Will these flexible spokes fix my Santa Cruz Bronson?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2025
- Parts used in this video:
Berd Spokes PolyLight - bit.ly/BerdSpoke
Pirelli Gold-logo tires - amzn.to/48EYifv
OneUp Carbon Bars - collabs.shop/3... - Code "SagaMTB2024" for 10% off
Ergon Grips - collabs.shop/g... - Code "SagaMTB2024" for 10% off
Tools used in this video:
Bike Repair stand with scale in arm - amzn.to/3ioCsXR
Park Tool Truing Stand - amzn.to/3GV9fMx
Truing Stand Base - amzn.to/3QYZVfh
Digital air pressure gauge for compressor - amzn.to/3ZVw4YS
🚨WIN my Santa Cruz Bronson custom build! (ANY SIZE) - raffall.com/376162/enter-raffle-to-win-santa-cruz-bronson-5-custom-build-hosted-by-evan-steinberg 😎😎
The placebo effect on 2000$ wheels gotta be strong. 😁
If it was my first time using Berd, I'd agree, but I've been a happy customer with them for a year and half. Big time benefits
I have both 2000 dollar caarbon wheels and 1000 dollar alluminum wheels from same brand that i use on two different bikes. I swapped to see difference couple times and surprize to you. The difference is actually bigger than i expected. Carbon wheels imo is the biggest upgrade you can do on your bike. The bike becomes so much smoother.
Differences between components are often more real than they seem. The simple friction difference between tyre width is already shocking, not to mention handling, bump absorption, ect. A different material on ANY component will change how you feel on the bike, in theory the component you would feel the least when swapped to carbon would be the cranks, and there's probably still a slight difference to them. The rim's feel matters no less than the bars or suspension, and it's one of the parts that can give you a lot of feedback
In canada we get to pay 3000$+12% tax for our Canadian made berd wheels... extra placeeebooo lol. Here I am just scooping up ex race dirt bikes for 2500$ this world is crazy.
@@Ferrari255GTOFirst time I tried Carbon cranks (SRAM X01) I was surprised at how much more stiff they felt! I’d chalk it up to placebo but I want expecting to feel any difference, just wanted weight savings. Ironically the one carbon upgrade I don’t feel a difference in is my one up carbon bars. Maybe if I was riding harder
Everyone I know with a Santa Cruz spends their whole time changing shocks, forks, wheels, bars all the while telling m it's the best bike out there 8))
Lmfaooo
I don't, but then most people that buy (can afford SCBs) are rich punters that spent more time spending money trying to figure out how to ride then actually getting good
I had a Megatower V1 and never managed to get it set-up perfect. It climbed great and in the woods it rode great downhill too. But for jumping and downhill on square edge hits it never felt good, no matter which 'upgrade I did'. I ended up selling it, even though a coil shock almost solved a lot of the issues I had with the bike.
Thereafter I had a Scott Ransom en Trek Session, which I set-up perfect within a few rides without any upgrades other than tyres :-)
Guilty 😂. I think most people buy the medium spec builds and then upgrade stuff themselves. Personally think this is better as you can choose where to spend the additional money and do it overtime
bro you're helping me adjust my Bronson. Your suspension suggestions have literally changed the game for me. I went from the suggested 87 psi in my front to currently at 64.5. Just to see, and I'm not looking back. Similar change in the rear, and man its like a new bike in all the right ways. Keep up the great work. Love your content!
Heck yeah that's awesome! I'm going to see how many volume spacers are in the rear shock soon
Huh... I did the same thing on my Bronson just trying to get it running better. Like, down to almost the exact PSI in front.
how much did sag change with a PSI difference that big?
