Santa Cruz have released the fifth iteration of their long-travel, 27.5″-wheeled machine, the Nomad.
If Santa Cruz is a boy band, then the Nomad is one of the few original members left, having been around in various guises since the mid-2000s. For 2021, the Nomad gets subtle tweaks that bring it inline with the rest of the range and make it more capable altogether.
Action photos by Sam Needham.
The fifth iteration of the Nomad gets the longer, slacker treatment as is customary these days, but there’s more to it than just raking out the last version. Seat tube angle steepens, you get longer size-specific chainstays with more beef to the swingarm, a straighter leverage curve and grease ports to keep everything tip top.
As with other new Santa Cruz models, you get Carbon C or CC frame build options, with no alloy option in the range. Frame-only comes in at £3,299, with the Carbon C R kicking the range off at £4499, topping out at the CC XO1 Reserve at £7799.
Travel still sits at 170mm with no change to the wheels either at 27.5″ front and back, making the Nomad the longest travel 27.5″-wheeled bike in the Santa Cruz range. Its 29″ equivalent is the Megatower.
Geometry
Sizing runs from Small to XLarge, head tube angles slackening by almost a degree, reach growing, a steeping of the size-specific seat tube angle and the size-specific chainstays growing 5mm across the board.
On the size Medium, you get a 450mm reach combined with a 405mm seat tube. Head tube angle is changeable from 64 to 63.7 degrees via the flip chip, with the seat tube angle coming in at 78 degrees. Chainstays or ‘rear centre’ as they’re called on the Santa Cruz website are 430mm, on a wheelbase of 1222mm.
2021 Santa Cruz Nomad models
Nomad C R
Key features:
- RockShox Zeb 170mm fork
- RockShox Super Deluxe Select shock
- SRAM NX Eagle 12-speed drive
- SRAM Guide RE brakes
- SRAM MTH 716 hubs on WTB ST i30 TCS 2.0 rims
- SDG Tellis dropper
- £4499 RRP
Nomad C S
Key features:
- Fox 38 Float Performance 170mm fork
- RockShox Super Deluxe Select shock
- SRAM GX Eagle 12-speed drive
- SRAM Code R brakes
- DT Swiss 370 hubs on RaceFace AR Offset 30 rims
- RockShox Reverb Stealth dropper
- £5399 RRP
Nomad C XT
Key features:
- Fox 38 Float Performance 170mm fork
- RockShox Super Deluxe Select shock
- Shimano XT 12-speed drive
- Shimano XT 4-piston brakes
- DT 350 on RaceFace ARC Offset 30 rims
- RockShox Reverb Stealth
- £6,099 RRP
Nomad C XT Coil
Key features:
- Fox 38 Float Performance 170mm fork
- RockShox Super Deluxe Coil Select+ shock
- Shimano XT 12-speed drive
- Shimano XT 4-piston brakes
- DT 350 on RaceFace ARC Offset 30 rims (not SC Reserve rims as shown)
- RockShox Reverb Stealth
- £6,099 RRP
Nomad CC XO1
Key features:
- Fox 38 Float Factory 170mm fork
- Fox Float X2 Factory shock
- SRAM XO1 Eagle 12-speed drive
- SRAM Code RSC brakes
- DT 350 hubs on Race Face ARC Offset 30 rims
- RockShox Reverb Stealth dropper
- £6,599 RRP
Nomad CC XO1 Coil
Key features:
- Fox 38 Float Factory 170mm fork
- Fox DH X2 Factory Coil shock
- SRAM XO1 Eagle 12-speed drive
- SRAM Code RSC brakes
- DT 350 hubs on Race Face ARC Offset 30 rims
- RockShox Reverb Stealth dropper
- £6,599 RRP
