Santa Cruz Bicycles

Nomad Carbon CC Air Mountain Bike Frame

Some bikes just aren't suited to plunging down the steepest, gnarliest lines on the mountain, causing you to question how far you're willing to push a shorter travel, less aggressive bike on terrain where falls carry serious consequences. Not here. The Santa Cruz Nomad Carbon CC Mountain Bike Frame begs you to purposely seek out ridiculously steep descents, bike park hits, and sketchy freeride terrain that would otherwise have you dismounting and walking in shame. This particular 2019 Nomad Carbon CC Frame retains all of the major design features as the 2018 model, it's just decked out in fresh color schemes that pop vividly when you're lapping the resort's bike park or hitting freeride lines tucked away in the woods.

The flip-chip integrated into the swingarm provides the ability to fine-tune its geometry to your exact riding preferences and local terrain. Keep it in the high setting for a more efficient pedaling platform on rides with a mix of blistering descents and steep climbs. Conversely, you can switch it to the low setting for an even slacker geometry (head tube of 64.6 degrees) that's purely aimed on downhill laps at the resort and shuttle runs up the pass where climbing isn't an issue. Ultimately, its adjustable geometry lends the ability to push the bike to the absolute limit on lift-accessed days or retain more balance for earning your turns across large and imposing alpine terrain.

Moving to the revised shock placement, the engineers at Santa Cruz sought to achieve a more linear shock rate with the fourth-gen Nomad, much like you'd find with the V10. The VPP suspension is driven by a lower-link mounted shock, marking a radical departure from Santa Cruz's more trail-oriented offers with an upper-link driven design. This revised shock placement eliminates the Nomad's previous tendencies to settle in the middle of its travel, meaning it feels more active and tracks to the ground noticeably better across steep descents and rugged terrain. And even though its shock rate is more linear, it doesn't sacrifice support deep into the travel, meaning it never feels harsh on bigger hits and downhill runs.