Santacruz Heckler

SpeedWeasel

I thought I'd share my new bike with you all.

After nearly 2 years of hammering round the peak district, selected trail centres and a couple of races on my trusty Carerra Fury I started to consider trying a FS. I started this process by attending the two NWMTB demo days at Roman Lakes early last year where I tried an Orange 5, Yeti ASR5, Stumpjumper, SC Blur LTc and a Scott Genius.

I decided I liked the way single pivot bikes rode and I liked the idea of (potentially) reduced maintenance. I set about scouring the for sale posts and Ebay for a suitable frame within budget.

Just after August I found this which after a speculative bid became mine,



First job was to strip off the stickers as they were a bit tatty, polish the paintwork up and then replace the decals with after market ones again from Ebay,




Then, after slowly sourcing the right components at the right prices and , with the Christmas gift of a bike work stand from my wife I built it up.

These are pics from the shakedown ride before taking it into the peaks. Most obvious mistake was trimming the Reverb hose before setting the seatpost height, so this was trimmed down again post-shakedown.






Frame: Santacruz Heckler (L)
Forks: Rockshox Revelation RL 150mm
Bars: Funn Fatbar 711mm
Stem: FSA Gravity Gap 60mm
Headset: FSA Orbit XLII
Grips: Ragley Lock-on

Front Brake: 2012 Shimano XT
Front disc: Superstar Vibe 203
Rear Brake: 2012 Shimano XT
Rear Disc: Superstar Vibe 180

Shifters: Shimano XT
Front Mech: ShimanoXT
Rear Mech: Shimano XT 10spd
Chain Device: Blackspire Stinger + Blackspire C4 Chain God

Seat: Charge Spoon Wiggle SE
Seat Post: Rockshox Reverb

Cranks: Shimano XT
Chainring(s): 22, 36
Chain: Shimano XT
Cassette: Shimano XT 11-34
Pedals: Shimano m520
Bottom Bracket: Shimano XT

Wheels: Hoop Hoops
Rim: Crest
Tube: n/a (tubeless)
Tire: Bontrager XR4 2.35 tlr

Weight: dunno, don't care

First proper ride was around Ladybower on Sunday and all I can say is WOW! I took a punt on the Heckler and it rides every bit as well as I'd hoped. Climbs well and descends like a mad thing. Grinned all the way round the route and cannot wait to ride it again.

I know the bars will be a bit marmite, but they were cheap and I think I really like them. Right now there is not a lot I would change.

Torres

Excellent work! Looks lovely.

1mancity2

Well nice that, bars look good imo.

delcol

convert the rear hub to a 10mm through axel and watch your heckler come alive, bye bye flexy rear end..

think mine rode better when i put a coil shock on it..

nice bike miss my heckler...

hobbitsharley

very nice wasnt sure on the colour in the 1st pics as looked very bright but looks great out in the daylight

lawman

sweeet looking bike, where did you get the 2012 xt brakes from?

SpeedWeasel

Thanks for the nice comments.

delcol wrote:

convert the rear hub to a 10mm through axel and watch your heckler come alive, bye bye flexy rear end...

Too early to notice flex but out of interest do I just need the axle converter from hope and then something like a Superstar 10mm axle?

lawman wrote:

sweeet looking bike, where did you get the 2012 xt brakes from?

Rosebikes.de. They were doing them for 60 euros an end back in September-ish. Seemed rude not too. Very powerful, and good modulation. They feel similar to the Formula The Ones I tried. To be honest they probably don't need such big disks...

lawman

ahh funnily enough thats where im thinking of getting them from, its being a pain to say the least!! they seem pretty erratic with delivery times, i had one email saying it would be 1-3 weeks, one saying it would be april, and another saying december!! not really being efficient germans atm!! did they come with the finned icetech pads or the other type?

SpeedWeasel

Mine came within 3 days (but they were in stock when I ordered), so had no problems. In fact the groupset came from actionsports.de and the Reverb came from bikecomponents.de all with no problems and very good delivery times - can't say the same about CRC at the minute!

My brakes came non-finned, but I know some people did get them with the fins when they ordered. From what I understand, finned are more for serious braking use such as the alps where rapid cooling is needed. I've only had one ride so far and I was riding MUCH faster downhill than I normally would and the brakes were flawless.

1mancity2

I've just done my pro2 to 10mm through axle easy job and cost 30 english pounds.

lawman

SpeedWeasel wrote:

Mine came within 3 days (but they were in stock when I ordered), so had no problems. In fact the groupset came from actionsports.de and the Reverb came from bikecomponents.de all with no problems and very good delivery times - can't say the same about CRC at the minute!

My brakes came non-finned, but I know some people did get them with the fins when they ordered. From what I understand, finned are more for serious braking use such as the alps where rapid cooling is needed. I've only had one ride so far and I was riding MUCH faster downhill than I normally would and the brakes were flawless.

thanks for the info, they both look like good value, glad to hear the brakes are good, looks like I'll be having two pairs sooner or later!!

delcol

Too early to notice flex but out of interest do I just need the axle converter from hope and then something like a Superstar 10mm axle?

depends if you have the new evo hub you just replace the end caps and get the say superstar axel if it's a normal pro 2 then yes the hope through axel conversion kit..
when you ride the heckler hard you will feel the back end flex.. the heckler is a real do all bike.. i ripped mine a new arsehole in whistler did 6 trips over 3 years with my heckler,, the bike really is at home on big terrain,. was awesome in the bikepark to..

just be sure to keep your eye on the pinch bolts that hold the swing arm to the pivot. one of mine sheered off and had to be drilled out and replaced...

