Chassis (10″ Setting)

The V10 carbon tips in around the 33lb mark depending on tyres and pedals, sorry to be vague, it’s just that a pair of Wet Screams ain’t exactly light. It’s a speed bike, yes it costs a bit more than average, but then like I said, it’s not run of the mill, it has a decade of development, it sports adjustability (if you’re into that), it comes clad with well thought out touches that protect it from the shit it will undoubtedly take, hell it even has charisma. But more than anything, it’s an inspired ride.

There is that adjustment issue that any proud V10 owner will at some point delve into. You can go 8.5 inch or you can run 10 inch, I finally settled for the latter, eeking out a shade over 47” on the wheelbase and just under 64º on the angle of the headset. A similarly sized Trek can be considerably slacker at 61.5º, but so can the V10 with some extras (headset cups) – and therefore longer too. Stock, by dropping to the shorter setting lowers the bike and slackens it, and so it could be even longer should you wish.

The V10 doesn’t have internal cable routing but with the gear and brake lines running neatly down either side of the downtube its looks balanced. Protection on the super compact aluminium swingarm, coverings to the chain and seat stay, are welcome, as are the double grease ports on the lower link. The V10 comes in three sizes. Overall the bike has seen an evolution of improvements.

CLING ONS

There’s no point in pissing about with a bike like this, it’s just fully deserving of componentry to match the vintage. With frames starting at £2,800 and completes from £6,200 the V10 deserves every bit of love you can give it. Sram totally went to town on our bike, giving it Avid X0 brakes and gears to complement the Truvativ cranks, seatpost, bar and stem. So neat and tidy, this bike hardly looks like it has any componentry bolted to it. Wheels courtesy of the world’s finest builders, Mavic, in the form of Deemax Ultimates. I mean, what a bike.

SUSPENSION

With a RockShox Vivid Air our test bike is a pound lighter than with a coil version, although featuring all the same coil stablemates features – beginning stroke rebound, ending compression and rebound. Yet still with the distinctive Vivid feel. There was talk at first to make a comparison of both, I think the bike does feel better with the coil, particularly in harder faster summer riding, but now heading into winter the air does everything required of it and obviously drops the weight.

Up front we went for RockShox BoXXer World Cups, yes they take quite some time to get the balance correct on the dials but when you do the sensitivity is excellent and the fork simply feels the right size for the job in hand.

RIDE

Power down. Out of the corners the pick up on this bike is absolutely immediate, and so in touch with rider input…possibly…actually the best there is. It’s simply a hugely fun bike to ride, lively in nature, the connection between rider and bike utterly in tune. The drive and go, pick up and place, steering precision, weight balance, all has a sublime connectivity – it’s as if your feet and hands, legs and arms are working in sync with the brain fully focused on the line, the risk. The V10 never distracts with out of shape geometry, weird suspension traits or poor line speed hold. Easy to see that when paired with super engagement Chris King hubs this bike’s speed off the mark is untouchable. I’ve seen Peaty put in pedal strokes on this bike in pretty daft places. But then there’s time on this bike that you wouldn’t have on downhill bikes that talk of such things as ‘zero loss, ultimate performance, energy efficiencies’, but fail to deliver.

There are minuses, for example the suspension design might favour power transfer but it’s not without a certain harshness on occasion in hard fast terrain. Yes it carries speed but I’ve ridden other bikes that are smoother and more even through the stroke on choppy brakers. It could well be a flaw on my part in terms of set up, or that some bikes simply take way more time. Back here in winter the air suspension works well – slower riding compared to high speed hits seems to take less to work out in terms of management of the VPP system. Certainly in heavy winter riding the air shock works without fault.

Even clogged with mud the V10 will not weigh–in over 40lb, this alone is a huge, huge advantage. There is excellent protection of the shock area, everything is so easy to work on. Sizing is a little on the small side yet importantly there are no weight transfer issues, the balance is bang on.

So many downhill bikes attempt pedal efficient drives but fall down on weight. The V10 scores on both fronts. As a bike that enthuses, engages the rider to raise their game and push on ever harder, quite simply it’s one of the best and certainly fastest downhill bikes currently available. Not exactly surprising.

CONCLUSION

It’s so tempting – I f–kin loves it see, and with the Syndicate no doubt swaggering their hairy and lairy way through next season who can doubt this bike? There’s just one thing. With such pedigree it would be nice for this less than cheap bike to come with some kind of guidance in the base turns of a combined shock and fork (RockShox) setting, products which after all are not a million miles from production.

Synchronization and Syndicate are never far apart in anyone’s dictionary, so come on guys, don’t be scared to share. After all, knowledge is power and all that.

V10 frame from £2899
V10 completes from £6299
www.santacruzbikes.co.uk

SPEC