@@rmhfpv9225 A lot. The recommended pressures just didn't work for me on that bike, especially in the fork. I was sitting at like 10% sag up front with Fox's recommended pressure and about 20% in back with the recommended pressure on the Super Delux Ultimate. I lowered the PSI a bunch on both, and am now sitting at about 32% and 30% front/rear. I'm am running the recommended volume spacers. And for damping, I have about 1 click of rebound damping in back, with no compression, up front, its s similar story. No HSC, 2 or 3 clicks of LSC, no HSR, and 2 or 3 clicks of LSR. Both shocks are pretty wide open. To me, the Bronson's suspension platform is just so stable and controlled. The bike is just Velcro. Which, can be good, but I found it was a bit harsh upfront and in back, it was so well damped and controlled, and couldn't get the bike to 'play' with me. For me, I wanted a more active platform, something that was more playful and poppy. And, running lower pressures with very little damping, accomplished that. Now, if I were to hop on a Pivot Switchblade for example, that platform is super playful right out of the box. On that bike, especially on the rear shot, I run a good amount of damping at both HS and LS. You've really got to slow that platform down to keep it under control. With the Bronson's kinematics, I found I needed to speed it up to get some more fun out of the bike.
@evansmtbsaga same here! Really cool to hear what you're doing to adjust your Bronson. Try a MegNeg upgrade kit next! I just put it on my Bronson and it feels way different
In my experience tyre pressure has the biggest effect on how my bike feels on the trail, if i have too much pressure fork feels stiff, vibrates alot and i get massive arm pump. Ive tried softer grips, lower fork pressure, less damping, more rebound, less rebound, different bars and bar height. Seems to me the biggest factor is tyre pressure as its the first thing that touches the ground.
I can tell that from riding a chro-mo rigid MTB, and then a full sus, tyre pressure and size makes all the difference in the world.
Been on mine for 6 months and love them!
Heck yeah man! Buy once cry once for sure haha
30 seconds is crazy work
Maybe you should come to the conclusion no bike will ever be perfect enough for you
I love seeing all the upgrade videos but how about a video series where you focus on skills. When the average rider, like me, feels like their bike is getting overwhelmed in a rock section we think I gotta get better. Buying a new wheelset isn't normally an option, although oftwn fun to watch.
Love the look of the bike. I'd have been tempted to do a couple of gold spokes in each wheel I think.
Gold on the vertical spokes could have gone hard
It would be really cool if you do a blind test between the two wheelsets. Same tires, and same bike setup for both but where you don’t know which wheels you’re riding. That way it becomes clear if the benefit is from the wheels or a placebo.
Thanks for that informative video showing seldom seen wheels and tires. The Bronson looks great!
For very well working golden blingbling look no further then Airtime Dekade in Bronze, the pedals are the best I have ever written by far 😍
I have two problems with this.
The price is a big factor and also I love riding tech and like all of us take some bad lines and also it’s common to get sticks stuck. If I got this I would be anxious that I would fray and just snap them and if so that’s a sad trip back to the car if that happens
Besides that I think this would be awesome. I ride for N.I.C.A which is xc with some trail riding so I think this would be great
Honestly, new damper and coil shock, should fix all your problems. Plus a 31.8 bar-my bike is way more stiff and no issues
coil on a trail bike lmfao and hes pretty focused on climbing
@@prawnis I wouldn’t put a coil on any trail bike…but a 150/160mm mixed wheel bike works very well with a coil. Honestly, I have tried both on my bike and with the correct setup it climbs just fine and the downhill performance is much better. Give it a go and find out
@@MrDavecore777 i get you bro im thinking of running a coil on my own 160mm bike but evan is a weight weeny hes not gonna put something heavy like that on his carbon bike
@@prawnis I feel you! Just saying, I would run this bike like a tank. DD or DH casing rear, compliant alloy wheels or reserve HD/Sl front, high rise bars. The coil with the low centre of gravity makes it super planted. If I wanted a climbing machine, I’d build a tallboy with carbon wheels and fast tires as my second bike. Horses for courses they say
@@MrDavecore777 personally i would wanna run everything with coils, i don't care about performance and the smoothness and reliability are such big positives i see little reason to run air, they often require professional tunning to run as good as a coil out of the box and they'll stop feeling as smooth quicker since there's more parts with friction.
If you're keeping the forks you should change the decals for the gold ones and put some gold axles through the wheels. Also some gum colored grips. (Ergon GE1 - sand storm)
i9 Gold stem or gold stem bolts, gold valve and/or caps, gold rotor bolts, Galfer rotors with gold rivets, Wolftooth gold dropper remote.
