Santa Cruz Butcher

"Here’s the new Santa Cruz Butcher. Nope, it’s not named after a purveyor of meat, nor Pat Butcher from Eastenders, but named for the famous (and fantastic) Butcher Ranch Trail in Downieville, California. It’s a trail that drops 5,000ft in 16 miles of singletrack. Along it are chunky rock gardens, some fantastic flat-out, loamy corners, boulders, trees, steep drops down to a river and it’s hard work all the way down (yes, we’ve been there and ridden it). The Butcher was designed to excel at this kind of terrain, yet still be responsive enough to handle the tech-y climbs (at 6000ft plus) and flat out rock gardens that are an inevitable part of monster downhills.

Like the Nickel it features the new APP suspension system and a tapered headtube. It features 150mm rear travel and works best with 140-160mm forks. Angles for the keen are 67.5/72, with a 13.8in static BB height and a 22.5in top tube on a medium. The bike should build into something like 30lbs. There are ISCG5 tabs for chain devices and the like.

Here’s the bit you’ll have already read in the Nickel story
What’s the deal with the new linky links then? That’s what all Santa Cruz’ fuss is about. Although there are plenty of link driven single pivots out there, the APP system’s link not only changes the linkage ratio, but it does it to both lower and raise the shock ratio in different parts of the suspension stroke, rather than just raising, or just lowering the shock ratio over the travel. (Shock ratio is explained right here on the Santa Cruz website – But what does it do? It works towards that suspension nirvana of a super-supple bike on the little stuff, but that can handle the big hits while still feeling like it has bottomless suspension travel. The idea is that it gives a similar ride feel to the VPP bikes but in a less complex (and expensive…) way."

 Link:

Singletack World