First Ride Review: The new Santa Cruz Bronson V5

First launched in 2013 as the bike that really brought 27.5’ wheels to the mass market, the Santa Cruz Bronson has since become one of the iconic bikes of the last decade. Their true all rounder, it has always been super versatile, tough enough to be able to take on EWS stage racing without feeling like too much bike for regular trail riders. Lighter and easier to manoeuvre at lower speeds than the Nomad and Megatower, it can handle a huge variety of riding and over the years has become an incredibly popular choice.

Updated and re-tuned through four versions, it has remained at 160mm / 150mm travel throughout the years, but pretty much everything else has changed from the original bike. One of the earlier models to move to the current lower link VPP layout, and the first to introduce mixed wheel sizes, the Bronson has often been at the front of new developments for Santa Cruz, also serving as the base from which the Heckler was designed. The current Bronson V4 is a great machine, chosen by our supported racers Jake and Polly as their EDR race bikes, and enjoyed up and down the country by riders of every level, so the new bike has a lot to live up to. 

The new Bronson V5 looks to maintain that well rounded character, but with a host of changes all round the bike from suspension layout to geometry and finishing details, it aims to take an already brilliant model and elevate it even further.

The most visually obvious change to the Bronson is the newly adjusted suspension layout. First debuted in 2017 on the Nomad, lower link driven VPP suspension is now ubiquitous through the Santa Cruz trail bike range and has remained largely unchanged, bar some minor tweaking to the kinematics, malking the fresh layout on the Bronson V5 a significant change. It sees the shock moved into a recess on the downtube, dubbed the ‘birds nest’ in order to re-tune the suspension characteristics.

One of the main traits of current VPP is its higher than average anti squat. That trait means some of the pedalling force put in by a rider acts to prevent the shock compressing, giving the bikes quite a ‘locked out’ feeling during climbing efforts and preventing pedal bob. On smoother climbs, a high anti-sqaut can be a good thing, helping keep a higher BB and steeper seat tube, but it does have a trade off. With suspension action restricted when the chain is under tension, traction and momentum are inevitably compromised on rough climbs, and pedal kickback increases, potentially interrupting cadence or amplifying the feeling of chop when descending (especially with the brake brake locked).

The new design aims to reduce the anti-squat figure to a more optimised level, keeping it high enough to maintain decent efficiency while opening up the suspension to move and behave more actively while passing over rough ground. The other significant change from the new layout is a lowered level of progression from the linkage. Like taking tokens out a fork, reducing the overall progression means that the suspension should have a more consistent feel right through the stroke, making it easier to make full use of the travel while still having support earlier on. A smaller, but happy side effect of the changes is improved shock visibility for setting sag and easier cleaning with more room for water and mud to exit. 

Alongside the updated linkage, there are quite a number of geometry changes. Most of them seem quite small in isolation, but they build together to create a pronounced change to the bike as a whole. Reaches have grown by around 5 mm per size, as has the chainstay, with a Medium now sitting at 457mm and 440mm in the Low setting. That lengthened chainstay was adjusted  specifically to counter the rear weight bias that can be present in Mx wheeled bikes and improve front wheel traction in the corners.

Head angles are slackened to 63.9’ in the Low setting and Stack heights have grown with head tubes increasing by 10mm. All those small changes in combination mean wheelbases have grown by nearly 20 mm per bike, placing the rider between a wider base of support than previously and bringing the shape of the Bronson V5 closer to the Nomad than the V4.

Riding the new Bronson

With a few days to ride the new bike pre-launch, we squeezed in as much riding as we could, with Neil managing to ride some Innerleithen favourites, the steeps of Thornilee and some flowier singletrack further down the valley to get time in on as wide a range of trails as possible. He then handed off to Mark Scott, to see how the new Bronson would handle the (dramatically) higher speeds and impacts that Mark is capable of dishing out. Neil is 5,9 and Mark 5,8, our test bike was a Size Medium and both felt it fitted them ideally. 

