Santa Cruz Nomad CC MX 90 - Gloss Aqua Magenta

Zip it into the bag, chuck it in the van, or toss it over the tailgate when you get to the trails, you’ll be happy you’re on a Santa Cruz Nomad CC 90 Mountain Bike. The completely redesigned VPP suspension offers more efficient climbing, less reactivity under braking, and improves traction everywhere in between. In short, you’ll be more comfortable, more composed, and more confident no matter what the trail throws your way.

Lighter. More refined. More smash. More fun. It’s built for riders who demand DH-level poise and performance but ride big days to earn big lines. We tweaked the suspension kinematics and put the frame on a weight loss program to make it more forgiving on hills and hits. What we retained, however, was the Nomad’s familiar stance and the ability to stand up to season after season of the most aggressive riding. The Nomad has always been the go-to bike for riders the world over who are in search of the best trails, and the new Nomad pushes that legacy forward.

The new Nomad’s a bit lighter than before—86 grams, to be precise. A lot of that savings comes from the slimmed-down downtube, but they redesigned the layup throughout the frame. It’s not just weight savings for weight savings sake, though: reducing the amount of material in the downtube makes it more compliant, and leaves you feeling fresher at the end of a long descent. You’ll feel it in your hands and feet at the bottom, and feel it even more (less?) the next day.

The new Nomad might look a bit like the older one, but sometimes the smallest changes make the biggest difference. The head angle’s a hair slacker, and now matches the Bullit at 63.6 in Hi and 63.3 in Lo. They’ve tweaked the kinematics on the tough, tuneable, VPP suspension layout to eke out a bit more performance. Anti-rise gets reduced a bit, which mitigates brake dive and helps the suspension do its job when you’re trying to keep things upright. At the same time, they also reduced anti-squat, which increases traction and pedaling efficiency while also improving performance over square-edge impacts. It took a lot of math paired with over 80 hours of tires-on-dirt suspension testing, but the result is a bike that gives you the confidence to let it run.