THE NEW SANTA CRUZ BULLIT

April 15, 2025

Santa Cruz’s Bullit has always been a bruiser. Ever since freeriders and big hitters first laid eyes on the Bullit back in the early 2000’s, this bike was designed to get riders up but was very clearly biased for going big and getting rowdy on the way down. Now in 2025, the Santa Cruz Bullit is a lightyear apart from what we were riding in 2003. Thanks to technologies and advancements that we never imagined, but in a way, were talking about, we have that self-shuttle dream. Back then, we just pushed up hills yapping about how rad it would be to own a helicopter, or stating for the hundredth time, “They should totally put a chairlift in here, it’s such a rad trail!” Little did we know, twenty years later, we’d have electric chairlifts that we could ride up and down the mountain, in a way, making our childhood dreams come true: MORE DOWNHILL RUNS!

Santa Cruz are marketing the new Bullit as a “Downhill Bike With a Built-In Chairlift,” and for some riders, it may be just that. Though, we think it has the potential to be a lot more. For 2025, the Santa Cruz Bullit gets 170mm of front and rear travel, managed by a four-bar suspension design. In a rather unexpected move last year, Santa Cruz released their first non-VPP bike in a very long time, the Vala eMTB, and it was met with mixed emotions by die-hard Santa Cruz fans. We were very happy about it, and are equally pleased to see the Bullit get the four-bar treatment as well.

FRAME FEATURES

In typical Santa Cruz fashion, the new Bullit eMTB is a beautifully finished unit with attention to details throughout. Although we would like to see the rear mudguard flap get about 1 inch wider to help escort debris out beyond the bearings in the chainstay/seattube area. The bike comes with a lifetime warranty for the frame, pivot bearings and Reserve carbon rims.

Available in five sizes, Sm-XXL, the Bullit should fit most riders and thanks to the frame’s design a low seat tube should give riders plenty of room for big droppers. Speaking of sizing, Santa Cruz gives the Bullit size-specific chainstay lengths as well as some adjustability. The frames feature both a suspension Progression Adjust flip chip as well as a High/Low Geo Adjust flip chip. These chips are now independent of each other and offer riders more tunability.

Santa Cruz frames have always been some of our favorite when it comes to handling precision, tightness and overall finish. Santa Cruz uses large bearing than some other brands, which make them a bit more durable and less sensitive to degradation. The Main Pivot also runs on a preloading collect axle and expanding wedge-designed hardware to help aid in removal and ensure they don’t back out or loosen.

SANTA CRUZ BULLIT MOTOR AND BATTERY

Powering the new Santa Cruz Bullit is the Bosch Performance Line CX motor, which currently offers 85Nm of max torque and 600 watts peak power. Spinning the gears inside this drive unit is a Bosch 600Wh battery. Santa Cruz wanted to keep all Bullit eBikes under 50lbs in weight, and as such they opted to run the 600Wh Bosch battery which weighs 6.6lbs (3.3kg). That’s over 2.2 pounds lighter than the 800Wh Bosch battery, which they believe would have greatly altered the bike’s performance and their goal for how it feels on the trail. For riders who want a bit more range, a Bosch 250Wh PowerMore Range Extender is available aftermarket and weighs 3.3lbs.

POTENTIALLY POLARIZING POINTS

While there’s plenty to excite riders, we’re certain that a few key decisions will send others to the keyboard. The first is the lack of cable ports on CC carbon frames. Those who want to run cable-actuated drivetrains will be limited to the C carbon models as all CC framed bikes come with AXS drivetrains and apparently the consensus from bike brands is that people won’t go back if they break a part on their derailleur. Another potentially polarizing call is that the Santa Cruz Bullit comes with a fixed 600Wh battery that is not easily removable. What’s the last trigger you ask? The Bullit is designed to be run exclusively as a Mullet or MX wheel setup.

While this may be a turnoff, or deal breaker for some, one thing is for sure, Santa Cruz is sticking to their guns and building what they believe is the best bike for the style of riding they believe the Bullit is about. And for that we applaud them. It takes guts in today’s age to not try and make everybody happy all the time, and if this bike doesn’t offer the things you want, the way you want them, then that probably means it’s not the bike for you. Santa Cruz didn’t compromise on their dream for this bike and so for those who check the box, you’ll likely have your new dream machine because of it.

FIRST RIDE IMPRESSIONS

We’ve had just a few rides aboard the new Santa Cruz Bullit, so far we like it quite a bit. There’s plenty of goods to talk about but first a couple of issues in preliminary testing. The bottom bracket, even in the high position, is quite low for our rocky desert trails. Pedaling can be a bit of a chore when tackling large rock gardens or if you ride in a lot of ruts. When it’s time to keep the pedals even and drop into your favorite downhills, that low BB rewards with some amazing cornering fun. In typical Santa Cruz fashion. As far as range goes, your mileage may vary, but Sean (160lbs) just wrapped up a 21 mile 4,615 foot day on the 600Wh battery in Auto mode with some Eco towards the end to ensure he made it back to the car. If you’re looking for bigger days, the PowerMore extender, or lower power modes could be worth using a bit more. We’ll do more range testing with the heavier riders on staff soon.

I (Drew) have put in a couple good days shredding the bike on our high speed and chunky DH trails as well as some techy, rock-filled trails. As mentioned, the low BB can have some drawbacks, but the rest of the geo suited my 5’11, 185lb body nicely. The shock tune was pretty easy to live with and I feel that I’ve gotten to a pretty happy place with mid-stroke support, off-the-top sensitivity and end-of-stroke progression without much fussing. When it came time to attack, the Santa Cruz Bullit is ready to charge headlong. Whether it be slapping corners, ripping a bobsled run or hitting jumps or charging square-edge rocks at full speed, I felt confident and trusted that the bike could handle all I could throw at it. I will be doing a bit more fine tuning on the shock as I’d like to soften up a few key frequencies and impacts on my regular trails, but overall, I much prefer this Bullit to the outgoing model in every way.

For More Information, visit Santacruzbicycles.com