First Look: Santa Cruz Heckler E-Bike
Price: $7,399 and up
Claimed weight: 47.7 lb.
Santa Cruz just brought back its mid-travel mountain bike, the Heckler, a once-popular trail model that’s been on hold since 2016. This time, it’s turbocharged. The brand has been one of the last to introduce an e-mountain bike but, given the company's popularity in Europe (and Euro-based owners), it seemed an assisted bike was inevitable. The bike sits solidly in the e-trail category with 150mm of rear travel, 160mm up front, 27.5-inch wheels (not too dissimilar from the current Bronson) and has a mid-mount Shimano Steps E8000 motor.
E-MTB touches include a custom handlebar that hides Di2 wires for a clean aesthetic and a battery cover that attaches via 4mm hex keys rather than a proprietary key. And Santa Cruz says it has reduced anti-squat to adjust for the extra weight and torque, improving traction while pedaling and riding over rough terrain.
Santa Cruz wanted a playful e-experience, and the bike’s geometry reflects that. The relatively slack head angle (65.5-degrees) is middle-of-the-road and 445mm chainstays are actually pretty tight for an e-bike; the stays have to make room to accommodate the motor around the bottom bracket.
Santa Cruz is using it’s top-end CC carbon on all versions of the bike to keep weight low. It comes in four build options, the cheapest of which is the R build for $7,399. It’s also available with Santa Cruz Reserve 30 carbon wheels, and 12-speed SRAM XX1 Eagle AXS for $13,099. The Heckler is comes in sizes small through XXL.
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