Santa Cruz Bicycles Nomad Carbon C Mountain Bike Frame - 2018

With its 6. 5 inches of plush VPP suspension, the Nomad Carbon C Mountain Bike Frame from Santa Cruz eats tricky root lattices and steep drops for supper and gets a double serving of gnarly rock gardens for dessert. Sure, it won't compete against the featherweight, short-travel XC rigs on the climbs, but it won't be far behind either, and it tackles ascents with a hunger that defies its big-travel, slacked out geometry. And when the trail points down, it'll leave the spandex-clad crowd eating its dust, that is, if they're able to keep it in sight. Santa Cruz's VPP suspension returns for this latest model with a V10 derived lower linkage driven shock for excellent support and improved small bump compliance. It maintains the snappy pedaling you're accustomed to and complements the Nomad's stiff, lightweight chassis and agile, sub-17 inch chainstays on this fourth generation Nomad. The VPP system's dynamic pedaling platform owes its multiple award-winning suspension habits to two counter-rotating links, which coordinate to yield a wheel path that is supple in its initial travel while maintaining a firm pedaling feel over small bumps and climbs. As the bike compresses deeper into the suspension, the axle moves rearward to accommodate big hits for an extra margin of error when you're running on the farthest edges of control. All the suspension technology in the world won't salvage a laden, unresponsive frame, though, and Santa Cruz's carbon expertise is equally as important to the Nomad's VPP platform or whatever kit you plan to build this frame up with. This Nomad features a less-expensive, slightly heavier carbon layup than its price-is-no-object Carbon CC frames. The Carbon C material has a lower modulus, so slightly more material is required to hit the same stiffness and durability properties as the CC models. It's not quite as light, but those extra few grams make up for themselves in value by placing the Nomad's ride quality in a much more attainable price poi...