After more than ten years building the sweetest suspension frames in the bike world, we have upped the ante once again. We have concocted a wicked recipe for off-road action in La Bruja, Ventana’s top end freeride flier. La Bruja has a plush 6” of active rear wheel travel, sealed cartridge bearings, replaceable / adjustable dropouts, oversized ovalized top, down, seat and chainstay tubing, "Quality" logo wrap around head tube gusseting and our legendary machine work that makes all others cower in her presence.
Submitted by
Gruntled
a Downhiller
from Australia Date Reviewed: August 22, 2009
Duration Product Used:
2 Years
Strengths:
Marketing hype.
Weaknesses:
Bad geometry and wheel-path. Not good for its intended purpose as a FR bike.
Rear wheel hits the rear derailleur cable mounting on the seattube at full suspension travel. Yep, your tyre will eat your frame at full travel. Poor work, Ventana.
I had two large bubbles in the paintwork when my frame arrived, new. Poor work, Ventana.
I had questions regarding this but Ventana refused to contact me citing email problems.
Similar Products Used:
Turner, Banshee, Scott
Bottom Line:
The rear swingarm is short, and only gets shorter through its travel, resulting in a very unstable bike at speed or on loose corners. This is a SERIOUS DESIGN FLAW and makes the bike very unstable.
It does pedal very well up hills, I'll give it that, but the bike is classified as FR/DH. With all the marketing hype buy Ventana (check their website) I expected something special. Rather I now have a La Bruja frame I can't ride because it is flawed by design. In conjunction with the wheel touching the frame at full travel, poor paintwork and polishing on the rear swingarm, I class this as a low-quality product.
The La Bruja flexes much more than my Banshee Scythe and Turner DHR. More marketing hype from Ventana.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Scott
a Downhiller
from Thirroul, NSW, Australia Date Reviewed: May 25, 2008
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$8000.00
Purchased At:
Wrench Science
Strengths:
Perfect. I am in awe of the 2008 La Bruja. Downhill extreme machine. Freeride stunt dreambike. Climbing XC machine. All-day ride endurance beast. I am in awe, I am in awe.
Weaknesses:
Absolutely none. None. NONE. Can you believe it? NONE.
Similar Products Used:
A few bikes here and there.
Bike Setup:
Totem solo air, DHX 5.0 air, XTR and cane creek and thomson and easton. Weighs 31.3 pounds. You read it, 31.3 pounds (14.2kg).
Bottom Line:
The 2008 La Bruja is the best bike I have ever seen, let alone ridden or even owned. On my first ride I began easily clearing jumps and scary drops that I once could only just make, and climbing hills that I struggle up on my XC Scott Geniussissybike (which climbs better than most XC FS bikes). It corners and drops and climbs and jumps and is impeccable in every way. I believed the La Bruja would go downhill just fine, but was very worried that my obession with climbing up technical hills was over with the La Bruja. The La Bruja does climb, despite my lack of faith: it climbs better than any XC bike I've ridden (trek fuels, scott genius, mongoose teocali, giants). Sherwood Gibson, I have a lot to thank you for. This is my dream bike, but so much better than I expected. How do you make a bike THIS GOOD? Ventana are certainly a world leader in the quest for bicycle perfection. I do not ever need any bike better than the 2008 La Bruja, it is far superior to any bike I ever even dreamed of in my most fanciful, imaginative moments. I'm gonna start crying again..... I better go and hug my La Bruja.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
TIG
a Weekend Warrior
from Minnesota Date Reviewed: May 6, 2006
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$2000.00
Purchased At:
MHC
Strengths:
Very stable feel , nice stiff rear triangle , rock solid frame ! The workmanship of the frame ( sweet welding ) is the best I've seen or owned !
Weaknesses:
abit heavy but so what ! The main weakness is its discontinued ( no longer offered by Ventana ) !
Similar Products Used:
Santa Cruz Heckler , Els Joker , and others!
Bike Setup:
La Bruja w PUSHED Vanilla RC rear shock , Fox 36 VAN RC2 fork , Hope m4 disc brakes , Hadley hubs laced to DT FR 6.1 rims , Kenda 2.35 and 2.5 Nevegals or BG , RF Atlas crank w bashring , other stuff !
Bottom Line:
I'm glad I got one of the last ones its awesome to ride ! I hope Ventana will offer a model similar to the now discontinued La Bruja in the future !
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
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