1378 words of pure stoke.
Read time: 4 min 22 seconds.

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Photo of the Day

Patricia Druwen’s idea of a “training day” involves lines that most riders only look at through squinted eyes.

She didn’t come to dial, it’s already dialed.

📷 Felix Fellusch behind the lens.

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Video of the Day

Dane and the boys laced up, dropped in, and made Squamish look like their private training camp.

If these shoes had a break-in period, we missed it, because they’re already smoking.

⏰ Watch time - 03 min 16 sec

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Bonus: Who brings a cinema camera to a root-riddled DH shoot? A madman… or a genius.

Somehow, Chasing Gravity makes you feel like you’re on the bike and getting hit by a rogue pine branch every 0.3 seconds.

⏰ Watch time - 02 min 33 sec

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Send of the Day

10/10 for commitment, 3/10 for line choice.

Watch here

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‍Santa Cruz Bicycles: A 30-Year Rampage of Carbon, Chaos, and Damn Good Bikes

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Santa Cruz Bicycles was born in 1993 in a garage that probably smelled like chain lube, surf wax, and radical ambition.

Rob Roskopp, a pro skateboarder with knees made of spite, teamed up with bike whisperers Mike Marquez and Rich Novak to build bikes the industry wasn’t ready for, and maybe still isn’t.

While other brands were busy attaching road forks to rigid triangles and calling it mountain biking, Santa Cruz built the Tazmon, a dual-suspension, 80mm travel party machine that rolled in like a drunk raccoon at a dinner party.

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Everyone else gasped.

Santa Cruz hit the drop.

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VPP: The Suspended Gospel According to Santa Cruz

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In 1999, Santa Cruz bought the patents for Virtual Pivot Point (VPP) suspension and proceeded to change the entire vibe of full-suspension bikes.

VPP links move in opposite directions, like two grumpy roommates avoiding eye contact, and that weird dynamic somehow produces one of the most efficient, bump-hungry ride feels in the game.

They launched VPP on the Blur and V10 in 2001, two bikes that couldn’t be more different.

Yet both ruled their categories because VPP worked like it was was engineered in a lab where the only rule was “make it ride better.”

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Carbon Cult Status (Without the Cult)

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Santa Cruz doesn’t use carbon fiber because it’s crazy good.

They use it because it survives impact tests that would vaporize lesser frames.

Their Carbon C and Carbon CC tiers let you choose your level of obsession, with the CC frames shaving grams for people who weigh their burritos and brag about tire pressure in quarter-PSI.

Every frame is designed in Santa Cruz, California.

Every bike is assembled by real humans who probably ride harder than your local shop’s Instagram guy.

They even own their own carbon factory because outsourcing is for people who hate quality control and love surprises.

Their carbon wheels, Reserve, were launched in 2014 because the team got tired of blowing up other brands’ rims.

They made stronger ones, slapped on a lifetime warranty, and went back to riding like maniacs.

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Durability Is Not Optional, It’s DNA

Santa Cruz bikes are not built for showroom posing.

They’re built to get kicked down a chute, ragdolled through a rock garden, and dragged back up for another lap.

The frames get tested in labs, on trails, and probably in dreams.

The company backs every frame with a lifetime warranty, throws in lifetime bearing replacement, and includes no-fault rim replacement if your Reserve wheels meet an untimely death by boulder.

They know what their bikes go through, and they want you to survive it too.

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Handled Like Pros

After wildfires torched parts of Santa Cruz County in 2020, the company decided to double down on keeping the planet rideable.

Their California HQ runs on solar. Packaging is 100% cardboard (no plastic, no foam, no nonsense).

They designed their own bike boxes because apparently they had spare time between engineering miracles.

Staff who bike, walk, or carpool to work earn credits for the food truck.

That’s how you reward clean transportation—with burritos.

They also pledged $1 million through the PayDirt fund to support trail building and access worldwide.

It’s less virtue signaling, more “here’s money, now go build something rideable.”

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Corporate Acquisition, Without the Soul Extraction

In 2015, Santa Cruz was acquired by Pon Holdings, a Dutch company that also owns other solid bike brands.

Most takeovers lead to hollow products, watered-down vision, and ex-employees rage-posting on forums.

Santa Cruz dodged that fate like a cat dodges bathwater.

Design, testing, and assembly still happen in Santa Cruz, California.

The bikes still ride like they were designed by people who aren’t afraid of rocks, and nothing got cheaper except your excuses.

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Naming

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Santa Cruz bikes use letters like a secret code for dirt nerds:

• AL means aluminum. C is for carbon. CC is carbon but fancier.
• Build kits start with D (entry-level), and get more glorious with R, S, and then X01/XX1 if your wallet has no fear.
• RSV means the bike comes with Reserve wheels, aka the carbon hoops of immortality.

So when someone says they ride a Bronson CC X01 RSV, they’re either on the nicest bike you’ve ever seen or they’ve learned fluent bike-nerd Esperanto.

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Bikes That Actually Do It All

From the Megatower that devours enduro stages like trail mix, to the Tallboy, every Santa Cruz model is tuned for an actual riding style.

The V10 is a World Cup destroyer.

The 5010 is for jib gremlins who see playgrounds in pump tracks.

And the Heckler, once a rowdy alloy classic, is now an e-MTB that puts out more torque than your uncle’s fishing stories.

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Still Simply Advanced After 30 Years

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Santa Cruz Bicycles has always been a little weird, in the best way.

They hire engineers who get the final say.

They trust ride feel more than spreadsheets.

They build gear that works, breaks the rules, and survives the consequences.

They are a brand for people who would rather blow up a berm than scroll another geo chart.

And after three decades, they’re still leading the charge, one carbon frame, one absurdly good suspension system, and one taco-powered trail dog at a time.

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Get Your Content Featured!

Snapped an epic trail shot? Caught your buddy mid-air (or mid-crash)? Have a story you want to share?

WE WANT IT!

Submit your best photos, videos, bikes or stories and get featured in The Send It Daily (bragging rights included).

Shoot us an email at editorial@thesenditdaily.com!

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Dream Rides ❤️

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Carbon frame, wireless everything, and a paint job so clean you’ll feel bad riding it.

We wanna see your bike in The Send It Daily? Shoot us an email at editorial@thesenditdaily.com, and maybe your ride will be the next superstar.

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Trail of the Day

Kitchel Multi Trail - East Burke, Vermont

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Built illegally back in the day by kids with more guts than landowner permission, it’s now a trail so good even the grown-ups said “fine, keep it.”

Ride it fast, lean hard, and don’t think. Just follow the flow like your rent depends on it.

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That’s all for today folks. We hope everyone gets some saddle time out there. See you all tomorrow! 🤙

‍For the ❤️ of two wheels.

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We write The Send It Daily Monday - Friday (we’re out riding on the weekends). We do not proofread our material before sending and did not get A’s in English.

Our mission is simple: To advocate and bring awareness to the athletes that Send It and the media teams that capture it.

If you’re looking to feature content on The Send It Daily, reach out to editorial@thesenditdaily.com.

For more information, visit us at thesenditdaily.com

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