Uphill, the changes are subtle, but noticeable. The slightly steepened seat angle can be felt, with the rider now sitting a little more above the pedals than before. At 77.6’ the position isn’t at the extreme end of the spectrum for modern bikes but is somewhere close to our preferred angle being steep enough to keep weight well ahead of the rear axle without feeling unusual or awkward when pedalling along the flat. 

On smoother climbs, the bike still has the familiar feel of a Santa Cruz, climbing with minimal pedal bob and never tempting either of us to reach for the lockout lever. Over rougher ground, the new suspension curve can definitely be felt with the Bronson 5 staying more active over the bumps and holes while climbing, helping to maintain momentum.

Neil : Having ridden and owned multiple Santa Cruz bikes, I think this one works the best uphill, it just copes a little better clambering over square edges and holes, with less kick at the pedals and what feels like a little more traction maybe. Considering it’s an MX bike, it’s a surprisingly good technical climber. 

That extra ability over rough climbs doesn’t seem to come at the expense of any efficiency, so while it’s not a drastic change, it does feel like Santa Cruz have made a good improvement to overall climbing performance with the change to the VPP layout.

Downhill, the Bronson 5 has made a larger step away from the previous bike. With wheelbases growing by close to 20mm per size, the new bike is now more like a mini-Nomad in terms of its geometry. Where the V4 was a middle of the road (in a good way), peppy trail bike, the V5 has edged itself a little more towards a race bike feel, adding some extra stability and capability to the shape of the chassis. For riders in between sizes it might just be enough to nudge someone down rather than up.

That extra space between the wheels, slacker front end and the longer stays give it an impressively calm attitude at speed and through rougher ground. The new VPP link, with its reduced progression and kickback also contributes here, the Bronson V5 delivering a smooth ride that seems to allow the use of plenty of the travel, but again without giving up support or running into problems with bottom out. The overall feel of the suspension strikes a very good balance with enough support to feel what the bike is doing and pump from while still maintaining traction and suppleness. It’s still a bike which is going to outperform the long travel models on mellower or flatter descents but the feel is closer to those bikes than previously with some of the quick handling of the V4 traded away in favour of stability. 

As with the uphill performance it’s still obviously a Santa Cruz, and again the revised linkage seems like an improvement, taking an already very good platform in lower link VPP and refining it even further. 

Neil: Day one on new bikes for me is rarely an immediately fun experience. Usually there is a lot of suspension adjusting to do, along with learning how to ride something new. On this bike, I was three corners into the first trail of the day and knew it was going to be good. By ride number three I felt like I’d owned it for months. I simply found it an incredibly easy and fun bike to ride, super balanced and with no weird characteristics, I could just get on it and ride it as hard as my own ability allows. After three days of riding, I don’t struggle to think of anything I’d change to further improve the Bronson. It works really well everywhere, is quiet, has excellent grip, great small bump performance and doesn’t demand anything special of the rider. Through linked corners, it’s one of the best bikes I’ve ridden. Overall it seems pretty close to a perfect execution of a 150mm bike, it’s very impressive indeed.

Mark Scott operates at a somewhat different pace to the rest of us (and most of the planet) but reassuringly ended up with quite a similar first impression. He was able to get comfortable almost immediately, and felt the updated bike could be pushed harder than the V4, with both the geometry and linkage changes contributing here. He noted the support from the revised suspension platform both climbing and descending and liked the neutral feel, finding the bike more active when needed with no obvious drawbacks as a result. Overall a solid thumbs up, so little need for anyone to worry they might be too quick for the new bike!

In summary, the new Bronson V5 massively impressed us. It climbs very well, descends almost every kind of trail with composure and could suit almost any location or rider. Easy to set up and easy to ride, it's taken an already brilliant bike in the V4 and somehow managed to make it a little bit better.

Stock coming soon - get in touch for pre-orders or to ask us any questions.

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