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Early Santa Cruz Heckler?
- Thread starter mattbrown
- Start date
Yep, Early Heckler allright. No disc mounts and no main pivot brace plate connecting the down tube and seat tube dates it around '96 IIRC .
I'm a bit puzzled by the slight bend in the top tube, The medium Heckler in 97-98 I'm pretty sure had a straight top tube, it could be a Small.
The "Heckler X" (decal in 5th picture) was the complete bike package deal by SC. I don't know if SC did no disc tabs for the "X" later on as well, sp could be later. And though I'm not familiar with the UK spec those years I'm pretty sure it is not original.
Looks in good nick too, will make someone the right size a very nice ride,
Enjoy!!
I'm a bit puzzled by the slight bend in the top tube, The medium Heckler in 97-98 I'm pretty sure had a straight top tube, it could be a Small.
The "Heckler X" (decal in 5th picture) was the complete bike package deal by SC. I don't know if SC did no disc tabs for the "X" later on as well, sp could be later. And though I'm not familiar with the UK spec those years I'm pretty sure it is not original.
Looks in good nick too, will make someone the right size a very nice ride,
Enjoy!!
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It is an early one, but not as early as everyone thinks. IbocPro is right. The early ones did have straight top tubes, and this one is gonna be a late 90's model.
Also that is not the original spec. The majority of the Hecklers round here were custom built -even getting to choose your colours (F&R) in some cases.
Nobody in their right mind would put an Alivio mech on a Heckler! My guess is they got the frame somewhere and put a mish-mash of parts on there so their son could ride it. Lucky git!
Also that is not the original spec. The majority of the Hecklers round here were custom built -even getting to choose your colours (F&R) in some cases.
Nobody in their right mind would put an Alivio mech on a Heckler! My guess is they got the frame somewhere and put a mish-mash of parts on there so their son could ride it. Lucky git!
Ziggy,
The older I get the more confused I am! And the timeline is only in my head.
I am most aware of ther 96-99 years as I bought a Heckler in 1997. I have scanned sections of my 1997 catalogue earlier and posted them here:
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54519
Now in this 1997 catalogue even with the double crown forks there's no disc tabs so I think that makes my own frame with tabs a '98 "model".
Note also no brace plates for the main pivot welded between the seat dand down tube just above the BB shell. IIRC earlier Hecklers did have the braces, also a feature of the Tazmon design that preceeds the Heckler, but the Tazmon has no braces in 1997 either.
The '96-'977 Medium frame featured a straight top tube when I tested it, but the Large in the catalogue has a bent top tube. The design gives good standover clearance and allows positioning of the top tube damper mount so as not to upset the shock rates between sizes. The blurb also mentions the Heckler SL (for Super Light) essentially the same geometry but with thinner gauge, butted and machined tubes to shed weight. The first SL's came with a 200 lbs rider weight limit and were ball burnished alloy to save weight on paint.
Later editions lost even more weight whilst simultaneously relaxing the rider weight limit, and the SL became a big seller. Eventually the plain Heckler was dropped and the SL became the "Superlight" line. And that bent top tube has become a trademark of the Heckler and Superlight and is also is very prominent in the current crop of Santa Cruz designs.
I am still puzzled by the small frame with the bent top tube. It sort of contradicts the positioning of the damper mount argument too. I think indeed it could be a feature of the later models but that is not consistent with the lack of disc tabs. And details that I know have variations like the seatstay brace and the downtube decals are identical to my 97-98 again.
Enjoy!!
The older I get the more confused I am! And the timeline is only in my head.
I am most aware of ther 96-99 years as I bought a Heckler in 1997. I have scanned sections of my 1997 catalogue earlier and posted them here:
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54519
Now in this 1997 catalogue even with the double crown forks there's no disc tabs so I think that makes my own frame with tabs a '98 "model".
Note also no brace plates for the main pivot welded between the seat dand down tube just above the BB shell. IIRC earlier Hecklers did have the braces, also a feature of the Tazmon design that preceeds the Heckler, but the Tazmon has no braces in 1997 either.
The '96-'977 Medium frame featured a straight top tube when I tested it, but the Large in the catalogue has a bent top tube. The design gives good standover clearance and allows positioning of the top tube damper mount so as not to upset the shock rates between sizes. The blurb also mentions the Heckler SL (for Super Light) essentially the same geometry but with thinner gauge, butted and machined tubes to shed weight. The first SL's came with a 200 lbs rider weight limit and were ball burnished alloy to save weight on paint.
Later editions lost even more weight whilst simultaneously relaxing the rider weight limit, and the SL became a big seller. Eventually the plain Heckler was dropped and the SL became the "Superlight" line. And that bent top tube has become a trademark of the Heckler and Superlight and is also is very prominent in the current crop of Santa Cruz designs.
I am still puzzled by the small frame with the bent top tube. It sort of contradicts the positioning of the damper mount argument too. I think indeed it could be a feature of the later models but that is not consistent with the lack of disc tabs. And details that I know have variations like the seatstay brace and the downtube decals are identical to my 97-98 again.
Enjoy!!
