While Santa Cruz’s 29″ wheeled offerings have been getting all the love of late, Pete is throwing his leg over a Bronson for the foreseeable.
Can long travel 27.5″ bikes still cut the mustard when it comes to smile factor on the trail? Pete has been finding out what the Santa Cruz Bronson CC XO1 Reserve can do over the last month or two.
Key features:
- RockShox Lyrik Ultimate 160mm fork
- RockShox Super Deluxe Select Ultimate shock
- SRAM XO1 Eagle 12-speed drive
- SRAM Code RSC brakes
- Santa Cruz Reserve 30 rims on DT 350 hubs
- RockShox Reverb Stealth dropper
- £7,799.99 RRP
- SantaCruzBicycles.com
The Bronson received the lower link-mounted shock upgrade to bring it in line with the rest of the range. The CC XO1 Reserve model sits two from the top of the pile, with only the XTR and XX1 AXS models above. Carbon C and Carbon CC builds are available.
Sporting 27.5″ wheels, the Bronson has 150mm rear wheel travel, with a 160mm fork out front.
Build kit
There’s really no part of the Bronson CC XO1 Reserve that has been overlooked. Having ridden the similar spec Tallboy, this build felt very familiar indeed.
160mm fork travel is dealt with by a top-of-the-line Lyrik Ultimate and was buttery smooth and supportive from the off. Maybe with a touch too little slow speed round from the off but nothing some dial twiddling wouldn’t solve. The rear wheel’s 150mm travel is handled by a RockShox Super Deluxe Select Ultimate shock. Both units I set up faster and softer than I would normally, following my experience with the Tallboy.
The rest of the build, beyond the Reserve 30 rims on DT Swiss 350 hubs is SRAM-heavy. SRAM XO1 Eagle 12-speed drive, carbon crank, Code RSC brakes and a Reverb Stealth dropper.
Maxxis Minion tyres and a Santa Cruz carbon 35mm cockpit round everything out.
Geometry
The Bronson in a size medium is shorter in the reach than the Tallboy interestingly and it did take some time to adjust to, but once you’ve our eye in, I didn’t find it held me back at all.
A 436mm reach on the medium is combined with a 65.4 degree head angle and a 75.3 degree seat angle.
Again, like the Tallboy, the seat angle combined with the lower link mounted shock means the bike may well feel shorter in the saddle than it does when you’re up on the pedals.
The flip chip allows the chainstay to be adjusted +/-10mm, with the low setting adding more progression to the suspension.
Opening moves
As soon as I swung a leg over the Bronson, there was a fizz that was somewhat lacking on the Tallboy before some tweaks, and I immediately felt like the bike was very much encouraging me onwards.
While I very much took a cautious approaching to winding the speed up on the Bronson, it had and has everything under control. It feels lively, light and responsive without being skittery, preferring to use any upslope to gain some airtime compared to the Tallboy’s preference for picking a line and motoring on through.
It was only once the speed had increased and I found myself pushing on that minor irks appeared. At around 60kg, I find the 35mm cockpit is unpleasantly stiff for long rides that involve any prolonged descending. I will be winding a couple of clicks of high speed rebound onto the Lyriks as they return a little too abruptly when pushing on.
Finally, I don’t know why I didn’t do this before I rode it, but in the search for more grip from the Maxxis rubber, I’ll be getting the wheels set up tubeless.
In short, the Bronson is a riot. Speed and control aplenty with more in the tank with some subtle tweaks.
