NEW HECKLER OWNER DOING A CUSTOM BUILD QUESTIONS

[AaronWhitt82]

Hello everyone,

New member here, new to E-bikes and also the Santa Cruz brand!

Just purchased a 2022 Heckler S 29" in Medium gray color. Couldn't beat the 25% off price!
I am coming from a 2020 Trek Fuel Ex 9.9 Project One AXS size M/L. I am approximately 5'8" with inseam around 31.5" so hopefully the Medium fits me good.

I've been doing a lot of reading on this bike and trying to learn as much as I can. I am located in Scottsdale, AZ so plenty of excellent trail riding out here!

I will be swapping over some of the parts from the Trek to the SC as follows:

SRAM AXS X01 Derailleur & Shifter
ROCKSHOX AXS Reverb dropper post 31.6 X 150mm
DT SWISS EX 511 Wheels with I9 Hydra hubs
FOX DHX2 Coil Shock with Cane Creek Progressive spring
Hope Tech 3 V4 brakes with Galfer rotors (Ordered a Tech 4 V4 for the front to see if much improvement from Tech 3)
Ergon saddle
DMR Vault pedals

NEW PARTS I WILL BE ADDING:

Fox Factory 38 GRIP2 with 170mm travel and doing a Vorsprung Smashpot coil conversion. (My Trek currently has the PUSH ACS-3 coil conversion)
SRAM XX1 Cassette
SRAM XX1 chain
5DEV billet crank arms or E*13 carbon (Went with 5DEV)
RideWrap tailored kit
RaceFace Turbine or I9 40mm stem

The main question I have as far as the DHX2 shock goes since I'm not familiar with VPP suspension... What is the best spring to run? Fox SLS (Linear) or Cane Creek Valt Progressive? Using the TF Tuned calculator looks like I would have to get a heavier spring from what I have now.

Other than that, I should be good with everything else. If anyone has any suggestions on anything please let me know!

Thank you,

Aaron

 

[luna87824]

Where did you buy your bike?

 

[AaronWhitt82]

Where did you buy your bike?

I got it online from Mike’s Bikes in California.

 

[RustyIron]

Sounds like a cool bike and that you have a solid plan for tricking her out. The only thing that would give me concern is the crank arms. There was a problem running e*thirteen cranks breaking the input shaft of EP8 motors. It's something to be aware of.

Santa Cruz is a solid company. When I have problems or questions, they respond within the hour, and parts are shipped the same day. My Heckler is the model previous to yours. I'm envious of the upgrades of the current model, but like mine so much that I'll stick with it.

 

[AaronWhitt82]

Sounds like a cool bike and that you have a solid plan for tricking her out. The only thing that would give me concern is the crank arms. There was a problem running e*thirteen cranks breaking the input shaft of EP8 motors. It's something to be aware of.

Santa Cruz is a solid company. When I have problems or questions, they respond within the hour, and parts are shipped the same day. My Heckler is the model previous to yours. I'm envious of the upgrades of the current model, but like mine so much that I'll stick with it.

Yeah, I enjoy doing custom builds! Built up my last 2 Trek's from the frames, so pretty set on what parts I want to use. Unfortunately I've been having knee problems from a previous motorcycle accident so that's why I'm switching to an E-bike. My first choice was the Specialized Turbo Levo, but couldn't find any in my size and then with this bike being 25% off it was a no brainer!

I couldn't find the E*13 crank arms in stock anywhere so gonna go with 5DEV which look amazing & excellent quality! Glad to hear they have great customer service! Trek was great as well. Another reason I went with SC was because of their warranty...

 

[Silent Drone]

Over on the Orbea boards there’s a bunch of talk about problems people have had with the E-13 cranks failing on the EP8-RS. Those cranks come stock on the Orbea Rise.

Good luck, and please report back to let us know what you end up doing with the suspension and your ride impressions.

Happy trails!

 

[AaronWhitt82]

Over on the Orbea boards there’s a bunch of talk about problems people have had with the E-13 cranks failing on the EP8-RS. Those cranks come stock on the Orbea Rise.

Good luck, and please report back to let us know what you end up doing with the suspension and your ride impressions.

Happy trails!

Yeah I’ve read about that now. I’m gonna go with the 5DEV crank arms. A little pricey, but super nice quality!
Not sure when the bike will ship out, but I need to get all the parts stripped off the Trek. Have a lot of the new parts for the Heckler ordered so it should be a fun few weeks waiting on everything!

 

[AaronWhitt82]

Here are some pics of my current bike while I wait for the Heckler to arrive:

 

[AaronWhitt82]

So I finally got a reply from Santa Cruz today and they recommended to use the Fox SLS linear spring. I decided to order a Sprindex adjustable spring 500-560lb. The first 80% is linear and the last 20% is progressive.
Still haven't received any shipping info on my bike, but all the parts are ordered!