Santa Cruz Bicycles

Santa Cruz Bicycles was founded by Rob Roskopp, Mike Marquez and Rich Novak in 1993.[4] Roskopp had spent many years as a professional skateboarder, and Novak's Santa Cruz Skateboards company had put out a special "Roskopp" model before the two met. Roskopp and Novak went into partnership with bike engineer Mike Marquez, who had particular experience in bicycle suspension, and Tom Morris, a designer, to build some prototypes.[5]

Their first bike, in 1994, was a full suspension bike called the Tazmon. It had an 80 millimetres (3.1 in) travel single pivot design,[6] the first on the market.[1][4] It was followed a year later by the 100 millimetres (3.9 in) travel Heckler, a model that was discontinued for the 2016 model year and relaunched in 2020 as an e-bike.

The company acquired the patents for their Virtual Pivot Point (aka "VPP") from Outland Bikes around 1999.[4]

The company manufactures around a dozen models of mountain bikes made of carbon fiber and aluminum, ranging from $1500 to over $10000 retail. Their bikes are suited to a wide range of mountain biking disciplines.[1] Frame fabrication occurs in China and Taiwan, but all bicycles are assembled in Santa Cruz, built to customer specifications just before being shipped out.

In 2013, a single model, the "Juliana" was spun off as a stand-alone brand and range of mountain bikes for women, designed by and named for Juli Furtado.[7]

In 2017 Santa Cruz announced the addition of carbon fiber wheels[8] to their product lineup.

Current Santa Cruz/Juliana Production Models[9][10]

• 5010/Furtado - 27.5" wheels, 130 millimetres (5.1 in) VPP Travel
• Blur - 29" wheels, 100 millimetres (3.9 in) VPP Travel (Re-introduced in 2018)
• Tallboy/Joplin - 29" wheels, 120 millimetres (4.7 in) VPP Travel
• Bronson/Roubion - 27.5" wheels, 150 millimetres (5.9 in) VPP Travel
• Hightower - 29" wheels, 145 millimetres (5.7 in) VPP Travel
• Megatower - 29" wheels, 160 millimeters (6 in) VPP Travel
• Nomad - 27.5" wheels, 170 millimetres (6.7 in) VPP Travel
• V10 - 27.5" wheels or 29" wheels,[11] 216 millimetres (8.5 in) VPP Travel
• Chameleon - 29" or 27.5"+ wheels, hardtail trail bike
• Highball - 29" wheels, hardtail xc bike
• Jackal - 26" wheels, dirt jump frame
• Stigmata - 700c wheels, cyclocross/gravel bike
• Heckler - 27.5" wheels, e-mountain bike, 150 millimetres (5.9 in) VPP Travel (Re-introduced as e-bike in 2020)

Current Santa Cruz Production Wheel Models

• Reserve Carbon Wheels - 27.5 or 29" - 25, 27, 30, 37mm[12]

Discontinued Models[13]

• Bantam
• Blur LT
• Blur XC
• Blur 4X
• Bullit
• Butcher
• Driver 8
• Heckler
• Juliana Cushtail
• Nickel
• Roadster
• Super 8
• Superlight
• Tallboy LT
• Tazmon
• VP Free
• HighTower LT

Santa Cruz Syndicate is a sponsored downhill team affiliated with the company. Current roster is Loris Vergier, Luca Shaw, and Greg Minnaar.[14]

• Official website
• Juliana Bicycles