Bike decisions - giant or Santa Cruz

LewisGifford93

https://www.rutlandcycling.com/bikes/mountain-bikes/santa-cruz-bronson-r-2019-full-suspension-mountain-bike-blue_465360

https://www.rutlandcycling.com/462065/products/giant-reign-sx1-2019-aluminium-full-suspension-mountain-bike-desert.aspx

https://www.rutlandcycling.com/462112/products/giant-trance-1-full-suspension-mountain-bike-blue.aspx

Hey Everyone!

 Heres the deal...

Getting right back into my riding, current bike (an ancient Giant STP) is well due an upgrade and im wanting to go full sus. Riding a lot more trails and at places like chicksands in bedford so looking to go more serious with my bike.

Narrowed it down to 3, a Giant Trance 1, a Giant Reign SX1 or a Santa Cruz Bronson R+. 

Used to be bang up to date with all the bike parts and latest and greatest but now i havent got a clue so as much use as a newbie when it comes to all the spec tables. 

anyone got a preference on any of these 3? Or anyone who can make more sense of the spec tables.


Fully appreciate your also paying for the santa cruz name, ,but are you getting the moneys worth over the giants?

at the end of the day, theyre all going to feel and ride different to my old hardtail but im going to have this bike for a long old time so wanna commit to one thats going to last!



cheers everyone!

Lewis

jamski

If it were between those three Id go for the Santa Cruz. Purely because I like the way it looks and Im more familiar with the parts it uses.

However one thing I would want if I'm dropping £3k plus on a bike is a bloody good test ride. Fit and how it rides are more important than anything. It'll be so different from your current bike.

Have a look at some British direct sales brands such as Bird, Airdrop and Cotic. You can get a hell of a bike from them for your budget, and have a good test ride too.

billycool

They are all nice bikes in their own right.

Santa Cruz are lovely bikes but arguably you are paying top dollar and I'm not sure if they are the best value for money.

For that sort of budget you do have so much choice and as jamski rightly points out, you could spec a mega machine from some of the more direct/independant brands.

The also have the option of a 2018 bike, if you can find what you want in the right size. Can save a lot of £££'s

The most important thing is ride a few bikes and buy what suits you and your riding and not the prettiest/nicest name!

Happy shopping.

loudog

The comparison is almost laughable! Santa cruz every time. You even get free bearings for life as well as lifetime warranty on the frame. The bike (and brand) are just in a different class. If they are your only choices - Bronny bronson!

tallpaul_s

That spec on the Santa Cruz is downright shameful. £3500, for motion control damped forks, NX eagle, bottom of the range guide brakes, and so on.

Considering you can get a bike with a carbon frame, GX eagle, fox 36 factory, fox dpx2 factory, carbon bar and cranks, for the same price as that thing, well - it's why I have never given Santa Cruz bikes a second thought when buying a new bike.

It looks like you're after a long travel 27.5 enduro machine - have a look at the Commencal Meta AM as a comparison - https://www.commencal-store.co.uk/meta-am-v42-race-2019-c2x26307409

Same price. Top of the range Lyric RC2. Super deluxe Coil. GX/NX Eagle.

Or, the YT Capra CF Pro. £3600 https://www.yt-industries.com/uk/detail/index/sArticle/2094/sCategory/92

Full carbon frame. Lyric RC2. Super Deluxe. GX Eagle. Code RS brakes.

I don't know how people buy Santa Cruz bikes, they must get dazzled by the name and not notice the terrible spec on their new £4000 aluminium base level build...

tom_howard

Direct sale brands in appearing better value than traditional sales ones shocker...

See if you can get a test ride on them (pretty easy for those brands, as well as plenty of others), if you get talking to the dealers, on a demo day for example, you may find they can do better pricing than that, or have something from left field you weren’t considering.

Don’t just buy off spec sheets.

bonzo_banana

LouDog wrote:

The comparison is almost laughable! Santa cruz every time. You even get free bearings for life as well as lifetime warranty on the frame. The bike (and brand) are just in a different class. If they are your only choices - Bronny bronson!

Also lifetime warranty on Giant frames although no free bearings. Santa Cruz frames used to be made by Giant but unsure which factory they use now. Many of the brands that used to use Giant frames have now gone to cheaper factories in Cambodia or Bangladesh.

Watched this video yesterday which highlights the utterly appalling value of Santa Cruz. Certainly not a brand to buy if you want the most bang for your buck. Maybe the appalling value is an indicator that they have stuck with the Giant factory putting frame quality as a priority over competitive pricing. If you want a Giant quality frame why not just buy a Giant though if the geometry is up to date, 'if' being the key word. Personally if I was spending serious money on a bike I'd look first at the Giant range and only look elsewhere if the dynamics of the bike were inferior to the competition because likely in every other way they will be superior for the price point especially frame quality unless you are comparing them with some shop brand bikes or direct sellers who can exceed Giant for value. If I'm spending serious money on a bike I like the idea of some after-sales service thrown in which you can get with Giant rather than just a box dumped on your doorstep which is the case with direct sellers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeSAgIQXen8

tom_howard

Bet if you spoke nicely to a SC dealer (not stomping in and demanding 50% off) you’d get a good chunk of discount, or at least a fair few accessories/upgrades thrown in. Clue is in what the first R in RRP means...