Santa Cruz 5010 2022 – CS – Large

Get creative with your surroundings.

The 5010 turns obstacles into features. Its nimble, poppy feel makes even the most mundane rides feel like they’re loaded with features to hop, skip and jump over. It’s the kind of bike that makes new trails feel as familiar as the back of your hand.

27.5 is the fun-sized wheel size. Smaller wheels provide an ideal balance between toughness and weight saving making them the most fleet-footed (or quick fingered) whether launching logs or weaving through stumps. With its quick and agile character, the 5010 has become a go-to plaything for progressive riders the world over and the only contender on any backyard trails.

It’s a bike that goes harder than its vital stats may suggest. A 140mm-travel fork is paired with 130mm at the rear, the lower-link VPPTM configuration of which leaves you feeling there’s a lot more travel at hand. And you can choose how out of hand you want to get, as this pocket rocket fits all sizes and types of rear shocks.

It’s no handful either. The relatively slack head angle makes it predictable to steer, the relatively low BB height turns like it’s on tracks and the short chainstays make this plaything easy to pick up and throw around.

No matter how much of a big kid you are the bike grows with you. We’ve tailored the geometry so frame size is matched to size specific chainstay lengths and super-low standover heights make it feel (almost) like that BMX you had as a kid.

Okay, perhaps that’s a bit nostalgic, but the 5010’s certainly a perfect gateway to the highs only proper mountain biking can offer.