The Santa Cruz Nomad is an iconic member of its inventory but how does the most recent mixed wheel iteration stack up?
Pete takes delivery of the top spec Carbon C-framed Santa Cruz Nomad, the Mullet-wheeled, 170mm travel bruiser.
Photos by Pete Scullion.
Key features:
- Rockshox Zeb Select + 170mm fork
- RockShox Super Deluxe Select+ coil shock
- SRAM GX AXS Eagle T-type 12-speed drive
- SRAM Code Bronze Stealth brakes
- i9 1/1 hubs on Reserve 30|HD rims
- OneUp V2 dropper
- £7,999.00 RRP
- SantaCruzBicycles.com
Launched in 2023, the sixth edition of the Santa Cruz Nomad saw an update across the board whilst still retaining the familiar silhouette. The updated Nomad gained a 29″ front wheel, a lower initial leverage curve to make the 170mm travel more consistent, more reach and a Glovebox.
The current template therefore is a Mullet-wheeled, 170mm travel, VPP bike that shares the same front triangle as the Megatower. Size specific frame stiffness and chainstays are one of the many things that help to justify the steeper asking prices of Santa Cruz bikes. The bike here is the highest spec Carbon C model.
The eloquently-named Nomad Carbon C GX AXS RSV Coil, as the name suggests comes with SRAM’s GX AXS Eagle T-type drive and Reserve rims, the latter laced to i9 1/1 rims. There is the option to save one thousand pounds and have to struggle on with alloy rims. Damping is courtesy of a Rockshox Zeb Select + out front and a Super Deluxe Coil Select + out back. Braking is handled by SRAM’s Code Stealth Bronze brakes. A nice feature of the coil version of this bike is that it comes shod with Maxxis DoubleDown rubber, an Assegai/Minion DHR II combo. Finishing kit is a Santa Cruz carbon bar held in place by a Burgtec stem with a OneUp V2 dropper holding onto a WTB Silverado saddle.
Geometry
The Santa Cruz Nomad is available in S, M, L, XL and XXL.
Reach on the M in Lo is 452mm with a seat tube of 405mm. Head angle is 63.5 degrees with a seat tube angle of 77.2 degrees. Chainstays are size specific with the M having 441mm chainstays with a 1240mm wheelbase.
Opening moves
The Nomad would be my first shot of a Mullet Santa Cruz, the last small wheel Santa Cruz I rode was a Bronson in between the first two lockdowns. Despite the larger front wheel, the Nomad is still aimed at the same kind of riding. With 170mm travel front and rear, plus this coil-specced number coming with Maxxis DoubleDown tyres is a sign of its intended use.
The Select + flavour of Zeb fork comes with all the twiddlers that the Ultimate models do, so getting them dialled in is easy enough. Getting coil shocks fine tuned, certainly at my weight is hard, usually involving going down a spring rate or two (props to the Saracen Ariel 60 for luckily being spot on with a 400lb spring).
This is further complicated by the shock on the Nomad piercing the seat tube and offering little or no way to easily measure sag. Using the bottom out bumper as a spacer usually works fine but even getting to this on the Nomad isn’t straightforward. The 400lb spring though seemed to give the right sag when wound almost all the way out. That said, with only rebound and Hydraulic Bottom Out adjustable on the Super Deluxe Coil, I got it feeling as good as I could, wound the brake levers in a touch, then set out for a ride.
On the climbs, the Nomad doesn’t feel like a 170mm travel bike, making solid work of turning your input into forward motion. It’s no XC race bike but I don’t think anyone was expecting that. On the techier climbs, the linkage combined with the plushness only a coil can provide smoothes out the chatter and square edges to help you keep the cadence up.
The moment I pushed the cranks to kick off the first descent, the Nomad was ready to go. Despite running a bit more wind in the wheels than I would normally, the bike was ready to go. Despite making short work of all manner of hits, the Nomad kept things engaging, and for a big travel bike, didn’t feel like one to ride.
After that it was just a case of becoming more comfortable with how the Nomad behaved, working towards the limit whilst trying to log any changes that I might need to make. For now, all seems to be in order. The only things I can think to change are perhaps going down one spring rate to 375lb and running a touch more preload and maybe a shorter overall length dropper as the OneUp sits an inch or two proud of the frame at the right saddle height. The short seat tube might negate this from being an option, however.
These two are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things and shows the Nomad is prepared to charge right out of the box. The first few laps were simply a case of winding up the tempo before heading to something a little spicier. The Nomad it would seem can handle mild chilli so we’ll have to take it for the full Madras shortly.
