Santa Cruz has just launched its brand new Bullit! One’s just turned up at the MBR office, so we headed straight into the workshop to weigh it, measure the geometry, and check the actual travel. Watch the video to find out if it stacked up to the numbers Santa Cruz claims, and whether it sneaked under the 50lb ceiling on the scales.

Mick Kirkman has already ridden the new Bullit and tested it on the launch in Slovenia, and you can read his first ride review here. But he didn’t get a chance to run a tape measure over it, so this is our way of verifying some of the claims Santa Cruz makes.

The latest Santa Cruz Bullit closely resembles the Vala, but it’s a completely new chassis.

From VPP to four-bar linkage

As you can see, the new Bullit follows a similar template to the Vala launched last year. That’s significant because it was the first e-bike – actually, suspension bike of any type – that Santa Cruz has made without its signature VPP linkage for many years. And Santa Cruz made this very public U-turn to a four-bar design with the aim of improving the packaging of the motor and battery. With 150mm of travel and a 160mm fork, the Vala is aimed at the hard-hitting trail rider, but the Bullit takes this up several notches with a much more gravity-focussed build, 170mm of travel front and rear, and aggressive geometry. And while the frame looks similar to the Vala, the Bullit is in fact completely different, without any major shared parts.

What it does have in common with the Vala is the gen 5 Bosch Performance Line CX motor. This kicks out 85Nm and 600W of peak power, in a revised unit that’s smaller, lighter, and smarter than its predecessor. Rumours are, it might be about to get a power upgrade too…

A range extender is going to be a necessary upgrade for Bullit owners.

600Wh internal battery – is it enough?

Controversially, as it did with the Vala, Santa Cruz has opted to go with the 600Wh internal battery. This is the smaller of the latest Bosch PowerTube batteries, the other being 800Wh, and it’s fully enclosed within the down tube, so you can’t take it out to charge or stuff in a fresh one. It’s a point that’s had a lot of criticism in comments I’ve seen, and given that this is a gravity bike with sticky tyres, there’s an argument you want all the battery you can get. Santa Cruz will point out that the Bullit can be supplemented with the 250Wh PowerMore range extender, effectively adding 41% to the range, but this doesn’t come with the bike. Given the top model shown here is £10k, I feel like it should be included, like Whyte does with its E-Lyte 150 Evo Stag Works.

It’s not a definitive range test, but to give you some idea of what you can get out of the Bullit, I rode it at BikePark Wales in eMTB mode until it ran out of juice completely. With the stock tyres, slightly damp ground, and a 78kg rider on board, I got 1,393m of ascending. That’s just over four and a half laps.

The Bosch CX drive unit is another departure for Santa Cruz – the previous Bullit had a Shimano EP8 unit.

Santa Cruz Bullit actual geometry and weight

On the scales, my size large Bullit CC X0 RSV weighed 21.9kg, that’s well below the 50lb Santa Cruz claims all Bullit builds sneak under. Travel came out at 170mm on the nose, so no discrepancies there either. The geometry did have a few differences though, the biggest of which was the reach. I measured it at 487mm in the steep setting, while Santa Cruz claimed 480mm. The BB height is also lower than claimed, with the high position mirroring Santa Cruz’s stated low position at 342mm. Reverse the flip chip and you’re looking at a BB height of roughly 338mm. Pretty low for a 170mm bike. The rest of the Bullit’s measured geo is as follows:

• Bike size L
• Geometry setting high/progressive
• Head angle 64º
• Seat angle 75.1º
• Effective SA 79.8º at 740mm
• BB height 342mm
• Chainstay 446mm
• Front centre 834mm
• Wheelbase 1,280mm
• Down tube 762mm
• Seat tube 426mm
• Top tube 618mm
• Reach 487mm
• Travel 170mm
• Weight 21.8kg without pedals