First rides

SWINGING A LEG OVER WHAT'S HOT THIS MONTH

SANTA CRUZ 5010 C GX RSV

£8,899 MX santacruzbikes.co.uk

Santa Cruz's new mixed-wheel 5010 is far more than just a jibber's playhorse

Santa Cruz says this bike is for playful riders, riders who want to roll up a tree trunk and fakie out of it and grind their mechs off on stumps big kids who won't grow up. It’s a trail bike that loves to play,” the brand says, and there’s even a little video from Handy MacAskill detailing all the mad skills you're supposed to be aiming for on the 5010. Marketing hype, thought.

Cut through that, though, and the new 5010 really is a vivacious little scamp of a bike. Santa Cruz hires ridiculously talented riders to show the world what its machines can do, and the 50to01 crew does tend to favour the 5010. But it doesn’t need to be that way. I’ve discovered that average Joes like me can have fun and rip on this bike... albeit in our own modest way. 

Santa Cruz has accomplished this with a modest frame redesign and some tinkering here and there. There’s nothing like the big changes that went into the last redesign in 2020, when the bike adopted the brand’s now ubiquitous lower link-driven makeover with its shock running through a tunnel in the seat tube. Instead, it’s settled on a suspension kinematic update the 5010 now has reduced anti-squat to keep it active and sensitive over the ground, and reduce the effects of pedal kickback. The leverage curve is more progressive too, which is great if you’re big into loading the bike round corners, hopping over stuff and generally larking about on the trail. It'll also come in handy when you reach the end of the modest travel available, increasing support and bottom-out resistance.