The Roller Door

What even is a Vala? How does it differ from the Bullit? Vala Light? Torque? Bosch? What does it all mean! Ebikes are on the rise, and no matter your personal preference, they are evolving at a rapid pase and it's exciting to follow along. In this episode, Hannah sits down with Josh Kissner and Mark Matson, two of our product managers, to dig into Santa Cruz's ebike ecosystem and ask all the quest...

The long-awaited Santa Cruz Tallboy is here! We know we've kept you waiting, so we thought we'd make a big splash. Truly all new, this Tallboy is the most capable and lightest it's ever been. More capable yet lighter weight?! But how? Dive in with Hannah as she digs into the details with Josh and Amy from the product team. While the silhouette has changed, it's still unmistakably the coveted machi...

The OG crowd favorite is back in its newest form. The Santa Cruz Nomad—the bike that defined the big mountain enduro category—is new and improved. The lightest it's ever been, while still utilizing the tried-and-true VPP platform, this version delivers its best ride yet. In this episode, Hannah sits down with Josh Kissner , Kiran, MacKinnon, and Peter Mueller-Wille —the product, suspension, and en...

Get into the details of ebikes! Why ride one? Or not? Why did we make the product and design choices we've made in our ebike line? In this episode we sit down with Product Manager Mark Matson and Rider Support's own E-bike specialist, Chris Freeny (maybe he's helped you out!). Between these two experts, we deep dive into the world of E. The fastest growing category in MTB, whether you like it or n...

We're so excited to have our buddy Danny MacAskill on the pod to congratulate him on being inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame! He's one guy that your mom might know from Youtube- his reach goes far beyond our nerd circle of mountain bikers. Learn about his life back in Scotland, his trials bike that is made in house at Santa Cruz HQ, his love of ebikes, and a little about being one of th...

We're getting deep under the Roller Door on this episode! In the depths of the Santa Cruz Bicycles Headquarters is the machine shop where Mike Woods and John Heyliger craft the first version of all of our bikes, and much more.  Geoff Casey, head of Engineering and Marketing, sits down with Hannah to learn from these two master fabricator/machiners. Between the two of them, they have almost 40 year...

Vala AL?! That's right, the beloved Vala has now gone metal. The aluminum Vala launches today, and we're stoked on this one. Hannah and co host Sam Randazzo sit down with legendary operations manager, JT Barse (you may know him as the star of the Carbon Chameleon launch video... look it up) to talk about this new bike and how our in house production team plays a crucial part in developing our prod...

  No matter your life trajectory, you can always choose a different path and you can always choose to use your voice to enact change. On this episode of the Roller Door, North American Brand Manager Katie Zaffke, joins Hannah to talk with long time friend of the brand, Aneela Mckenna. Aneela is a legend in the industry, not only for her vivacious laugh and mischevious glint in her eye (and her sco...

On this episode, Tobin Ortenblad puts on his co-host hat and joins Hannah in interviewing Keegan Swenson. Pre season, why Cape Epic is so hard, preparing for Unbound, and why Cyclocross should have a comeback. It's always a pleasure to sit down and talk with these two HTSQD athletes and get a look into the world of top tier gravel racing and beyond. If you have any nerdy gravel questions or questi...

All new? Hasn't the Bullit been around forever? Yes, this OG model has gotten a major revision and is better than ever. Think Vala on steroids. We'll let Aaron and Jack explain the rest.  On this episode of the Roller Door, Hannah sits down with Design Engineer Aaron Thielk and Ebike Product Manager Jack Russell, to introduce the all new Bullit. We may be biased, but this thing rips. Hope you enjo...

On this episode of the Roller Door, Hannah sits down with the two Syndicate women, veteran Nina Hoffman and fresh junior Ellie Hulsebosch, to get an inside look at life on the road, balance, and all things racing. These two are new teammates and their mutual respect and connection is palpable and fun to witness. We hope you enjoy. Remember to write in with questions, suggestions on topics, guests,...

On this episode of the Roller Door, Garen and Hannah chat with HtSQD racer and People's Champ Tobin Ortenblad on training, cyclocross tactics, gravel fashion, and more. Tobin's always full of informational insight, strong opinions and good laughs. We always enjoy talking with Tobin, and we hope you do too. Remember to write in with questions, suggestions on topics, guests, or whatever-- it's podca...

