Santa Cruz Vala

Andeh · Thursday at 2:35 PM

I got my Vala built up and a first ride in. This is a damn fine bike, and yup, it rides like a Santa Cruz. Stiff and precise but not harsh. Goes where you want it to, happy to get airborne. The rear end does seem to get out of the way / swallow holes/square hits better than their VPP bikes. The one thing that feels most different compared to my other SC bikes is the stack is pretty high - 120mm HT on my size medium. I deliberately didn't weigh my build until after I rode it, and I was thinking, this doesn't feel much heavier than my Heckler SL. Sure enough, when I weighed afterwards, my Vala build is 47lbs 2oz, my HSL is 43lbs 11oz (both with pedals and bottle cages).
For the Vala, I started with the XX build but swapped out the suspension for a 160mm Zeb & 65mm Vivid Air, swapped the HD/DH Hydra wheelset for Reserve 30HD/DT350, and OneUp dropper for AXS 170mm. Pedals are Hope F22s. Tires are Conti DH. Ergon SM Enduro Comp saddle & GDH Team grips. OneUp 35 e-Bar. I'll try to get some photos once we have some decent weather.

mehukatti · Thursday at 2:47 PM

Valkolainen said:
Does anyone know about delivery times on Vala? I ordered green C S XL in late october and still no news on it.

Same for me. Ordered grey X0 RSV XL in September and SC factory in Germany keeps pushing delivery date forward. Now they say April/May. So waiting for 6+ months already.

The worst thing is that I'm running out of Vala videos to watch on Youtube...

Dave238 · Thursday at 3:38 PM

Andeh said:
I got my Vala built up and a first ride in. This is a damn fine bike, and yup, it rides like a Santa Cruz. Stiff and precise but not harsh. Goes where you want it to, happy to get airborne. The rear end does seem to get out of the way / swallow holes/square hits better than their VPP bikes. The one thing that feels most different compared to my other SC bikes is the stack is pretty high - 120mm HT on my size medium. I deliberately didn't weigh my build until after I rode it, and I was thinking, this doesn't feel much heavier than my Heckler SL. Sure enough, when I weighed afterwards, my Vala build is 47lbs 2oz, my HSL is 43lbs 11oz (both with pedals and bottle cages).
For the Vala, I started with the XX build but swapped out the suspension for a 160mm Zeb & 65mm Vivid Air, swapped the HD/DH Hydra wheelset for Reserve 30HD/DT350, and OneUp dropper for AXS 170mm. Pedals are Hope F22s. Tires are Conti DH. Ergon SM Enduro Comp saddle & GDH Team grips. OneUp 35 e-Bar. I'll try to get some photos once we have some decent weather.

Congrats. Just curious if you've tried any technical climbs and whether the front end gets too light (due to MX) or wanders? I've never used MX (just 29er) so don't know what to expect for 6' tall person.

The bike store I tried it at has a flat paved parking lot, most ridiculous place to test ride and no demos nearby.

I saw a popular vid of a guy climbing with it and he looped out, but eventually make it ok. I'm well aware of Bosch's settings and they were probably stock settings and too high, settings can be tamed.

TheMirrorVision · Thursday at 6:45 PM

Dave238 said:
Congrats. Just curious if you've tried any technical climbs and whether the front end gets too light (due to MX) or wanders? I've never used MX (just 29er) so don't know what to expect for 6' tall person.

The bike store I tried it at has a flat paved parking lot, most ridiculous place to test ride and no demos nearby.

I saw a popular vid of a guy climbing with it and he looped out, but eventually make it ok. I'm well aware of Bosch's settings and they were probably stock settings and too high, settings can be tamed.

I demoed an XL Vala as a 6’3”/190cm rider and loved the high stack. I felt in control and comfortable the entire ride and never once had a feeling the front wheel was going to unweight. I rode on all the same trails I take a Large Trek Rail on that’s 29/29 and climbed just as well, but descended noticeably better on the Vala.

Redders473 · Friday at 10:04 AM

So who's fitted these then, do they press out or do you pull them out ?? Is it a drop the motor job ??

mtbrdan · Friday at 12:36 PM

Redders473 said:
So who's fitted these then, do they press out or do you pull them out ?? Is it a drop the motor job ??

Remove the bolt, press in the new bushing ( I used a tool designed for the job but I imagine it could be done without it ) torque up bolt then repeat for the other motor mount.

Redders473 · Friday at 1:09 PM

So you use new bushing to push old bushing out ??

mtbrdan · Friday at 1:49 PM

My old bushing was half out already.

ckkone · Friday at 4:18 PM

They make a tool, otherwise best way is to drop the motor.

