Santa Cruz Heckler- Better than the Bullit? 

Thanks Lindsay.

No, I have never tried one. Hopefully will get the opportunity at some point.

The Focus Sam is a nice bike. Our house is fine but fed up with the rain.

go for a bosch powered motor, ive had enough problems with a shimano motor not doing many miles not rode hard e010 error codes been told too throw the motor away as once the e010 error code pops up the motors unfixable, i wont go anywhere near another shimano powered e bike there just unreliable

It has all got a bit ridiculous. Bet they still have water restrictions in Auckland though.

I don't think it is the captain just quietly. Hope you didn't get flooded.

@@bestdayevermtb2 living on a hill helps 😀 can’t believe how much rain in such a short time

I’m pretty sure all those antique MTB’s across the 70s, 80s and 90s are yours sir 😂

You will love the Bullit have fun.

I hesitate between both - as I am still a beginner I would choose the Heckler but the Bullit would also be great !

Glad I could help.🤣🤣🤣

Glad you liked that one.

Thanks for that I was not aware of that.

My wife is Scotish so I have ridden there and will be back. The climate is up for debate. The last 12 months have been so wet it has been soul destroying. Infact two days ago Auckland had its worst flood in history. A state of emergency has been declared. Maybe head to Scotland this winter for some nicer weather. As for speed limit. In Nz you just have to obey the posted road speed limit. My e road bike does 45km/hr and my emtb 32km/hr. It is not illegal to derestrict an e bike but it will void the warranty.

@@bestdayevermtb2 where in Scotland is your wife from? I'm in Aberdeen. Spring is round the corner so hopefully get some dry weather soon. I spoke with LBS owner who reckons we might get our legal speed limit lifted to 20mph since we're not part of EU now. Fingers crossed for that. 🤞 We saw the news here about the floods in Auckland, so devastating!! 😩

@@stevenfyfe3645 My In laws live in Maidens on the west coast. When I do get back to Scotland I am keen to ride with some locals. My last trip there was great but all the rides I did were on my own which is never as much fun. Hoping to get to Scotland later this year but a few things need to happen first before that can happen.

I currently have the Argotal enduro casing 2.6 Quite an aggressive tread pattern suited to winter riding and loose conditions rather than fast rolling but so far working well.

I ride clipless. I often think I would like to go back to flats but am very set in my ways. I think flats are good as they teach you to ride with the correct technique. They also have the advantage that it is easy to bail if required. Learning to wheelie and manual is almost impossible in clips.

@@bestdayevermtb2 Thanks. It gives me hope as I struggle with gap jumps but seeing you do it clipped in makes me more confident.

@@allistarm if it's any help , I started hitting smaller gaps after like 6 months of riding. I'm better at jumping gaps than I am on steep rock rolls or fast cornering. Gaps is all about speed. All jokes aside if you literally just pedal hard and stay balanced over the bike you will certainly clear the gap

Both good bikes but I guess you need to look at the spec of each bike. Motor first. I prefer the Bosch to the Shimano. Then Battery size. I always think bigger is better but others will worry about weight. Then suspension and brakes are really important on a E bike if you want to ride it hard. Not sure what the models you have are specked with. A big factor also is where you are getting it from. A local bike shop who will quickly sort warranty issues is worth a lot of money. E bikes have a relatively high failure rate. The only thing against the Rail is the spokes are made from cheese so you will probably have to rebuild the back wheel at some point. Saying that the Marin I reviewed was quite new and already had a new wheel!

I am 176 cm tall. I think this medium would have been ok with the original stem. I see the reach is normally 479 which would normally be ideal for me.

To be honest I think either bike could work for you if you can find the right size. Personally, I would probably go the Bulit route myself. You mentioned big days out and the fact you are not light. I would look at a bike with a big battery if possible as your range will be less than a 70kg rider.

@@bestdayevermtb2 Yup, thank you for responding. I had a Bullit on order at the start of lock down which never arrived, so I bought a Megatower 1 and built that up. It's not as good at going up as my Guerilla Gravity, but the strength, stiffness (especially the 38 Zeb) and geometry really beat it everywhere else. I'm a big, fit, rider and can put a lot of power down and stress frames/components, but would like a motor to help take the sting out of the steeper/longer climbs. Next best on fit and all up rider weight limit would be a Pivot Shuttle LT. Have you swung a leg over one of those yet?

@madmountainman5197 Yes cool bike the Pivot LT. Did a review on that as well.

@@bestdayevermtb2 Cheers, i'll look it up. Being a retired Fireman, I'm not a SC Dentist Fanboy, but their geometry and XXL frame sizes really suit me. However, the Pivot is similar. Any preference on which you'd choose? I'm still hedging towards the Bullit, as the reviews i've seen show it being a tad livelier on the handling front.

@madmountainman5197 Again both great bikes but probably the Bulit. The Pivot was also not cheap. Not that Santa cruz is cheap. If I was spending that much on either bike I am not sure I would want an EP8 though.

Not sure on that one.

Crazy night but we survived ok.

