All New 2026 Santa Cruz Bullit launched
- Thread starter Rob Rides EMTB
- Start date
Bogdan_CH
Active member
Mondraker Crafty would be on top of my list for a full 29er with new gen motor and batteries.
Armyn21
Member
got my my 1st 14 mile 1500 elevation on her! kept it on emtb mode 90% of the time and 2 or 3 times on boost. battery was at 3 bars with the 4th one on color white.. im 5'7 and its a size med, coming from the old bullit this thing shreds! hoping to hit the bikepark with steep gnar and big jump lines after all this rain! so far im faster on this bike than the bullit v3. its just more composed and tracks so good! i had to lower my spacer stack to 10mm bec the orig 20mm spacers the bike felt a tad big.. for me this bike rides better than the vala in every aspect. its maybe my riding style. its kinda weird bec on paper the vala should corner better but this bike feels better for me!
Which coil shock and size?It appears that my precious has arrived the bike shop. Dropping off bars and grips tomorrow while waiting for coil shock. It's supposed to snow this weekend though.
Vivid coil 205-65
Snoggin
Active member
Im 6’ and weigh 196 geared up. I have a new Bullit and two rides on it. I was worried it would feel big and be a bit sluggish but Im pleasantly surprised! It’s freaking great. I rode laps at tamarancho which is pretty tech and has some gnar as well and I Pr’d everything just about … I found it to handle tight stuff as well or better than my Heckler SL but with the added travel and power I can pretty much ignore obstacles and have more line options than the smaller bike. But I felt able to flick it around really well and the momentum and control made it very fast for me .
Still dialing it in. My Heckler SL is a large as is this Bullit. Both feel quite good for me. Bullit comes with 155 cranks too so I didn have to buy some aftermarket! But I did eat most of the battery riding 23 miles,3k vertical in 2:15. All in EMTB mode
I was riding it pretty hard though, I got an extender too. Ill need it if I go on longer rides with fire road friends
Snoggin
Active member
Thanks man, did you get to sit on a medium to compare before going with the large?
Snoggin
Active member
No I didnt but I think I made the right choice, I was a bit nervous after a couple reviews said it feels big. But to be honest it feels perfect to me . Very similar to my Heckler SL as far as the cockpit etc. I can feel its a bit longer but it does not affect the handling in an adverse way at least the way i ride…. Matter of fact I cleared some tight sections the best i ever have on my second ride.. Looking forward to getting it dialed in even more.
Every bike Ive had has been a large Ibis Ripley V4S , Heckler SL, Bullit
I appreciate the response and your experience. I was kind of ready to go for the large then started second guessing myself and getting into the weeds looking at all sorts of geo things I never paid much attention to before. Looking at like the front center / rear center ratio and kind of looking at a RAD type number. There is a small chance I am over thinking it.
Interesting, care to explain why your going for the XL?
Armyn21
Member
you are over thinking it... sizing does matter but if you really want to dial it down you got to measure your arm, torso and leg lengths! if i measure rad im supposed to be on a small frame but my ape index is 1.5 inches longer than a AVG 5'7 male and i went for a med. had an argument with a local shredder thats 5'5 and told him that a he would be way slower and cant jib around on a med frame bec rad was wayy off of his numbers. well he hopped on bike bike and manual and jibed on my bike like he's on his analog bike like it was nothing then he said i suggest focus on the skills 1st then worry about numbers later unless you racing on a elite level then every MM matters..
Well I had the previous Bullit in size XL (495mm reach) and it felt perfect. So now kind of naturally gravitating towards XL again.
Looking at Santa Cruz sizing chart, I'm exactly in the middle of Large and XL for the new Bullit so could go either way. But I think I prefer the stability of XL for bike parks and downhill oriented riding. Others may want to go for Large for a more agile bike.
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What, ape index? now I have to learn another thing.
Very solid points and I am definitely not an elite level rider. I guess I get hung up abit on this cause its impossible to just swap it to a different size. That makes sense. I suppose I have always gravitated to slightly smaller bikes when it comes to wheel base but this is a big bike so maybe I should just trust the size chart.
Bogdan_CH
Active member
As rule of thumb : 480 mm reach for a 6 foot /183 cm is spot on. Not sure why some brands basically avoided skipped on one of the most common height / reach bike sizes.
Mojo_n_SB
Member
You wouldn't get a range extender for this to get you to 850w?
Snoggin
Active member
Oh one other thing. The rear hub is very quiet, it’s a DT 350. Which I have the same on my Heckler SL and it seems a good bit louder to me.. The Bullit’s is very quiet which is nice going down hill. Not sure why the difference
Which build did you go with?
Also I have some DTs on my main ride now. Pretty sure they just get louder as the grease wears out or something. Mine are definitely louder than when I got them.
Snoggin
Active member
I went top of the line XO ASX RSV. I love AXS and Im curious about the suspension and I like carbon wheels too
Im thinking the gx to try axs for the first time. I do wish it had the cc frame.
Or you could use the software specifically designed to cap power, etc. to your preferences and needs.
Snoggin
Active member
AXS is awesome, virtually zero maintenance and it’s super easy to adjust if needed. On the trail it’s self correcting somehow. Very smooth
That sounds enjoyable. Did it take any time getting used to the speed at which it shifts or not that big of a deal?
Druster
Member
Shifting with emtbs need to be one at a time anyway on AXS as sram recommends
I saw that, not sure I am patient enough to wait for those videos to come out though.
xtraman122
Well-known member
For those involved in the great efficiency debate in this thread of Bosch vs DJI from few weeks ago, the guys who did the comparison of the two in their real-world range test listened to feedback and did a revised test, with the DJI turned down to its trail mode which is a better comparison of power output to the Bosch's Turbo.
Low and behold, they came out damn near identical to each-other with both bikes on an 800Wh battery and the riders of the same weight. The DJI had about 4% more battery left at the end of the test, with the Bosch hitting its limp mode just a bit before the DJI did. Needless to say, the actual efficiency of all these motors is going to be very similar between motor brands in the same power class (Meaning a full power vs light assist motor) and I think it's safe to say Bosch has no statistically significant increase in efficiency over the DJI.
Low and behold, they came out damn near identical to each-other with both bikes on an 800Wh battery and the riders of the same weight. The DJI had about 4% more battery left at the end of the test, with the Bosch hitting its limp mode just a bit before the DJI did. Needless to say, the actual efficiency of all these motors is going to be very similar between motor brands in the same power class (Meaning a full power vs light assist motor) and I think it's safe to say Bosch has no statistically significant increase in efficiency over the DJI.
That makes sense. Brushless motors all have the same efficiency roughly at this point so I wouldn't expect huge variations across motors unless one transmission has more drag than the other (also unlikely).
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