TESTED: Santa Cruz Bronson C MkII

Words: Adam Fernyhough

Photos: Tim Bardsley-Smith, Jaime Black

Time is constant, it’s then, it’s now, it’s the future. It doesn’t seem long ago that Santa Cruz launched the Bronson, their first 27.5” wheeled frame, with a progressive geometry design which stepped away from their past models. The Bronson was a big bold step for Santa Cruz into the then newly coined world of enduro riding. It was the future, now.

It’s no secret I had a first edition Bronson and loved it, granted, I jigged around with it to make it a bit ‘more’ of what I wanted with offset bushings and an angled headset but I had it dialled to how I liked it and for 2 years kept ‘other bike lust’ at bay, a condition previously unheard of for me. Then Santa Cruz did the unthinkable, they released the MKII.

On paper the new Bronson appeared to address all the ‘not quite perfect’ issues of the first one, and continued what it had started with the slacker, lower, longer theme. So in the last week of last year, a fresh new Bronson appeared on my doorstep. In a moment of never seen before resilience (mostly brought on by the tyranny of shift work) I had my daughters wrap the box in Christmas paper and put it by the tree, where it sat until December 25^th.  On Christmas Eve I slept about as well as any 7 year old did on the same night!

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

So out of the box, the frame is quite obviously different from the previous model, even before build up, you can see that the front triangle is going to give a longer feel to the ride and the frame is also obviously lower in standover with a tighter, shorter looking rear with the linkages merged into the frame similar to the bigger hitting Nomad.

On the technical side, Santa Cruz have not only adjusted the geometry of the new model, they had addressed the size issue that was common with riders of the previous version. I’ve gone from a Large to a Medium but still have a similar standover, reach, top tube length and wheelbase while actually increasing the front centre of the bike.

The new model has an increased seat angle by 1 degree to 74 degrees, which effectively pushes the top tube forward, increasing the reach measurement. The head tube has slackened off by 1 degree to the magical 66 degrees, which also increases the front centre. The chainstay has shrunk by 7mm and the bottom bracket lowered by 5mm.

With my first assembly I copied the seat height, seat tip, bar height etc as closely as I could to my old model to give me a close comparison and really be able to gauge the changes in geometry. What was Immediately noticeable when sitting on the bike is how low the top tube is and how much shorter the seat tube is, the stock build kits have increased the Reverb dropper from 125mm to 150mm to maintain full seat height. The bike feels longer and lower at first sitting, a quick set up ride in the street quickly shows the how much the lower bottom bracket and shorter chainstays change the bike handling without totally changing the intended use or user group for the bike. The changes are noticeable but at the same time subtle and improved and above all, the new changes feel good.

For various reasons I chose the ‘cheaper’ Bronson C frame with a complete S-AM build consisting of the faultless SRAM GX 11 speed drivetrain, RockShox Pike RC fork @150mm travel, on the front and a Fox Float Performance shock matching the travel on the rear. The RockShox Reverb seat post provides 150mm of infinitely adjustable drop controlled by and under bar left hand mount and is crowned by a WTB Volt saddle.

Stopping is via Shimano SLX brakes with 180mm rotors front and rear, and rolling is made possible on Easton/SRAM wheels (with 148mm Boost rear spacing) shod with Maxxis Minion DHR TR 3C tyres. RaceFace provide much of the finishing kit with Aeffect SL cranks with 32 tooth narrow wide spiderless chain ring, 50mm Turbine stem with 35mm clamp and a RaceFace Chester bar at a huge 780mm width. A Cane Creek 40 series headset smoothly mates the front end together.

As previously, Santa Cruz offer the MKII Bronson in two frame models, the C and the lighter CC model, with 2 build kit options for the C and 4 build kit options for the CC model, the CC model can also be purchased as a frame only. If you really want to blow the mortgage, Santa Cruz also offer an Enve/DT Swiss wheel upgrade on the CC model.

TIME ON THE SECOND BRONSON

Since owning the bike, I’ve changed the specification considerably, mostly using kit I previously had along with a few new bits, but essentially the changes are more weight saving than performance enhancing, the only change to the stance of the bike is that I swapped the 150mm travel rod in the Pikes to a 160mm one and went from 175mm crank arms to 170mm.

