• Santa Cruz Heckler
• £1,059 (frame w/5th Element shock); complete bike as tested £2,697
• Santa Cruz
• 01423 780088

Santa Cruz’s Heckler has a long history. The original four inch travel Heckler was one of the first FS bikes to be a really convincing all-rounder. They were raced downhill successfully but were equally at home out in the hills (not necessarily with the same parts fitted, of course). And they sold bucketloads of them. The Heckler spawned the fat-reduced Superlight which is in the SC range to this day. And after a break in production the Heckler name came back attached to a bike that’s true to the all-round appeal of the original. Only more so, with 130mm of travel at the back.

Frame

While there’s clearly a family resemblence with the original Heckler, the current bike is all-new. Yes, the shock’s in the same place, it eschews SC’s VPP technology for a good old single pivot design and you still get a cranked top tube, but as far as we can tell the only bits it actually has in common are the pivot bearings. No complaints there, we’ve got a six-year-old Mk1 Heckler kicking about that’s still got the originals in.

For those who care about these things, the Heckler’s welded up from custom-butted 6069 aluminium tubes. It’s pretty big on burliness, with gussets on the top tube, down tube and between the two. The single pivot’s tucked away in front of the chainrings between big and middle height. A forged yoke clamps the pivot bearings and a monotube upright replaces the twin uprights of the old bike. Squarish section “chainstays” are arranged asymmetrically, with the non-drive side one running a little lower than the drive-side one (which has to clear the front mech).

Santa Cruz doesn’t like replaceable gear hangers – it reckons that a separate hanger introduces unacceptable flex at a critical point and reduces shifting accuracy. But a fixed hanger (like on the old bike) means that bust hanger = new swingarm, so the Heckler features a completely replaceable dropout secured to the aft end of the swingarm with a pair of bolts. So the rear wheel and derailleur are mounted to the same bit of metal but it’s easier and cheaper to rectify any hanger bendage.

You don’t get any V-brake bosses, but you do get a bottle opener on the left-hand dropout. Just be careful that heat from the rear caliper doesn’t introduce any unacceptable warmth to your beer.

The Heckler isn’t in any way a pretty bike. It’s got all sorts of slightly weird angles and a lot of chunky bits. But it certainly has a rugged sort of appeal, particularly in the grey finish of the test bike. As usual with SC there’s a big choice of paint colours and you can mix and match main frame and swingarm if you like.

Components

You get a lot of flexibility when you buy a Santa Cruz. As well as the colour options there’s also a bunch of shock choices – 5th Element coil or air, or Fox AVA R if you want to save some pennies. Then either kit the frame out with whatever comes to hand or choose one of SC’s well-thought out build kits.

Your first choice to make is the fork. The big news on the test bike was the Maverick DUC 32 propping up the front end. Maverick only supplies these forks to Santa Cruz and Whyte for original equipment spec, so if you want to buy an off-the-shelf bike with a DUC on it, your choices are very limited. At six inches (150mm) of travel it’s more than a travel match for the back end, but for its travel the DUC is fairly short and it runs more sag, so it doesn’t chopper out the front end much.

Then you’ve got a number of build kits to choose from. Our test bike came with “X-D” spec, which is the sort of mix of hard-riding without too much heft parts that we’d choose ourselves for all-round performance. Shimano XT does transmission duties, with RF+ shifters sitting alongside Hope levers driving Mini calipers. The wheel package is largely WTB, with LaserDisc rims and 2.3in Weirwolf tyres. Hubs are Hope rear and Maverick up front – the fork uses a unique 24mm axle (it’s the biggest diameter that’ll fit inside the bolt circle of the standard six-bolt disc mount).

Ride

Hop on the Heckler and the first thing that strikes you is “short”. It’s not, to be fair, actually all that short but with a 23.3in top tube on the Large frame it’s certainly not long. The riser bars and angly Maverick stem sit the bars up pretty high, too, giving the Heckler a definite look-where-you’re-going stance.

Despite, or perhaps because of, the compact cockpit, the Heckler manages to feel like quite a big bike. The huge fork and relatively long back end conspire to make you feel like there’s a lot of bike at each end and not much in the middle. We’re not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing, it’s just the way it is. The long rear makes itself felt on marginal-traction climbs, though. It’ll get up ’em fine, but you have to pay a bit more attention to where you put yourself. Whacking the fork down to its 4in travel setting helps here, letting you shuffle your weight a bit further back without the front popping up.

Coming back the other way the geometry works well in a sweepy kind of way. Again, you may find that you need to be somewhere other than where you’re used to to keep both tyres hooking up in corners but the short cockpit makes it easy to put yourself over one end or the other. The WTB tyres are confident in most situations but keep an eye on them in the slime.

Suspension performance is surprisingly well-balanced front and rear. We were expecting the buttery 6in of the Maverick fork to leave the back end feeling wanting, but the well-placed pivot and 5th Element shock proved to be a capable combination. Yes, it can get choppy on braking bumps and you’ll get some pedal feedback on lumpy low-gear climbs, but it’s solid under power and it’s a fair trade-off for the rugged simplicity of the system. After all, get a jack of all trades bike like this and you’re likely to end up riding it all the time.

The Heckler’s something of a rider’s bike. It’ll do most things well but you might find you have to get a bit more involved than with some bikes. And that’s no bad thing if you’re out riding mainly for fun…

Positives: Sturdy, predictable, reliable, jack of all trades

Negatives: Geometry won’t suit everyone, simple rear suspension has its limitations

At this price and with that fork, comparisons with Whyte’s 46 are inevitable. And the spec is almost identical, save the 46’s bigger brakes, which are certainly a boon. They’re really quite different bikes, though. The 46 is a big-travel, nimble, efficient mile-muncher while the Heckler’s more of a sturdy chuck-it-about playbike. It’s perfectly happy being ridden all day in the same way that a 46 is happy with a bit of freeridey foolishness, but in either case you’re not really playing to the bike’s strength. Decide what you like to do and choose your weapon…

Performance: 4/5
Value: 4/5
Overall: 4/5