New 5010 is final 27.5in Santa Cruz bike to make switch to mullet setup

Santa Cruz has updated its 5010, with the trail mountain bike now featuring a mixed-wheel setup.

The 5010 is the last of the brand’s 27.5in-wheel, full-suspension mountain bikes to switch to a mixed-wheel setup. This sees a 29in wheel at the front, paired with a 27.5in wheel out back.

The 5010's travel hasn’t changed. It retains its 140mm fork suspension travel and 130mm rear shock at the rear.

Like its predecessor, launched in 2020, the 5010 will only be available in Santa Cruz’s C and CC carbon. There are no aluminium options on launch.

As well as a new 5010, Santa Cruz’s sister brand, Juliana, has also announced an updated Furtado.

Santa Cruz is an iconic brand. - Alex Evans / Our Media

Santa Cruz and Juliana are offering five builds each for the 5010 and Furtado – the cheapest of which is £5,299 and the most expensive £9,599.

Availability and international pricing are yet to be confirmed.

The bikes will be available in ‘Gloss Red’ and ‘Matte Nickel’ for the 5010 and ‘Matte Aquamarine’ for the Furtado.

Senior technical editor Alex Evans got to spend some time on the new 5010 ahead of the launch and you can read his first ride impressions later in this article.

The move to mullet

The new 5010 has a 29in-diameter MaxxGrip Maxxis Minion DHR II front tyre. - Alex Evans / Our Media

Santa Cruz is keen to point out the new 5010 is “not just the little bike” anymore.

The 5010 has always been the brand’s playful, but capable trail bike.

The brand says the 29in front wheel “provides traction, whereas the 27.5in rear wheel provides ability for agility. The combination results in stupid fun”.

Santa Cruz adds the mixed-wheel setup makes “even the most mundane trails feel like they’re loaded with features to hop, skip and jump over. It’s like having super-skills at your fingertips”.

Frame technology

The CC model is the brand's top-tier carbon fibre. - Alex Evans / Our Media

Both of the 5010's carbon layups are said to offer identical riding characteristics and stiffness properties, with the more expensive CC layup dropping some weight.

The maximum tyre clearance is rated to 27.5x2.5in on the rear.

The frame features ISCG05 chain guide mounts and, in typical Santa Cruz style, a threaded bottom bracket.

It also features Santa Cruz’s universal derailleur hanger, which is functionally the same as SRAM’s UDH.

A 'Tool Wallet' and a 'Tube Purse' are included with each frame, providing onboard storage. - Alex Evans / Our Media

The 5010 also inherits Santa Cruz’s Glovebox storage system, located in the down tube. Santa Cruz says the 5010 comes with a 'Tool Wallet' and 'Tube Purse' to keep spares organised.

Suspension design

The Super Deluxe Ultimate has low-speed and high-speed compression adjusters. - Alex Evans / Our Media

Like its predecessor, the 5010 retains Santa Cruz’s low-slung virtual pivot point (VPP) suspension design. This sees the lower of two counter-rotating links driving the shock, with a mudguard to help keep debris away.

The 5010 has less anti-squat than the previous generation, with the brand saying this is “to provide sensitive, ground-tracking qualities and reduce effects of pedal kick”.

According to Santa Cruz’s graphs, at full travel anti-squat is around 130 per cent (compared to the old bike’s 160 per cent). This drops to just below 125 per cent at sag (compared to the old 5010’s 150 per cent).

The 5010 uses Santa Cruz's VPP suspension design, delivering 130mm of rear-wheel travel. - Alex Evans / Our Media

Santa Cruz adds it wanted to give the 5010 a highly progressive and straight leverage curve “to give the rider plenty of predictable support, bottom-out resistance and playful response. This means the travel is accessible and bigger impacts aren’t as jarring as you’d expect from a short-travel bike."

Santa Cruz’s leverage graph shows the 5010 to be 23.7 per cent progressive. This is a reasonable amount of progression, and explains why Santa Cruz thinks the 5010 will be poppy and playful to ride.

