The new Santa Cruz Heckler SL is out...

Motor
Fazua Ride 60
Battery
430 Wh
Fork Travel
160 mm
Rear Travel
150 mm
Weight
18.7-19.5 kg claimed, w/o pedals
Price
U$ 7.299-12.999
...and I haven't had a chance to ride it. The Santa Cruz Heckler always was light for a full power emtb. The new Heckler SL takes the weight down another notch. But Santa Cruz isn’t taking part in the chase towards 15 kg bike weight. They resisted the temptation to fit the bike with a shorter travel Fox 34 or Rockshox Pike fork and flimsy tyres. The Heckler SL is between 18.7 and 19.5 kg.

Santa Cruz Heckler SL highlights


Specs and models​

All Heckler SLs get rugged Rockshox Lyric 160mm forks and proper mtb tyres. Fitted to the big 29er front wheel is the Maxxis Minion DHF 2.5″ MaxxGrip. The rear wheel is 27.5″ and fitted with Maxxis Minion DHR II 2,4″ MaxxTerra rubber. All 5 models have a carbon frame, the two most expensive ones get the lighter “carbon cc” frame.

specs01.JPG

Specs, click to enlarge

Fazua motor system​

The Heckler SL models all get the same motor and battery too. The Fazua Ride 60 and the 430 Wh Fazua battery hit the market barely a year ago. Now that Santa Cruz has gone Fazua, quite a few brands are using this system.

Fazua Ride 60


We tested the Ride 60 with the early firmware versions and things might have changed since late 2022. Our impression is the Ride 60 is the closest competitor to the TQ HPR50. They are both compact and silent. These are motors that require some rider effort to leash out all their power. Bikes using these motors both look and feel more like a non-assist bike while still offering good help when pedaling hard.

Fazua charge port


The 430 Wh battery is among the bigger “lightweight batteries”. We could easily cover 30 km and 800+ meters of elevation with frequent use of max assistance. One could easily go further by dropping the assistance. This battery is non-detachable, it’s fixed inside the downtube.

Fazua indicator panel for reading assistance mode and battery state-of-charge


Santa Cruz Heckler SL geometry​

I find the Heckler SL geometry table interesting to read. It confirms a few trends. The head tube angle is adjustable between 64-64.3*, that’s just where a capable trailbike is these days. And Santa Cruz has stretched the chainstays a tad. The smallest frame is about 443 mm while the biggest frame is 450 mm.

Santa Cruz Heckler SL geometry


Manufacturers used to constantly reduce chainstay length, but this has stopped. The last couple of years, we've seen a slight increase back up to ~445 mm. It’s also interesting to see the rear end length varies between frame sizes on the Heckler SL. This makes the handling more similar between frame sizes. The rest of the figures are looking good too, with about 1.260 mm wheelbase and 77.5* seat tube for size L. The geometry is adjustable with a chip on the shock.

Santa Cruz Heckler SL


Price and availability​

The Norwegian distributor expects bikes to be delivered by November. I assume markets closer to the factory will have the bikes earlier.
  • Heckler SL C R U$ 7.299
  • Heckler SL C S U$ 8.699
  • Heckler SL C GX axs U$ 9.699
  • Heckler SL CC X0 transmission axs RSV U$ 11.699
  • Heckler SL CC XX transmission axs RSV U$ 12.999

Santa Cruz VPP rear suspension


My take​

The Heckler SL joins the ranks of SL bikes that aren’t Super Light. And that’s how it has to be. A bike with nice and slack frame geometry and 160/150 mm suspension travel needs burly and solid components. Such bikes can be ridden hard and they require components that are up for the job. 18.5-19 kg is where these bikes should be, especially with a slightly bigger 430 Wh battery. This is light enough to offer a completely different riding experience compared to a full-fat emtb. If you want lighter, check out the shorter travel SL emtbs with flimsier tyres.
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knut7
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Comments

Knut, pretty certain fork travel is 160, not 150 as you have it listed.

This bike looks fantastic to me.

On my Relay, I'm finding the F60 power and battery to be ideal for my needs and unless the trail really opens up and a FF is on a mission to break away, we are on the same ride. My SL buddies need the RE to complete a decent ride, closing up any weight advantage they once had.

It's my opinion that the F60 is most compelling mid power e-bike powertrain available at the moment.
 
This looses a little of the heckler charm for me - I was really taken with the 20kg full power of the old one, like it redefined what a FF ebike could feel like and was a proper laugh to ride up or down. Now it's just another 19kg SL, which is a segment rapidly getting saturated, just like the FF market did 3-4 years ago.
 