@@bestdayevermtb2 hopefully the Auckland World Cup DH trail held up alright.

@@RideyRodney I did get a huge slip in the bush behind my house but luckily quite away from my tracks and house.

Did you buy it? Are E bikes widely accepted in West Virginia? I hear lots of different stories for the US.

@@bestdayevermtb2 no. I liked it. But I think I want more of an enduro bruiser when I go emtb. My use case is not to replace my Bronson or for my local stuff which, other than to knock out laps faster, I don’t need, and not sure I want, an emtb for. This would be for trips to the mountains- go access some big gnarly decents that are outta range normally (and I want to tackle and try to clean some stupid ascent features too), hit some gnarly DHs that normally require shuttles (Frederick Watershed, Western Slope of Massanutten for ex) take on multiday trips in the mountains where I start getting fatigued a couple days in, and maybe also become my bike park bike. I’m still mulling over all the options, and need to throw a leg over the Heckler SL and a Bullit and wish someone nearby had a Transition Relay I could demo. I also just rode an Ibis Oso in the parking lot my my LBS and really loved it, so need to demo that on a trail (was supposed to be doing so up in NJ today but got rained out). If I wanted a full powered emtb version of my Bronson though, Heckler is it. Who knows, maybe I’ll still some back to it. Lol The issue in the US is we have local, state, and Fed jurisdictions all of which control their own land. So local parks, like town and county, would fall under local jurisdiction, State Parks and forest, which is probably the most numerous with mtb trails, fall under State jurisdiction, and then there are the Feds- the problem with the Feds is that if they don’t pass an actual statute (i.e. passed by Congress and signed by the Pres) then it is left at the regulatory level and public lands are managed by different agencies (National Park Service (NPS), US Forest Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to name the biggies, and each can make their own decision. So it will depend on whose land you are riding on. WV is pretty emtb friendly at the state level- Class 1 bikes are same as bikes and can go same places. We were at Big Bear which is private and was fine, and a great place for them. GW National Forest is only where motorized vehs can go, and Monongahela is none at all. Given the new USFS guidance, whether can go on trails is up to local authorities. I plan to hit some moto trails when I get it- there is a place I offroad my Jeep in Maryland that has moto trails in addition to trails for full size rigs and I have walked a few and they look to be fun af on an emtb. Cheers from the northern hemisphere. I cant wait to get to your country when I retire.

Coming from NZ it appears that America is made up of lots of countries all with different rules and regulations. Your answer pretty much confirms my understanding that it is complicated. Hopefully will get to do a road trip around the states one day.

@@bestdayevermtb2 yup. Fed power had increased over the years so that there was becoming more consistency between the states, but the Republicans have done a good job of tearing a lot of that down with statutes limiting Fed agencies’ reach and Court rulings. The abortion ruling by the Supreme Court is a good example- it did not outlaw abortion, it just said that it is not against the Fed Constitution for states to outlaw it as had been the prior ruling (even though States have their own powers and Constitutions, they cannot do something that is against the Fed Constitution). So abortion varies state by state. If you look at our long history the pendulum has swung between the Feds having more power and the States having more power, so this is just another swinging of if. Im not being political one way or the other, just trying to explain what’s going on. Between our division between Fed and State powers and the differences in culture in different regions based just on how vast the country is can def make it seem like a foreign country sometimes when you go to a different state. Lol. It is what a lot of people don’t get about America- we have a lot of what appear to be divisions because we were set up to have these from the beginning. The founders were so concerned about the possibility of tyranny from a far off central government that they built into our Constitutional make up a decentralized government with a lot of conflicts between the decentralized parts. It’s what our enemies always get wrong- they look at Americans constantly bickering and fighting among ourselves and think- ah, they’re falling apart, they’re weak and vulnerable, when really this is just who we are. But piss us off and we’re quick to put aside our differences to kick some a$$. Lol. I just hope we are still like this. There is definitely a contingent now that basically wants no central/Fed gov at all, no rules or regulations on their behavior, and have actively begun to engage in sedition and treason to get what they want. Crazy times we live in. It’s why I’m glad I can get on a mtb and out into the woods away from it all- even if just for brief moments. Hope you can come visit some day. It’s a beautiful country, with huge variances in geography and climate- we have 4200 + meter mountains, deserts, rain forests, subtropical jungle, low lands- a bit of everything. And culture from the French in Louisiana to the Spanish in Florida and the southwest and California to the English in the original colonies, as well as African culture that was both preserved and evolved into a new culture by our African American citizens. And one day we’re gonna beat you Kiwis in Rugby!! Ok that might be a stretch (first we need to focus on qualifying for the World Cup). Lol. Cheers. 🤙

I do wonder if in years to come we will look back at current e bikes the same as the first mobile phones.

Well, it had better be soon…. we dont have many years left on the bike.

It's called a joke. I myself am a professional high achiever who has done well for myself. I don't think lawyers are bad, Audi's are great cars, and Santa cruz makes great bikes. Again, a sense of humour is required to watch my videos.