The 5010 now has a 'sag window', where the shock's shaft is visible through the frame. - Alex Evans / Our Media

There is now a cut-out in the carbon of the non-driveside face of the seat tube, which Santa Cruz dubs the ‘sag set-up window’ to ease suspension setup.

Evolutionary geometry updates

The new bike has 130mm of rear-wheel travel and 140mm at the front. - Alex Evans / Our Media

The 5010 is available in sizes XS to XXL, whereas the outgoing model only went as far as XL. Even the XS models use the mixed-wheel size – Santa Cruz’s extra-small bikes usually run 27.5in front and back, even if the rest of the range is designed around mullet wheels, such as the Bronson.

The geometry sees evolutionary rather than revolutionary updates, with the 5010 a little longer, lower and slacker.

It's available in two colours: 'Red Gloss' and 'Matte Grey'. - Alex Evans / Our Media

Like the outgoing 5010, there’s a flip chip on the rear-most shock mount that adjusts the geometry slightly.

The head tube angles are 64.9 degrees in the low setting and range between 65.1 and 65.2 in the high setting.

The lower linkage has a geometry-adjusting flip chip. - Alex Evans / Our Media

Reach measurements vary from 406mm to 524mm across the range.

Both seat tube angles and chainstay lengths vary across the range. Santa Cruz says this is to match every frame size to the rider, no matter their height, to get the same balanced geometry.

Santa Cruz says the combination of 130mm of VPP travel, relatively short chainstays and a low BB “creates laser sharp handling and an insatiable appetite for negotiating steep, technical climbs”.

Santa Cruz is one of the only mountain bike brands to vary its chainstay lengths, along with Norco and Forbidden.

The geometry flip changes the head angle by 0.3 degrees (65.2 to 64.9) and the bottom bracket height by 3mm (338mm to 335mm). - Alex Evans / Our Media

They are slightly longer than the outgoing 5010, which was also size-specific, ranging from 428mm to 443mm. The brand says this “allows the rider to benefit from the approach angle and grip up front that MX wheels bring without needing to leave the cornering sweet spot for good weight distribution”.

Santa Cruz says bottom bracket height remains where it’s always been on the 5010 – “close to the ground” at 338mm.

Frame	XS (high / low)	S (high / low)	M (high / low)	L (high / low)	XL (high / low)	XXL (high / low)
Head tube angle (degrees)	65.2 / 64.9	65.2 / 64.9	65.2 / 64.9	65.2 / 64.9	65.2 / 64.9	65.1 / 64.9
Seat tube angle (degrees)	77.4 / 75.9	77.4 / 77.1	77.4 / 77.1	77.1 / 76.8	77.3 / 77	77.3 / 77.1
Top tube length (mm)	544	570 / 571	598 / 599	624 / 625	645 / 646	673 / 674
Head tube length (mm)	90	100	115	125	145	160
Seat tube length (mm)	370	380	405	430	460	500
Rear Centre (mm)	428 / 429	430 / 431	433 / 434	436 / 437	439 / 440	442 / 443
Wheelbase (mm)	1,147	1,178	1,212 / 1,213	1,239 / 1,240	1,271	1,305 / 1,306
Reach (mm)	410 / 406	434 / 431	459 / 456	479 / 476	499 / 496	524 / 521
Stack (mm)	599 / 601	608 / 610	622 / 624	631 / 633	649 / 651	662 / 664

New Juliana Furtado models

Juliana, Santa Cruz’s sister brand, is also announcing an update to the Furtado, which is the women’s equivalent of the 5010.

The Furtado inherits all of the 5010’s new features and shares the same geometry, although finishing kit widths differ to better fit women riders.

It will be available in sizes XS to Medium across five models.

