. It is far more capable than a good trail bike needs to be, but its relatively light weight and pedaling efficiency make it perfect for that role. Outfit it as a freerider, and it will flourish in a North Shore environment as long as you stay away from the super-sick drops. I recommend the Heckler to second generation trail riders hard-core mountain bikers who have well developed bike handling skills and have cranked many miles on dual-suspension bikes. The Heckler is sturdy and versatile. You can jump it, ride stunts or take it out on an epic without touching it with an allen wrench. Its single-pivot suspension may be primitive by todays standards, but it has been tuned to the peak of its evolutionary curve and performs with a sophistication that most four-bar systems have yet to attain. The Heckler is a no-nonsense performer that I would very much like to have in my stable.