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Take a Tour of the Santa Cruz Bicycle Factory without Leaving your House

Written by Zach Overholt December 24, 2014

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If you’ve ever wanted to take a tour of the Santa Cruz bicycles headquarters in Santa Cruz but couldn’t get out to California, here’s your chance. Thanks to the wizards behind the curtain at Google, you can now take a full Google Street View tour of their factory. Check out all the new bikes, browse the merch shop, and see where your Santa Cruz bicycle is built up, packed, and shipped to your door. It’s like a bicycle themed scavenger hunt!

You can even take a look inside the Syndicate’s headquarters including both current and bikes from the past. This little guy hiding behind these shelves might mean a new bike from Santa Cruz in the near future. When Santa Cruz last had a cyclocross bike, the Stigmata was still running rim brakes. This colorful bike is clearly running disc brakes with a front thru axle. Prototype? Future production model? Time will tell.

Take the tour here, or head to Santa Cruz Bikes.

Zach Overholt

5,479 articles

Zach Overholt is the Editor in Chief of Bikerumor. He has been writing about what’s new in the bicycle world for 12+ years. Prior to that, Zach spent many years in the back of a bicycle shop building and repairing nearly every type of bike, while figuring out how to (occasionally) ride them.

Based in Ohio, Zach is now slowly introducing a new generation to cycling and still trying to figure out how to fit the most rides into a busy schedule as a new dad.

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16 Comments

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gibbon

8 years ago

‘Factory’ sort of implies that they are manufactured there to me.
They are assembled there (but does’nt sound as good).

jason

8 years ago

Gibbon, the number of people that make their own products in cycling is a very very short list.

Andrew

8 years ago

Did I spy a gravel grinder or CX bike, oh how I wish Santa Cruze would release a Carbon Stigmata.

8 years ago

jason, duh but it’s still not a factory.

johnny

8 years ago

I would love a gravel grinder/enduro sort of bike.. and on that note, Hey Santa Cruz!! PLEASE develop a 50mm travel front shock for a gravel bike,the writing is on the wall , someone will do it, why not you guys first 🙂
anyone one know if santa cruz is hiring? I sure would like to work there.

Psi Squared

8 years ago

I don’t think people really understand what a factory is. Airbus assembles airplanes out of large components at some of their factories, so perhaps someone who’s verklempt over “factory” semantics should tell Airbus about their incorrect usage of the term.

Semantic arguments define stupidity.

ifbikes

8 years ago

verklempt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDXEgBh0TF0

Ripnshread

8 years ago

@Psi,

I think what we all seem to talk about as “factory” made is not quite about the facilities that actually make the product but the QC that is missed by the company that buys something from overseas. Do they cut open every frame? That is the question that is nagging in every non-scrupulous supplier’s and procurement managers head.

If you make something from the ground up yourself the QC numbers are your own.

There are ways to inspect a carbon frame’s internal structure after its built, I just don’t know how many companies are doing it.

The problem with carbon is that the outside look doesn’t tell you how well the layup is or what was used to fill the voids and act as a buffer between the mold and the carbon during molding. This can only be done by cutting open the frame.

I like my carbon to be sold by the company that laid it up.

Cheese

8 years ago

Take a look at the sticker under every new Santa Cruz frame and you’ll see that it says “made in China” (on the carbon frames) or “made in Taiwan” (on the aluminum ones). They do not say “Made in California” because assembling a bicycle is not the same as making one. I’ve assembled numerous bicycles, but I’ve never manufactured one.

Mortimer

8 years ago

Not really an assembly line and more “technical facility-warehouse” than “factory”.

Wow

8 years ago

Really? You guys have nothing better to do than argue over what someone calls their facility?

Wow.

K11

8 years ago

@gibbon & @AL. agree

@jason. That short list you are referring to, is MY go to list. cheers

alex

8 years ago

How much is a dealer markup on Santa Cruz Tallboy LT in Aluminum?

john

8 years ago

I have to say that was not particularly exciting. The biggest eye opener for me was Santa Cruz’s apparent commitment to hiring white dudes.

Andy

7 years ago

@Andrew “…how I wish Santa Cruz would release a carbon stigmata”

Assuming you saw that they did 🙂

http://www.santacruzbicycles.com/en/us/stigmata

TJ Fruit

5 years ago

Santa Cruz does not own their own factory. Their bikes are made primarily in China and the only part of the bike that is “Santa Cruz” is the sticker. Santa Cruz is no different from Trek, Cannondale, or Kona. They will never reveal who actually builds their bikes for them. Let’s try this exercise.

1. Giant bikes are designed, manufactured, and assembled by Giant employees at the Giant factory in Taichung, Taiwan.

2. Santa Cruz bikes are designed by ___, manufactured by ___, and assembled by ___ employees at the ___ factory in ___ (city and country).

This has nothing to do with semantics.