No, this isn't an April Fool's joke, and yes, this is the official release for the new carbon fiber Santa Cruz Nomad. Do not confuse it with any of the previous, most likely inaccurate, information that has leaked already. There's a lot of ground to cover here, so we apologize in advance for the length of this email, but bear with us.
It seems like barely a year and a half ago we totally revamped our beloved gnarl-hound with updated suspension, geometry and a host of details that saw an entirely new Nomad emerging from where the old Nomad had been - lighter, sleeker, snappier and at the same time tougher. Time flies. It was just a year and a half ago that eight unlucky souls got mangled in the Hellride while claiming first saddle time aboard the new beast. And while the now tried and true aluminum Nomad is still a vital part of our lineup, we decided to splice some carbon fiber into it's DNA and see what happens.
The new Nomad-c marks our fourth carbon fiber bike, and is the culmination of what has been a very enlightening process for us, pun intended. In this case, the move to a carbon fiber chassis has chopped a whopping 1.25 pounds off the weight of the aluminum Nomad, while at the same time increasing strength and stiffness by large margins. The existing aluminum Nomad isn't exactly a porker in terms of weight or a wilting violet with regard to strength, so being able to reduce weight by that much and at the same time increase strength and stiffness, without skimping on any features, is about as much of a win-win scenario as we could hope for. It's light. We are seeing frames weighing in at 6.1 pounds with a RockShox Monarch 3.3 shock.
(Bear in mind, this is a tad heavier than the 5.9 pounds that is floating around out there on an early-print pdf of the marketing tri-fold for the Nomad that somebody leaked onto the interwebs before we intended anything to go public. That's what happens when the wrong info gets out before all the proof reading is done. And before anyone calls foul about using a light shock like a Monarch for a hard hitting bike like the Nomad, add a third of a pound for a Fox DHX air, or just over a pound for a DHX RC4 coil. Then go compare...)
There are three key aspects to our carbon fiber process that differentiate it from many others and at the same time allow us to achieve the strength (and stiffness) to weight characteristics that we are so in love with. They are:
One piece lay-up and curing
By laying up and curing the entire front triangle as a single piece, instead of assembling or bonding pieces together during the process, less material can be used to achieve the same end. Suspension pivots, disc mounts and the ISCG05 tabs are all molded into the frame in this process. Additionally, we overbuilt things in critical areas. The underside of the downtube features five layers of UD fiber, two of aramid fiber, and one of 3k weave, in order to thrive in sharp and pointy environments. The chainstays also benefit from extra layers of material. These all serve as added insurance in rocky terrain.
Continuing fibers around tube junctions
One piece lay-up and molding allows the use of continuous fibers throughout the frame, meaning the structure can more widely distribute loads and absorb impact energy.
Net shape lay-up and fiber compaction
Our proprietary manufacturing process allows us to precisely control both the outside and inside frame shape while compacting the laminate layers, which in turn results in superior stiffness and strength while eliminating excess material.
We don't have any fancy acronyms for this, but it is unique - nobody else is making carbon fiber mountain bikes this way at this time. And, while we don't have the selling power of a carefully focus-grouped nickname behind the process, the results are pretty enough that we are proud to show off what the insides of our frames look like. You'd be surprised what you might find inside some of the other frames out there...
Read the rest HERE
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