Redders473 · Friday at 4:25 PM

Nar they just pulled out and I pushed the new ones in with a socket and tapped them in. Took 5 mins

ckkone · Friday at 10:44 PM

LautSprecher · Friday at 11:30 PM

Anyone has the same thought to swap the 38 vs the new 36 Grip X2? Would safe another ca. 150g and should be more poppy.

ckkone · Saturday at 4:22 PM

RSG · Saturday at 7:53 PM

Has anyone changed the rear brake or had to route the rear brake hose yet?

Is it typical santacruz tubes within tubes = easy process or is it a complicated task where you’ve got to drop the motor out etc?

jgusta · Saturday at 8:19 PM

ckkone said:

Interesting video, think his set up woes on suspension was lack of proper set up and meager dampening with Zeb R and Performance shock. Heavy ebikes and jump/flow trails especially benefit from having hsc up front and bottom out adjustability at least on shock. Run a Zeb 3.1 Ultimately and Vivid Ulti air on my Levo and can get it to feel good on pretty much any trail, rowdy DH to jump/flow lines. Too bad of motor issues with limp mode out of the gate for him. I would of been really annoyed myself. Why have to buy ebikes with local support for this kind of thing. I test rode a Vala GX AXS last weekend and liked it a lot. Just trying to hang in there while the new Bullit and Levo4 is officially released/available. I damaged my Levo3 framw badly two weeks ago from my shock snapping off on yoke at start of mellow flow trail descent with zero jumps on trail. Area was likely compromised beforw and just went at that moment. Has me questioning yoke designed bikes for heavy duty riding, especially on ebikes and why the Vala and new Bullit so appealing and I always liked SC bikes (owned Bronson, Hightowers in past)

LautSprecher · Saturday at 9:23 PM

RSG said:
Has anyone changed the rear brake or had to route the rear brake hose yet?

Is it typical santacruz tubes within tubes = easy process or is it a complicated task where you’ve got to drop the motor out etc?

Much easier than on normal SC frames because the tubes are also in the rear end. Its IBIS quality now (one of the biggest improvements why i love the vala so much).

Redders473 · Saturday at 9:25 PM

Yeah mate I put hayes on mine just run them straight through it cheers easy.

RSG said:
Has anyone changed the rear brake or had to route the rear brake hose yet?

Is it typical santacruz tubes within tubes = easy process or is it a complicated task where you’ve got to drop the motor out etc?

ckkone · Saturday at 9:36 PM

jgusta said:
Interesting video, think his set up woes on suspension was lack of proper set up and meager dampening with Zeb R and Performance shock. Heavy ebikes and jump/flow trails especially benefit from having hsc up front and bottom out adjustability at least on shock. Run a Zeb 3.1 Ultimately and Vivid Ulti air on my Levo and can get it to feel good on pretty much any trail, rowdy DH to jump/flow lines. Too bad of motor issues with limp mode out of the gate for him. I would of been really annoyed myself. Why have to buy ebikes with local support for this kind of thing. I test rode a Vala GX AXS last weekend and liked it a lot. Just trying to hang in there while the new Bullit and Levo4 is officially released/available. I damaged my Levo3 framw badly two weeks ago from my shock snapping off on yoke at start of mellow flow trail descent with zero jumps on trail. Area was likely compromised beforw and just went at that moment. Has me questioning yoke designed bikes for heavy duty riding, especially on ebikes and why the Vala and new Bullit so appealing and I always liked SC bikes (owned Bronson, Hightowers in past)

He never mentioned setting correct sag, I found the SC pressure recommendations are a bit high. At the end of the video he seemed thrilled with the Vala so not sure why he made the setup seem so hard, it’s no different than setting suspension on any EMTB.

irie · Sunday at 10:37 AM

It's Santa Cruz so gotta be speshal

Andeh · 2025-04-01T02:51:48+0100

RSG said:
Has anyone changed the rear brake or had to route the rear brake hose yet?

Is it typical santacruz tubes within tubes = easy process or is it a complicated task where you’ve got to drop the motor out etc?

Echoing the others, super easy. Especially compared to on my Heckler SL. I like to put rubber grommets every place cables enter and exit for total silence so I did that while shortening the brake line.

Martinizer · 2025-04-01T03:02:31+0100

ckkone said:
He never mentioned setting correct sag, I found the SC pressure recommendations are a bit high. At the end of the video he seemed thrilled with the Vala so not sure why he made the setup seem so hard, it’s no different than setting suspension on any EMTB.

Because if he didn’t set it up wrong to begin with he wouldn’t have any material for his vid.

RSG · 2025-04-01T07:02:01+0100

Andeh said:
Echoing the others, super easy. Especially compared to on my Heckler SL. I like to put rubber grommets every place cables enter and exit for total silence so I did that while shortening the brake line.

Nice thanks, have you got a link to the grommets you’ve used?

Got a bullit on order so just trying to get as much stuff sorted out before it’s announced / arrived

Andeh · 2025-04-01T07:17:03+0100

I got the conical ones for a YT Capra from their website.

Santa Cruz Vala

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