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New Santa Cruz Vala Emtb - willing to change everything - Highlights and weaknesses

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#21 ·
Sucker Punch said:
This bike will sell to Santa Cruz loyalists

I've been working in marketing for a long time and I hate to admit, I've had to write word salad nonsense describing a product as some revolutionary new update that really did nothing new. I'm not crapping on SC, but they designed a bike around a new motor that offers nothing new. But their marketing lingo is gaslighting us to believe they've created some amazing new bike. They build good bikes with solid customer service. But marketing this bike as some bold new design is disingenuous.
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they do have solid build quality and pretty good factory geo, since there is more to SC than VPP. But yeah, marketing hype (see VPP fanboys) has so many convinced that whatever they spend their money on is the only option that works. And of course the engineers and product managers who have never ridden with "you" are certainly the ones to know the changes they make year over year are going to improve your ride (regardless of riding style and trails) versus being money grabs to keep securing revenue streams. I've been on the same bikes for over 6 years now because they both are dialed and work for me. "New" isn't better...just different.
 
#22 ·
If they really wanted to do something 'new' and 'important' they would have built it around the Pinion MGU.

As it stands it's old, tired, and meh. Just a rehash of every other eMTB out there with the Santa Cruz tax added on.
 
Discussion starter · #25 · (Edited)
Sucker Punch said:
This bike will sell to Santa Cruz loyalists, but in my not-so-humble opinion, it won't sell to people who are looking for something equally as capable at a much lower price. There are far too many bikes available that are just as good, using the same platform, at a much lower price. Remove the SC logo and it will be indistinguishable from countless other 4 bar, horst link (or horst link adjacent) bikes on the market. I guarantee that a de-badged version of this bike on the trails wouldn't draw any attention (I know a lot about the influence of brand logos).

Take your pick:
YT Decoy
Canyon Torque:On
Marin Alpine
Transition Repeater

And on, and on...far cheaper alternatives.

I've been working in marketing for a long time and I hate to admit, I've had to write word salad nonsense describing a product as some revolutionary new update that really did nothing new. I'm not crapping on SC, but they designed a bike around a new motor that offers nothing new. But their marketing lingo is gaslighting us to believe they've created some amazing new bike. They build good bikes with solid customer service. But marketing this bike as some bold new design is disingenuous.
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You have experience and vision. We have yet to ride the bike so that experience will be a big part of this saga.

The decision to spec the Vala with 600wh battery is brave. The decision to spec it with 600wh ONLY is not very smart. I understand the 800wh battery is fatter, which would have made all Vala downtubes fatter. Orbea addressed this by giving the customer the option to have 750wh or 600wh.

A lot of the Santa Cruz marketing video focused on the sculpted suspension alloy link AND the oversized, easily rebuildable pivots. Somewhat cool but the Gen 2 and Gen 3 Levo have these things links and pivots too. 5-10k miles later... they don't seem to squeak or require a rebuild.
 
Discussion starter · #27 ·
Sucker Punch said:
Like every other bike, the Repeater is heavily discounted right now. And using the reasoning, 'It will inevitably go on sale', is not a good selling point. And it's an ebike, weight isn't an issue unless you need to lift it over a downed tree. I'm not claiming it's a bad bike. I'm stating that SC released a bike on a well-worn platform, but are marketing it as something new. It's simply not. For those willing to fork over an excessive amount of money for a bike, have at it.

Other than the top tube support, they look pretty damn close. Personally, I think the Vala isn't exactly a prom queen. View attachment 2115764
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Yes, a lot harder to differentiate

Image


Image
 

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#29 ·
Sucker Punch said:
This bike will sell to Santa Cruz loyalists, but in my not-so-humble opinion, it won't sell to people who are looking for something equally as capable at a much lower price. There are far too many bikes available that are just as good, using the same platform, at a much lower price. Remove the SC logo and it will be indistinguishable from countless other 4 bar, horst link (or horst link adjacent) bikes on the market. I guarantee that a de-badged version of this bike on the trails wouldn't draw any attention (I know a lot about the influence of brand logos).

Take your pick:
YT Decoy
Canyon Torque:On
Marin Alpine
Transition Repeater

And on, and on...far cheaper alternatives.

I've been working in marketing for a long time and I hate to admit, I've had to write word salad nonsense describing a product as some revolutionary new update that really did nothing new. I'm not crapping on SC, but they designed a bike around a new motor that offers nothing new. But their marketing lingo is gaslighting us to believe they've created some amazing new bike. They build good bikes with solid customer service. But marketing this bike as some bold new design is disingenuous.
Click to expand...
Do any of these bikes you listed have the new Bosch motor? I've never owned or ridden a SC, but the motor type is a bigger selling factor for me and a lot of others, rather than the brand name.

I would still buy the Pivot Shuttle AM right now with the Gen4 Bosch over this bike and I'm currently on a 23 levo.
 
#32 ·
BunniBoi said:
If they really wanted to do something 'new' and 'important' they would have built it around the Pinion MGU.

As it stands it's old, tired, and meh. Just a rehash of every other eMTB out there with the Santa Cruz tax added on.
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At this time, that product isn't quite there yet for me. But its fun watching it develop.

There is just a lot more to consider when designing product, than does it theoretically work well. You have serviceability, warranty, you have can they keep production quantities up, then you have the weight, packaging, noise, extra battery usage due to its inefficiency, noise levels, etc...

Blows me away that no full power e-bikes seem to be released with Linkglide when it kills so many birds with one stone such as price, durability, shifting quality, etc. Save $500 on initial purchase price and have a drivetrain that lasts 3x as long and shifts under the worse conditions and cost a fraction of Transmission replacement costs? Hell yah!
 
#33 ·
Suns_PSD said:
At this time, that product isn't quite there yet for me. But its fun watching it develop.

There is just a lot more to consider when designing product, than does it theoretically work well. You have serviceability, warranty, you have can they keep production quantities up, then you have the weight, packaging, noise, extra battery usage due to its inefficiency, noise levels, etc...

Blows me away that no full power e-bikes seem to be released with Linkglide when it kills so many birds with one stone such as price, durability, shifting quality, etc. Save $500 on initial purchase price and have a drivetrain that lasts 3x as long and shifts under the worse conditions and cost a fraction of Transmission replacement costs? Hell yah!
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Whenever I finally pull the trigger on my first eeb, I’m just going to buy the shitbox build and put linkglide + decent brakes.
 
Discussion starter · #34 ·
norcalbike said:
Whenever I finally pull the trigger on my first eeb, I’m just going to buy the shitbox build and put linkglide + decent brakes.
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You need the best suspension you can afford too. To pay for that, get the alloy frame instead of carbon. I find frame material to be hardly noticeable on E
 
#37 ·
Nobody like SC, Specialized, Ibis, will sell a $3K-$4K decent spec ebike. Not sure they will do that even with alloy. This departure from VPP is a bit puzzling but maybe they will bump it down to 5K eventually and get rid of them all.
 
#38 ·
Suns_PSD said:
There is just a lot more to consider when designing product, than does it theoretically work well. You have serviceability, warranty, you have can they keep production quantities up, then you have the weight, packaging, noise, extra battery usage due to its inefficiency, noise levels, etc...
Click to expand...
You obviously have no clue and have never ridden a Pinion drivetrain. Literally every point you mention is utter internet FUD bullshit.
 
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BunniBoi
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