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I have a bud with a similar SST - Lyrik and Vivid coil. He loves it and did the BC bike race on it last year.
I also coach with the local high school xc team mostly to teach proper descending, but the kids either ride 50%+ sag with the rebound all the way closed, or zero sag and adjustments all over the place. When I raced in high school I paid great attention to my suspension, but some don't have a feeling for it.
It's totally fine and understandable to ask if the bike suits what you - its a reasonable question that only becomes an issue when other start complaining that Santa Cruz didn't design their bike especially for them. You can be disappointed, but it needs some perspective too
I want to preface this by saying I'm not trying to pick a fight or anything, but it seems to me that people complaining that the bike wasn't made for them is partially what lead to the V6 Tallboy the way it is. It's become part of the homogenous mass of Horst link bikes. I remember times when people complained about a new bike coming out and it not being Horst link, like the g3 Kona Process. Or it's like every time a bike comes out and people complain that the chainstays aren't long enough, or the stack isn't high enough, like come on get with the program here. Maybe as someone who is 6 feet tall I want short chainstays, or I want a single pivot with a higher anti rise, or I just want something that is a bit unique in how the suspension works. If I wanted a bike with 440+ stays, about 65ish % anti rise, etc..., there are already tons of great bikes out there that fit that, but people who don't want that are pretty quickly losing the bikes they like. I don't really think it's fair to dismiss the dislike of the new tallboy as people complaining the bike wasn't made for them, when so many bikes are becoming almost the exact same as the one from the next brand over.
I'm done ranting now.
I am not seeing how the last 4 pages of this thread have anything to do with rumors or innovation.
Mayb the thread should be retitled, something like “tech rumors and innovation… and bitching about it.”
I do think VPP has something special. I ride a V3 Bullit and a Cascade link Patrol back to back. Similar progression and travel and the suspension feels totally different.
VPP feels like when you pump the bike pushes back and rewards you with forward momentum. I also like the falling anti rise rather than flat 60% that the crab Santa Cruz’s and Transitions have. (Can a not flat anti rise can be achieved in crab link?) I’ve daily driven 4 crab link bikes: Norco, Spesh, Transition (current Patrol and…yes V1 Sentinel) They’re all good but the suspension never wows you like VPP does. I feel the same with the 2 Ripmos I had.
I committed ebike seppuku of buying a Shimano motor V3 Bullit in 2025. (also have a Cascade 5010 for analog bike comparison)
Took me a while to start guzzling the Santa Cruz kool aid it’s just the old Santa Cruz kool aid.
SST is damned brilliant too
To bring it back to tech stuff, the new Scott Spark we saw at Korea will have a shock cover to seal the frame, but currently the flight attendant shocks don't fit in one.
Bullshit
If that was the case the V10.8 would’ve been a high pivot four or six bar.
https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/kinematics
Post a reply to: 2026 MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation - Longer and Slacker