Mojo_666

Nice looking bike, I am finding it Hard to match Oranges from different companies at the moment, we might have to compare notes.

lawman

SpeedWeasel wrote:

Mine came within 3 days (but they were in stock when I ordered), so had no problems. In fact the groupset came from actionsports.de and the Reverb came from bikecomponents.de all with no problems and very good delivery times - can't say the same about CRC at the minute!

My brakes came non-finned, but I know some people did get them with the fins when they ordered. From what I understand, finned are more for serious braking use such as the alps where rapid cooling is needed. I've only had one ride so far and I was riding MUCH faster downhill than I normally would and the brakes were flawless.

another quick question about the XT brakes, sorted my order out with rose, did yours come setup euro style, i.e. front brake on the left or proper style for normal riders?

SpeedWeasel

lawman wrote:

SpeedWeasel wrote:

Mine came within 3 days (but they were in stock when I ordered), so had no problems. In fact the groupset came from actionsports.de and the Reverb came from bikecomponents.de all with no problems and very good delivery times - can't say the same about CRC at the minute!

My brakes came non-finned, but I know some people did get them with the fins when they ordered. From what I understand, finned are more for serious braking use such as the alps where rapid cooling is needed. I've only had one ride so far and I was riding MUCH faster downhill than I normally would and the brakes were flawless.

another quick question about the XT brakes, sorted my order out with rose, did yours come setup euro style, i.e. front brake on the left or proper style for normal riders?

Euro style. But a complete doddle to swap over. There is a guide on Shimano's site. The brakes came with new olives and inserts. You'd need to trim them anyway so it's no bother.

chopchop

Very nice build, which seller did you buy the decals from as I could do with replacing the ones on my Heckler?

T.Howler

HI,
Nice build, orange bars and frame looks good together in fairness, i'm building a heckler atm would you recomend the revelations up front ? and are the crest rims strong enough cause theres a fair weight saving between them and the flows ? its quite rocky here in north wales so dont know how they'd hack it ?

enjoy riding it !

lawman

T.howler, dont own a heckler but do own a set of revs and two sets of crests, can recommend both highly, crests are without doubt the best rim ive used very strong and tough, used them on my Mojo HD all over the uk and have had zero problems, although quite light at around !1.5 stone, depends on how hard you ride and how heavy you are.

revs are good, but imo if you can afford fox, go for an RLC, the damping seems alot better than the standard revs, havent had major time on the blackbox damper in the rockshox, but back to back, i'd say go fox

T.Howler

Cheers for the advice "Lawman" will bear it in mind see whats around price wise for the fox 32's atm compare prices to the rev's. rock shox imo offer a little more reliability to a normal consumer compared to the fox's that need frequent servicing too. obviously this is due to two different performance scales.

i'm the same weight as yourself at 5'11 height so i can ride to be gentle on the bike as well as being aggressive say at trail centres or penmachno. but try and keep within my limits the heckler should be fine.

lawman

T.Howler wrote:

Cheers for the advice "Lawman" will bear it in mind see whats around price wise for the fox 32's atm compare prices to the rev's. rock shox imo offer a little more reliability to a normal consumer compared to the fox's that need frequent servicing too. obviously this is due to two different performance scales.

i'm the same weight as yourself at 5'11 height so i can ride to be gentle on the bike as well as being aggressive say at trail centres or penmachno. but try and keep within my limits the heckler should be fine.

in that case then, you should be fine with crests, like i say mine have done a lot centres and some natural rides no problem, even taken on the local DH courses and still straight as a die, very good wheels!

the rockshox service thing is a bonus, but if you can afford the kashima fox's they do last longer between services, mine are getting on for a year old and still feel smooth as they did out of the box, think i saw a place on ebay doing marzocchi 44 RC3 Ti's for £280 from the states, very plush, ultra reliable fork, bit heavier but still incredibly smooth.

SpeedWeasel

chopchop wrote:

Very nice build, which seller did you buy the decals from as I could do with replacing the ones on my Heckler?

I got the stickers from here - eBay - very pleased with them.

chopchop

SpeedWeasel wrote:

chopchop wrote:

Very nice build, which seller did you buy the decals from as I could do with replacing the ones on my Heckler?

I got the stickers from here - eBay - very pleased with them.

Thanks 8)

Privateirony

Looks pretty sweet! one thing i'd like to ask is about the Chain Device, as i am looking to get hold of one for my heckler (possibly) and am wondering what type i'd need, whether it be for a threaded bb shell OR the BB30 or press-in style?? Any ideas anyone?

warpcow

Hecklers have always had 'old-fashioned' threaded BBs. I had BB-mounted e.13 and Gamut devices on mine before I sold it.

Privateirony

hey peeps, im posting here as i am guessing that because you are heckler aficionados you might know... what type of headset does the heckler take? is it external, threaded, integrated, tapered, or does it not matter?