For 2010, Santa Cruz Bicycles will be offering a new clearcoat on their powder coated frames. Above, in their own admission, is a crappy quality photo showing the subtle difference. Here’s their defense:
“Another thing we’ve been wrestling with for a while now has been getting around to applying clear coats on top of our powdercoat finish. Done right, this will make our final product tougher, longer lasting and more lustrous. All good things. But not as easy to do as you might think. Frames have to be prepped, sprayed, baked, let cool, then sprayed again, then baked again. This ends up increasing the time and complexity involved in running frames through Victor’s capable hands, and in this case it meant we had to buy a new bake oven and then figure out where the hell to put the thing. But it is done, almost all wired up, and you should expect to see a subtle shift in the finish of the bikes coming out of here, starting about now.
“We could probably do a real good job of representing how monumentally awesome this clear coat will be, get some mad studio shots, polish them in photoshop, and just go over the top in making these glossier than lipstick on a hooker. But it’s the last couple hours before we break for xmas, and all we managed to get together was this kinda blurry shot taken by someone we suspect to be under the influence. Even still, you can see that the new clear coat (left) makes things brighter and more shiny. It’s a good thing, really. You’ll dig it. And we promise to spring some better photos on the blog once we get our noses back to the grindstone in January..”
Other big news from Santa Cruz: They’ll have a full fledged demo tour throughout the year starting in 2010. Numerous bikes of all shapes and sizes will be touring the U.S. in a Sprinter van with trailer. We’ll post the schedule as soon as they have it sorted out, and it’ll be staffed by none other than Ariel Lindsley and Abby Hippely, the same couple that’s put together demo tours for Maverick and Yeti brands for the past five years or so. The bikes are going to be outfitted with the finest of goodies from SRAM, RockShox, Truvativ, Avid, Easton and Crank Brothers, with WTB supplying saddles and tires, and there will also be a whole mess of Giro helmets and sunglasses on hand at ride events. Unfortunately for us East Coasters, the sked will be heavily skewed toward the West Coast…so tell your local dealer they need to lobby hard for more face time this Summer.
