Santa Cruz Bicycles Bronson 2.0 S Complete Mountain Bike 2017

Some cyclists are still a bit leery of carbon frames' longevity on the ragged edge, but the frame at the heart of Santa Cruz's Bronson S Complete Mountain Bike has proven time and again to be capable of all mountain hammer dropping equal to Olympus itself. Since this Bronson's frame is built from alloy, the much lauded enduro geometry doesn't come with the carbon version's eye watering, Olympian price tag. Despite that, it does come with all the 2. 0 model tweaks that have earned so much praise since they were rolled out last year. The slacker, longer, Boostier frame is paired here with SRAM's GX componentry, a Neptune worthy Pike fork, and a Herculean Reverb Stealth dropper all of which hover near the top of our list for navigating the Scylla and Charybdis of steep rock gardens and big hit log roll overs. Of the body of geometry tweaks, the most impressive alteration may be the head tube, which slacks out by an extra tick on the protractor to drop from 67 to 66 degrees. This change is complemented with a corresponding increase in top tube length, a lower bottom bracket, and a raised lower link a combination that allows for short stemmed, point and click confidence while traversing lines and dropping steps that would cause even the previous Bronson to hesitate. Conversely, the Bronson 2. 0's seat tube gets steeper by almost a full degree in order to better position the engine read: your hips up over the Race Face crankset. The revised geometry keeps you on top of the pedal stroke, and relocated links allow for a shorter chainstay, which makes for more power transferring efficiency. The back end is further stiffened with the new 12 x 148mm axle standard, ensuring that the extra watts produced by the improved pedaling position and shorter chainstays aren't lost to wheel flex. Despite its slacker head tube and longer geometry, the back end changes help the Bronson 2. 0 pop over cruxes and maintain diesel speed during hardpack odysseys. The Bronson 2. 0's VPP s...