Building up any Santa Cruz frame is a pleasant task to take on; kinda like having cake and eating it too.

This Nomad build-up was a particularly sweet one. All of the best component-classics came out of the woodwork, including an XTR drivetrain and King hubset.

Eric started with a headset install that caught everyone’s attention in the shop:

Chris King Link

Getting the King one-point-fiver into the Nomads giant head-tube is a rather delicate affair.  ‘Cause the cup length and diameter are both substantially longer and wider, headset pressing’s gotta go slow-and-steady in order for the cups to get into the frame straight.

That’s it; the (only) hard part was over; after the headset install it was smooth sailing right up to the weigh-in.  Hanging some of the market’s finest components on such a wonderfully conceived chassis was child’s play.  None the less, we still had our best man on it.

Despite it’s high-brow specs, this particular Nomad weighed in just over 30 pounds.  That isn’t heavy, of course, but still isn’t light enough to capture the attention of all the weight-weenies out there.  The purpose of this Nomad build wasn’t to shock the scales though, but rather to create a top-drawer trail bike with parts who’s performance and reliability would complement the frames outstanding handling characteristics.

Actually, none of us have yet ridden a sub-thirty pound Santa Cruz Nomad and we might not want to: the bike already feels extremely light at 30 pounds.  It’s bottomless suspension and fantastic pedaling efficiency work together to keep it rolling at speed over some of the gnarliest trail sections.  In short: be ready to ride the Nomad, otherwise it’ll ride you!