Haha I have a gold wolftooth dropper remote on hand already. Ill get that installed. I'll check into the other items. Thanks for the tips!
@@EvansMTBSaga Might be overkill, but Wolftooth also makes gold seatpost clamps and centerlock lock rings. I think the trick for this bike will be knowing when to stop with the accents.
@@BishyBoodaBee Yeah, there's a thin line between cool bike and oil sheikh when it comes to gold. I think gold bolts on the stem would be cool, full stem might be too much.
@@raumo123 Yep. We've all seen bikes where bling was taken to the extreme. My personal taste put the bling items max between 3-5 on any bike. After that they start competing with each other for the eye's attention.
@@EvansMTBSaga it would be sick if you made it look like the classic lotus racing livery in F1 from the Lotus 75-98 F1 era. (The lotus 98 not 1998)
Hey guy you look like your having fun with your new bike! Very cool.
You know, much of what you said is correct. Some people say that a little flex helps a bike get better traction.
My mentality is that traction comes with tire choice, tire pressure, and suspension setup. That doesn't mean those mew wheels are bad.
Just so you know, with the bike that it is, 32 spoke is actually the right choice, unless need even more strength. 28 is actually a cross country style number.
So here is my advice, the fork tune, because your speak about arm pump, is too firm.
What is happening. Your picking up on every rock you hit. That makes you feel like you have to hold the grips really tight. If you don't, you might lose grip.
I don't know your rider weight, but if it's air, you probably shouldn't be more than 110.
I weigh about 125. An air fork at my weight is about 85-90 psi at most.
Also, that is an Enduro style bike, so thought tires are a good idea. But cross country tires weight about 580 grams for one tire.
You look like you need tires somewhere innthe middle for that trail I saw in this video, believe me or not, an aggressive cross country tire would work just fine there.
Here's the thing, inertia. Tires have inertia. When you hit a bump, they bounce up. It takes spring or air pressure to wet them back to the ground.
Lighter tires, less pressure, better damping and traction. Also comfort. Comfort equals confidence.
Good luck with your bike. Everyone has their own methods. Entertaining Content.
Great vid, I absolutely LOVE my Berd Hawk 30's. It's wild how much they change the overall feel of the bike.
Wireless fox dropper post with Kashima code and that root beer shock looks really good. I reckon you should try to get another one of them.🎉
The water pouring sound when pouring in the sealant cracked me up xDDD
I have a V4 low-end build. Dropped handlebar, new set of Hunt tires/huns, rockshox vivid and it seems pretty on point 😊
The irony is the Hunt wheels should ride smooth, mostly because they're known for being quite soft and not terribly burly.
Some absolute shouts to add to your rig would include the Race Face atlas gold handlebars (possibly the best looking handlebars money can buy), some nice gold tubeless valves, to add to the sick cold style and Burgtec Penthouse MK5 Steel pedals, not to mention some nice gold grips, it'd be a dream if you used some of my ideas, keep up the content Evan!
Wolf tooth seat post clamp, Burgtec thru axles. Better bolts also do a gold Santa Cruz linkage bolt as well any other gold bolts you require
Time for some RevGrips. They look great and WORK!
Better Bolts for the gold upgrades!
I have two sets of Berd spoke wheels....and I can confirm all your conclusions thus far with no downsides beyond price. If anything they are so durable that overall cost is less than a comparable steel spoke when factoring in maintenance.
Heck yeah thanks for the comment. I haven't had to true mine at all either after a lot of use on Hardtails
You mention the bike has felt overwhelmed, have you considered your suspension may just need adjustment? Sounds like rebound could be off or that your suspension is riding too deep in the stroke. Just a thought.
Yeah that struck me as odd, I've ridden that trail on a Ripmo AF at full send and it felt fine, the Ripmo arguably had a worse fork and the Ripmo AF frame is pretty noodly in rock gardens.
