Santa Cruz is clearly on some sort of a roll at the moment. Having sprung a surprise Bullit relaunch on us a few weeks back, it’s now announced an all-new Santa Cruz Heckler too.

The Heckler name has a long and glorious history. The first bike to bear the name was one of very few all-round full-suspension bikes at the time – 100mm of travel from a frame that was tough enough to downhill but light enough to just ride around the place. It spawned the Superlight (recently redesigned itself) before disappearing for a couple of years and resurfacing with more travel and a generally beefier demeanour.

And now it’s come around again, “the third and final member of our single pivot revival” as Santa Cruz says. With the Superlight sticking at 4in of travel and the new Bullit packing 7, the Heckler splits the difference (ish) with a whisker under 6 and geometry designed around a 140mm travel fork – a combination that seems to be gaining traction as a popular all-mountain setup.

If you’re familiar with the new Superlight and Bullit, the features of the new Heckler won’t come as too much of a surprise. The swingarm is in the new SC swoopy style, with a 15mm pivot axle and lifetime-guaranteed bearings up front, a replaceable derailleur hanger out back and clearance for 8in brake rotors somewhere in the middle. The front triangle is constructed from 6069 aluminium, with some rather neat gussets and a curvy downtube to ensure clearance for any single crown fork you care to choose. It’s rated for up to 170mm of travel.

Claimed weight is 6.4lb for a medium frame with a Fox Float R shock, there’ll be a choice of five powdercoat, two anodised and one polished finish and you can expect to see production frames in April. No word on UK pricing yet, but expect it to be very reasonable…