In this episode of the Roller Door, Garen and Hannah chat with legendary freerider Vero Sandler about her experience before, during, and after the Redbull Rampage. There's an awful lot to unpack here. We hope you enjoy, and remember– if you have questions for Vero or anyone at Santa Cruz Bicycles, please email them to podcast@santacruzbicycles.com / Thanks for listening!  

In this episode of the Roller Door, Garen and Hannah chat with some of the group that brought the Vala, Santa Cruz's new full power e-bike, to market. You'll hear from Kiran MacKinnon, Jesse Carlin, Peter Mueller-Wille, and Mark Matson on choosing a new suspension platform, picking a drive system, and bringing the bike to life. If you're curious about the particulars of the Vala, like power statis...

At long last, 2024 marks the first ever women's field in the iconic (and somewhat controversial) freeride competition, the Red Bull Rampage. In this episode of the podcast, Garen and Hannah chat with UK freerider Vero Sandler about her path to becoming one of the sport's foremost freeriders, what the Rampage means to her, bike setup, and more. The women are digging in the red, hard Utah desert now...

What's a Vala? How's this new Bosch motor? Wait… a 4-bar bike from Santa Cruz? Is this the end of VPP? Who's Jack Russell, anyways? To hear the answers to these questions, along with many more, press play– there's a lot to know about Santa Cruz Bicycles' new model, the Vala. Questions? Gripes? Please email us at podcast@santacruzbicycles.com .  If you enjoy the podcast, you can help others to do t...

In this episode of the Roller Door Podcast, Garen and Hannah talk through the updates to the  Santa Cruz Hightower, along with several off-piste tangents. If you have questions about the new Hightower (or anything Santa Cruz) please email us at podcast@santacruzbicycles.com . We thank you for listening!

If you're listening to this podcast you surely love riding bikes, but it's not all nose-bonks and power wheelies. In this episode of the Roller Door, Garen and Hannah circle back with Matt Miller on findings from Matt's Paydirt-funded trip to the Netherlands. Matt loves riding bikes so much that he's built his life around building better cycling infrastructure, which is something all of us can be...

This week we launched the latest Bronson: our go-to aggressive trail bike. Listen as Garen and Hannah talk with Santa Cruz Director of Product Josh Kissner about how several small refinements and a few big ones have drastically improved the suspension and ride feel of one of our most popular models. If you have questions for Josh, please let us know by emailing podcast@santacruzbicycles.com .  Tha...

Annie Ford is a climate activist, marine biologist, surfer and mountain biker with a passion for doing hard things. She's got the world record for descending the most vertical on a bike. She rode her mountain bike- with a surfboard- from the north tip to the southern tip of New Zealand. Most recently, she rode her Santa Cruz Nomad from Ensenada, Mexico to Whistler, BC to raise funds towards ending...

In this episode of the Roller Door, Garen chats with Keegan Swenson, Tobin Ortenblad, and Sam Dale about their races, their bikes, and their experiences at the 2024 Downieville Classic. Is Downieville technical enough for an ex-world cup downhiller on a bigger bike to beat the fastest endurance riders on XC bikes? To find out, give a listen. Any questions? Please email: podcast@santacruzbicycles.c...

To chat with Sam Dale is to consort with a calm, wise man: steady in his words, rich in story, humble as they come, Sam is the kind of person you wish you had more time with. Luckily for us, he's now living in Santa Cruz. In this podcast, we click it down a couple notches and hear about Sam's beginnings, his years as a world cup racer, why he moved to Santa Cruz, and more.  We hope you enjoy - and...

--- SPECIAL DROP --- In this special episode of the Roller Door, Garen and Hannah sit with everybody's Wingman, Tobin Ortenblad, to hear about how this year's Unbound Gravel race unfolded for the HtSqd team.  We throroughly enjoyed this open, informative talk, and we hope you do to. If you have questions for Tobin, Keegan, Alexis, or anyone here at Santa Cruz Bicycles, please email them to podcast...