Santa Cruz 5010 CC X01 AXS RSV MX first ride impressions

The 5010 is a trail/play bike. - Alex Evans / Our Media

Senior tech editor Alex Evans rode the top-spec version of the 2023 5010 a few days prior to its public launch on his home trails in Scotland's Tweed Valley. Below are his ride impressions.

Although my time riding the 5010 ahead of it launching was brief, because I was able to ride my well-trodden test loops I managed to get a reasonable grasp on its handling.

Climbing performance

Despite the 13.92kg/30.68lb weight figure of the size large X01 AXS RSV version of the 5010 I rode, it would be a stretch to call it lively on the climbs. Its behaviour is closer to an enduro bike than a flyweight trail bike.

This top-of-the-range model is fitted with SRAM's X01 Eagle AXS drivetrain. - Alex Evans / Our Media

While there wasn't masses of pedal bob when seated at higher cadences, out of the saddle in a lower gear, the rear end tended to dip in and out of its travel.

Arguably, the reduction in anti-squat (to around 125 per cent at sag from just under 150 per cent for the old bike) has made the rear end more susceptible to bobbing.

RockShox's all-new Super Deluxe Ultimate rear shock has the brand's new hydraulic bottom-out feature. - Alex Evans / Our Media

The positive trade-off is it feels marvellously smooth when climbing, even when putting the power down on super-technical sections. It's comfortable and composed when plodding to the top of a descent, but also when you're going hell for leather, with the rear end fluttering into its stroke.

A MaxxTerra rear tyre is fitted in an attempt to lower rolling resistance. - Alex Evans / Our Media

Of course, the tacky MaxxGrip (f) and MaxxTerra (r) Maxxis Minion DHR II tyre combination slows things too, adding to the enduro bike feel, but the extra grip is welcome on the descents.

A relatively steep seat tube angle (76.8 degrees in the low setting) and lengthy 624mm effective top tube meant cockpit comfort was good, and fore and aft weight shifts were kept to a minimum. Being picky, I'd like to see the seat angle steepen further.

Descending performance

The RockShox Pike, with the all-new Charger 3 damper, is fitted to the new 5010. - Alex Evans / Our Media

Point the 5010 downhill and over jumps, and the whole package makes total sense.

The suspension is marvellously taught, giving a super-supportive platform to push against in the belly of takeoffs, where there's a corresponding pop off the end of the lip.

Launching off the ground is addictive, where the frame's relatively stout form and light weight make it easy to cut shapes and whip about in the air. It's no wonder the 50to01 Santa Cruz sponsored riders chose the 5010 for their jankiest jibs and biggest whips.

It's fitted with Santa Cruz's carbon fibre handlebar. - Alex Evans / Our Media

The 5010's liveliness is echoed on the ground, too.

Despite the loss of the 27.5in front wheel to a grip-giving 29er, the chainstay length growing (up by 7mm to 437mm for the size large), its head angle raking out and the reach getting bigger, the 5010 wants to drift and snap its way down the trail.

Regardless of turn radius, it was hilariously fun to flick the rear end into a drift, where the grip and slip balance is pretty much spot-on, making it easy to hold in a hero-moment slide.

This 5010 CC X01 AXS RSV retails for £9,599. - Alex Evans / Our Media

Ridden softly, it is possible to carve corners rather than rip into them, but the 5010 feels best when rider volume increases and traction is broken intentionally.

Thanks to the suspension's progression and hydraulic bottom-out on RockShox's Super Deluxe Ultimate rear shock, bottom-outs were genuinely imperceptible. The kinematics and air shock are a fantastic match for the amount of travel on tap, absorbing heavy landings well.

The gradient markers on the shock's shaft indicate is has the hydraulic bottom-out system. - Alex Evans / Our Media

It only begins to feel under-gunned on successive, large bumps where only more travel would help. It can lull you into a false sense of security, and hitting chunkier trails at higher speeds can be a quick wake-up call.

I'm going to be spending more time on the 5010 over the coming weeks, so keep tuned for a full review soon.