1997 Santa Cruz Heckler

I didn't think I would be having any more retro builds for a while, but I guess I just can't help myself. :facepalm:

I always thought the Heckler was a cool frame in the late 90's and having been a skater before I started mtbing the heritage was pretty cool. So when this came up in the best main frame colour I took a punt.



When it got to me I found a dent on the seat tube that hadn't been mentioned, but other than that I'm quite happy. It looks better now it's had a bit of a clean, and the notoriously poor Santa Cruz paint has held up pretty well on the frame. The swingarm has quite a few chips but I may have it stripped and polished in future, so not too worried.

The frame numbers show that it is a 1997 main frame with a 1999 swingarm, so I'm quite happy that I have it in the right section before anyone says anything about disc mounts!

Going to be built mostly from the parts bin. I had the Bombers hanging around and pretty much a full M739 groupset so will be going with that. So here is how it looks now.











Thanks for looking.

That's looking really smart I am getting more tempted by some vintage full sus

Cheers.
This will be my first ever full bounce so I'm quite excited.
Indeed, it will be the only bike I have with any suspension. Everything else is fully rigid. I hope it's not the start of a slippery slope!

Here's what Santa Cruz had to say about it.

I'm pretty much the same. Running Judy's on my Dekerf but that's only a temporary measure. I shall look forward to following this and seeing what you think of it when it's done.

Re:

Bring it to the Pentlands ride and I'll bring my 97!

I would, but I don't think I'm going to make it. :cry:

OK, it's done. Sort of.
As is often the case with me an upcoming MacRetro ride has provided the impetus to get the bike built. There are a couple of things that I will be changing. Different rear wheel once I've built it (XT hub rather than the LX and black Mavic rather than the silver) and either the crankset or the bottom bracket will be changed. I bought one of the BB options for an M739 then decided to fit the Specialized cranks and the axle is a touch too long. But other than that I think it's good to go.
Quite happy with how it looks. Will find out how it rides soon.

Nice look forward to the ride report

raidan73":2iyd87bh said:

Nice look forward to the ride report

Click to expand...

Cheers.
Got it out for a ride this morning and it was great. It feels a lot like a big wheeler over rough stuff as the travel allows it to float over more bumps. It will still stall on slower more techy stuff where a bigger wheel would roll over but that's one penalty you'll never get rid of with kids wheels.
Over a rutted gravel track with large sized gravel it felt at least as comfy as a 5" fatbike. And it didn't feel as if the suspension was robbing me of any power, though I am carrying an injury right now so haven't been out as much as I would like the last 12 weeks, so I could be mistaken on that front. I would need more riding between this and the others to tell for sure.
All in all though, I liked it, and I'm now wondering what a modern 650b or 29er full bounce would feel like. :facepalm:

Anyway, I would recommend a Heckler if you are interested in going down that route Raidan.
I'll shut up now and post some more pics.

Looks great out in the woods. Where abouts are you?