: Forgive me, I own a Sant Cruz Super Light

By: g | No Comments » |

It’s been around two years since the most expensive thing I’ve ever owned became my responsibility. It’s low maintenance, calls out to be used and always delivers satisfaction. But when work and life gets ahead of me I feel like confessing to negligence.

The Santa Cruz Super Light is just one of those bikes. I started from the elegant 6061 blue anodized aluminium single pivot swingarm frame with a Fox Vanilla RC rear shock, and sprinkled on some XTR shifters, lightweight seatposts and bars and a venerable but trusty WTB saddle. Wheels were built with XT hubs, Sapim spokes and WTB Rims.

The bike weighed in a few drops under 12 kilos, and I also carried around 2 kilos less at the time. I lived at Sutherland, a five minute ride from the legendary trails of the Nasho and the bike has floated over thousands of metres of its wonderful singletrack. Then, I’d ride most days – rolling out at 6AM for a one hour blast, with longer rides on weekends.

But I moved to Darwin and my partner Clare shifted to Canberra (don’t worry we’re still together) and the Super Light went North with me.

Having a mountain bike in Australia’s tropics in a flat city like Darwin was, in management-speak, a threat and an opportunity. A threat because there’s far too much beer to encourage riding, and an opportunity because, well, who rides lightweight duallies around Darwin?

Still, the nearby Charles Darwin park – by the time the dry season came – offered a decent singletrack loop, provided I avoided scraping my arms against the plants whose leaves had edges like bread knives.

A sign at the park entrance also cheerfully advised to “cover up against biting insects.” For a typical 1.5 hour ride, I’d fill a three litre Hydrapack and another water bottle, and carry a tube of the deadliest insect repellant I could buy. But it still didn’t stop the buggers finding a millimetre patch of unprotected skin to feed on.

I hear that a German tourist was recently diagnosed with Murray Valley encephalitis, a virus carried by mosquitos. It’s that serious and I bet he laughed at that sign.

Back to the bike. It survived half a year in the tropics with only a new chain and a set of Hutchison Pythons added, but in that time, I was lucky to ride for an hour every week.

I returned south to Sydney and now drive most weekends to mountain bike heaven – Canberra. The buffed pine forest trails took time to learn. I’d become used to handling the bike on the rutted sandstone, typical of Sydney trails. In Canberra, there’s a need for finesse on the brakes and more body language in the corners – traits where my lightweight duallie carries no special advantage.

But it was on a recent Canberra mtb-oz epic, that I realised how unfit I was to own the Super Light. The SID’s and the Fox Vanilla rear-end bevelled every surface, and it was my own heft and sagging leg power that made the pitch on the trail harder.

I puffed my way up Mt Stromlo, happy I reach the top, but disappointed with the gap that existed between my commitment to riding, and the kind of bike I rode. I felt like a Range Rover owner from Killara.

Winter doesn’t help either. I am a cold weather wuss. Sydney’s not that bad, but on a Canberra winter morning, at -2 degrees and dark, I tuck right back under the covers.

Roll-on summer, roll-on. Please. I promise to be responsible and ride this bike more. It deserves it.

For the record:

- The Santa Cruz Superlight cost around $5,500, with a really good deal from Kirrawee Cycles. It now has a set of X-Lite risers, thanks to a recent OTB in the Nasho

- Ray used to race Sport class, with modest top 20 finishes.

- At the time of writing, Ray might be moving with Clare to a hot place like India or East Timor.

 

Tags:anodized aluminium,biting insects,bread knives,buggers,Canberra,charles darwin,cycling,darwin park,duallies,fox vanilla,german tourist,hydrapack,insect repellant,murray valley,park entrance,rear shock,seatposts,shifters,Singletrack,unprotected skin,wtb rims,wtb saddle


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