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Q&A with Rob Roskopp, Santa Cruz Bicycles
Co-founder
Date: 8-16-2002
Mtbr.com: How
did Santa Cruz Bicycles get its start?
Rob:
Mike Marquez, Rich Novak and I started Santa Cruz Bicycles. Mike and I started riding a lot
and got Rich into riding too.
We all started racing around '89 and have been on bikes ever
since. Rich came up with
the idea to make bikes and wondered what I thought. I did some research and saw full
suspension was the future.
Plus I wanted to be involved with something I could do for the
rest of my life. Basically
it fit the lifestyle we all wanted to lead. So we formed the company in
early 1993. Mike ran into a
local bike designer, Tom Morris, who was working on a full suspension
design. We made prototypes
and paid a royalty to Tom. This bike was later named the Tazmon. Right before we started
producing the Tazmon, Hans
Heim joined the team. At
the time, Hans was still Keith Bontrager's partner. So he quit there to join Santa
Cruz. After about a year or so, Mike Marquez
left and went to work for Rock Shox and now works at Fox Racing Shox.
Mtbr.com: Any relation to the company that
makes Santa Cruz-branded skateboards, snowboards and
surfboards?
Rob:
Richard Novak is the owner of Santa Cruz Skateboards, Snowboards
and Surfboards and is also a partner with Santa Cruz Bicycles. But the two companies are
separate from one another.
Mtbr.com: What types of bicycles do you
now carry?
Rob:
Santa Cruz is known for full-suspension bikes like the
Superlight, Juliana Superlight, Heckler and Bullit single pivot
bikes. Our new Virtual
Pivot Point (VPP) bikes include the V-10 and Blur. We also do a few hardtails: the
Chameleon (single speed, XC, dirtjumper), Juliana cushtail (XC), and
Roadster (roadbike).
Simon Vickers, builder
Mtbr.com: At the 2001 Interbike show,
Santa Cruz introduced the Blur with its Virtual Pivot Point
technology. With the Superlight, Heckler and Bullit filling
the cross-country and freeride slots, where do you see the Blur fitting
in?
Rob: We have
always had a goal, "To make the ultimate bike". So in order to make it a reality
I went looking for a suspension design that could offer what we have all
wanted since we began this trek.
A bike that sprints like a hardtail, doesn't bob, but is super
compliant on bumps. I
had looked into a few designs and then stumbled on to the VPP that
Outland used to do. We had
always admired what that bike did.
So I contacted the owners and asked if they were interested in
selling the patents. We
struck a deal and the rest is history.
We then spent a lot of
time and money developing the VPP system. We thought what better way to
show the world how efficient the VPP system is by building a downhill
bike that pedaled as well as any short travel cross country bike. Last year we introduced the V-10
at Interbike. We had our
team race on it all year long and they had their best season ever. At the same time we started
working on the cross-country version, the Blur. It has taken more time, but I
think anyone who takes a test spin on one will be sold immediately. We are very proud of how far we
have come developing the VPP technology further.
So where do all the VPP bikes
fit in? The Blur is our no
holds barred, ultimate cross-country bike. All of our VPP bikes will be
more expensive than our single pivot bikes. Thus all of our single pivot
bikes will remain around because they will be more affordable and offer
great bang for the buck. By
offering both the VPP and single pivot bikes we can offer the
consumer a wider choice of Santa Cruz Bicycles.
Mtbr.com: What can customers expect from
the Blur�s weight, geometry and lateral stiffness? Will it be possible to build a
sub-24 pound racer with this frame?
Rob: The Blur's production weight is
at 5.8lbs. Geometry is a 73� seat-tube angle
and 71� headtube angle
at sag. All the VPP bikes
are extremely stiff due to having a welded swingarm structure. Standard 4 bar designs don't
have this feature and cannot compare with the lateral rigidity of our
VPP bikes.
Yes
it will be totally possible to build a sub-24 pound Blur.
Willie K. Bullion, builder
Mtbr.com:
When will the Blur be available for purchase?
Rob: We are planning to start
shipping Blur's around the beginning to middle part of
September. It will be worth
the wait and will definitely live up to all the hype surrounding it.
Mtbr.com: Lastly, let's shift gears to
your R&D process. How do you go about designing and
developing new bicycle technologies? Can you offer a glimpse
into your process?
Rob: We recently hired a master frame
builder by the name of Gary Yokota. Gary has been around the Bay
Area for years and has built a great reputation as one of the best
custom bike builders. We
wanted to develop our products faster and, more importantly,
better. With our two
engineers Dave Earle and Joe Graney using Pro E software we are able to
cut down the development time of a new product in half. Pro E has been very helpful by
sponsoring us with their latest state of the art software. It has greatly helped the
development of the VPP bikes.
Now with Gary in-house the Santa Cruz customer will see even
better products in the near future.
Other Photos:
 | | Jon Forsberg with the Blur |
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