This looses a little of the heckler charm for me - I was really taken with the 20kg full power of the old one, like it redefined what a FF ebike could feel like and was a proper laugh to ride up or down. Now it's just another 19kg SL, which is a segment rapidly getting saturated, just like the FF market did 3-4 years ago.
Yeah, I was comparing the weight of the SL to the FF Hecklers and was surprised to see the FF bikes had gotten heavier too. The 2020 Heckler wasn't much heavier than this, with a 500Wh battery.
 
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It was good to hear the amount of test hours that SC put into the Fazua system. Reliability is king to my mind right now.
 
I love this introduction! I made the mistake of borrowing my ride mates Kenevo SL at Skypark. 35nm worked for me, imagine 60nm on the same weight bike!?
  • 60NM
  • 42#
  • Santa Cruz!
 
Yeah, I was comparing the weight of the SL to the FF Hecklers and was surprised to see the FF bikes had gotten heavier too. The 2020 Heckler wasn't much heavier than this, with a 500Wh battery.
it's only about 600gm motor weight from EP8 plus 70wh of battery weight so should only be about 1kg lighter with same components and similar frame weights.
 
The motor is truly only a 350w. The 450w comes from a 12 second boost you can enable by holding a button down. In reality the Orbea Wild shreds this and its ever so slightly inched out by the Levo SL.. A bit of fancy marketing/misleading by SC... Looks great though lol
 
Man this and the Relay are the bikes I have been waiting for. Mid power and 160 travel with enduro geo. WIll hopefully see some sales on these(yeah right) but one can hope as I am not in a hurry as I have full fat.
 
The motor is truly only a 350w. The 450w comes from a 12 second boost you can enable by holding a button down. In reality the Orbea Wild shreds this and its ever so slightly inched out by the Levo SL.. A bit of fancy marketing/misleading by SC... Looks great though lol

For sure the Orbea Wild is an entirely other class of e-bike.

That said, build one right and with enough battery for the Bosch motor and it'll weigh 12#s more than the F60 equipped bikes.

I don't live in mountains and most of my climbs are technically challenging so I don't need a ton of battery watts and speed as the trail mostly limits my speed anyways to well below what the mid power bikes allow. I rode with a FF last weekend and he's a better rider than me, yet we were on the exact same ride and easily stayed together, as the trails limit the speeds, not the power of the e-bikes.

If I lived in a place with boring dirt road climbs combined with 1-way descents I'd be all for a FF however.
 
I have an aluminum full fat with heavy duty tires and Cush Core. 160mm ZEB fork. EP8 motor. It’s 56lbs and a pain on steep slow rock tech sections. Also, tough to make quick left/right moves through trees. Love it everywhere else.

Want to test some SL’s to see if the’re better overall. Probably can’t own both.
 
My XL Relay has 1300 gram tires and dual inserts and weighs 44#s ready to ride (tools, bottle cage and pedals on board).

I'm adding coil suspension so it'll likely be closer to 45.5#s when it's all ready to go.

If I did a weight weenie light trail build it could weigh 42#s ready to ride and less if weighed without the tools on board.
 
The 'weight-weenie EMTB" class should be lightweight XC builds - for riding dirt roads and sanitized trails etc. (It seems mid-weights are merging into full fat anyway) In other words, who needs a mid-weight class anyway?
 
Soon you wont able to tell at all that someone is on an e.

Ps I get old man rage at Sc's truly horrendous colour choices. Holy shit, please fire whoever has been calling the colour shots over the last 6 years.

I had a guy at a bike shop try to sell me a lilac bullet for $20. Wtf!
 
How is a 42-43lb SL Ebike merging into the FF 51 Lb territory? IMHO a 6 Lb lighter SL Ebike still isn't close to the FF territory.
 
How is a 42-43lb SL Ebike merging into the FF 51 Lb territory? IMHO a 6 Lb lighter SL Ebike still isn't close to the FF territory.
I think because if you compare it to the FF Heckler, 45.3lb or the FF Heckler MX 44lb (already light bikes) - there's less difference.
 
Yup, it's got Fuller Fatter over the years !!!

There is no free lunch.

Some of the stock specs have small batteries, thin tires, even outdated geo to reduce the brochure weight. And even then, that isn't accurate. Do you realize that the brochure weights generally don't include tire sealant? They are always a size medium and sometimes even a size small.

Every single carbon fiber e-bike frame made that uses a 485ish Reach and is designed for 150+ rear travel weighs 6#s before the shock. They all weigh within 1# of that.

The rest is the build out + the particular motor and battery size utilized. Heck some have 34mm forks on them, on an e-bike!

Once again, there is no free lunch.
 
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