So far I’ve done almost 1500km on the new whip, up, down, sideways and occasionally off! It’s been raced at Thredbo and Mt Stromlo, shipped and shredded down in Tasmania and knows its own way around all my local trails, where the accompanying pictures were shot. During this time I’ve had to really look carefully to find fault with it. However, there is always something. My biggest dislike, has nothing to do with the ride, handling, shape, colour or size. It’s simply this, why the hell does it have a mount for a front mech?! And such an ugly one at that?

With the increasing options, by both Shimano and SRAM of 11 speed drivetrains, particularly the game changing, affordable XT 11 speed, there is simply no need to put multi ring cranks on a bike like this. If you think you need a granny gear, you are on the wrong bike. Interestingly, Santa Cruz have just released a new, long travel 29er and that doesn’t have a front mech mount, so why does the ‘Enduro’ flavoured Bronson have one?

TAKING IT TO THE TRAIL

So, how does it ride on the trail? Being a slacked out 150mm travel bike, you may be inclined to think that it’s only going to be suitable for fast singletrack shredding, downhill runs and flicked out gap jumps. Wrong. Although these are the areas where the bike excels (and really, what do you ride for?) the Bronson MKII is a terrific all round trail bike, perfectly suited to our dry rocky escarpment riding. According the all-encompassing statistical god, Strava, I’ve hit more PRs on climbs on the new Bronson than I have on downhill sections. I don’t really have any quantifiable reasons for this, my post ride rehydration is still Pale Ale and generally I ride the same trails as ever.

Loose, fast singletrack, as you can imagine, is where the bike really shines, it’s easy to prompt  oversteer on flat corners, thanks to the lower BB and shorter chainstays, and can be ridden in either a very planted to the ground or pop off everything manner, depending on your ride style and enthusiasm.

The longer front centre adds stability to steep and fast sections, while the whole, sitting ‘in’ the bike feel helps to minimise dead sailors in the air. I found that changing from 175mm to 170mm cranks really helped the bike to float through rocky, pedally sections although success in these type of trails are won or lost more on technique than equipment.

Pretty much anyone who rides on the sandstone escapements of the eastern seaboard will know all about riding loose trails, that’s what we ride on, loose over hardpack, so that’s what the majority of the 1500kms I’ve done have been on. I’m already on my third set of tyres, and have gone back to High Roller II’s rather than the Minions provided. The Bronson encourages sliding out, hooligan behaviour at every opportunity as the thrashed out side knobs on your tyres will soon tell you.

On the technical side, Santa Cruz spent a great deal of development time altering the shock characteristics on the new model. The results are that the bike fells like it has more firmness in its initial stroke and is less prone to blowing through its travel. I’ve heard it say that the old model climbed better that the new one, I’m not sure I agree, however with the shorter chainstay and longer front centre you do have to adjust your climbing technique to being perched right up the front of the seat on steep climbs to get the most out of it.

The ’16 Fox EVOL shock, none Kashima model on the Bronson C, is a definite and noticeable improvement over the previously specified CTD shock, with a firmer feel through its stroke. I run about 160psi of pressure which gives about 20%-25% sag when static and about 30-35%% when sitting back. Setting the shock on descent mode gives a very active ride in both terms of descending capability and traction. On larger and longer trails such as Thredbo’s Flow track the shock lost some damping at the end, presumably due to it generating too much heap on such a long run but still didn’t become too unruly. The trail mode, is the easy option if you want to set and forget you shock, it’s noticeably firmer than in descent mode but still very supple. There is a climb mode which I rarely used, but is good full sprinting to the pub at the end of a ride!

The Pike RC, although it doesn’t have the RTC3 damping switch, still has a full range of compression over about 12 clicks on a dial on top of the right leg, I generally run about 3 clicks back from full open, with 2 token spacers and about 65-70psi of pressure for my 80kg body. It’s worth making notes on the shed wall regarding your shock and fork pressures to get the set up right, with just 5psi making a noticeable difference to the shock and a dramatic difference to the fork.

Santa Cruz have definitely improved an already great bike and addressed the originals slender shortcomings. Although not a cheap option by any means compared to more mainstream brands, the MKII Bronson will leave many riders very satisfied and if your desire is to have the ‘one bike to rule them all’ then the MKII Bronson is a definite contender.

RRP                                                                 $7499

Weight                                                              13.4kg (stock)

Distributor                                                           Lusty Industries