I'm about to go from a very stiff NOBL carbon rear wheel that I've been riding for years to a Alloy Hope Fortus30, The difference will be very interesting
Gold Raceface Turbine R stem will look good on it.
bro. . . .thats a path, not a rock garden
I'm also going gold in my bike. Ordered the Burgtec gold fork axle and the Burgtec gold udh hanger, they look sick! Also some custom gold stickers from Slik graphics for my Lyrik fork, really love Slik, you can customize the stickers any way you want on their web page. I also recommend the Absolute black oval chainring in gold color, really nice, and the oval chainring also helps pedaling.
I’m a huge fan Berd Spoke wheels. One of my sets has the ONYX hook loop hubs. True it’s a lot of money but personally I don’t go crazy buying super expensive carbon full suspension frames that are unnecessary for most of my trails.
Yeah a wheelset is such a good investment. I used my first Berd wheelset on probably 15 different builds, maybe more. The ride characteristics are unmatched. Now I ride steel spoke carbon wheels and I'm super unimpressed
Berd tuah, flex on that thang
Those wheels look So good!
a 2025 Fox 36 factory with the gold lowers would be awesome on that thing
podium gold 36's might be pretty cool. you could test if you can tell a difference with the new dampener.
looks super slick great wheelset love to get a pair at some point great video
Good call on the black spokes
bro if that lyrik needs to be upgraded then my fork needs to be thrown away i would kill for that lyrik
Pirelli scorpion tyres are very good, it's going to contribute to the improved feeling you're getting. Even new like for like Maxxis tyres would have felt better than your older ones.
For a more representative test of the Berd wheels and spokes it'd be better to have tried them in isolation from rather than with the new and different tyres.
Golden seat clamp could look really nice i think, unfurtenataly i dont know any producers, so you will have to look for yourself. Great video!
Go for an Öhlins TTX M2 Coil shock, that’d be sick with the golden spring
Another amazing video Evan!
I love the Bronson
Haven't tried Berd spokes, but I am a tire snob/connoisseur: Pirelli's are hard AF.
Whatever benefit you may have gotten from the Berd spokes was negated by choosing tires that rattle your teeth out. Choosing a Continental or Maxxis DH casing tire will soften your ride substantially.
Awesome video Evan!!
Thanks man!!
I like my berd spoked wheels. Def was a lot of work to build if using j-bend spoke intended hub.
Awesome video. Love the build up of the Bronson. Can't wait to get one!!
Heck yeah man thanks! The Bronson is my favorite bike ever, despite the minor complaints
@@EvansMTBSaga seeing the flaws does not prevent you from seeing the good, and in the end it's the frame that matters
Talking about parts with Gold accents: Cane Creek Suspension!
ive ran pirelli scorpion race DH M's for like half a year now, took them on angel fire and trestle and gotta say pirellis are my favorite tyres so far compared to specialized, michilin, maxxis but the pirellis also just look way better than other tire out there pirelli on top
I tried hard to like Specialized and Maxxis, but they're pretty much the same quality in my eyes (bad). Continental and Pirelli seem to be similar quality from what Ive tried so far (great)
@@EvansMTBSagaI agree on the specialized opinion I don’t really like anything they have but then again I am kind of a trek guy as a ride a fuel ex 9.8 gx axs gen 5 and another one of my family members has the fuel exe lol so I’m biased 😂😂
Hey @@EvansMTBSagawould you mind qualifying what you found bad about S&M and great about C&P?
Thanks.
Hey mate, have a look at Oak Components. Huge brake lever blade upgrade and… GOLD
Awesome video! You have to put tye gold trp brakes on there. And some gold pedals
For the gold theme Just like color match like the stem and pedals and Just full kashima
Unless I missed it, you should call out your riding weight since some of the problems and solutions you called out will impact a 180lb rider differently than a 240lb rider
Oh yeah I weigh 175lbs
@@EvansMTBSaga i can guess your weight roughly 180lbs would be my est ur 175lb🇦🇺
You should check out the wolftooth gold ti bottle cage, bolts, valve stem, headset+spacers and center lock ring.
Sounds like you want a Fox Factory 36 50th edition with a grip2 up front and a DHX coil in the rear but I’m not sure that frame is compatible with a coil.
I don’t know RockShox very well (still figuring out my ZEB Ultimate and Super Deluxe Ultimate setup) but maybe you can change out the damper and air spring to soften the fork up? The shock is an entry level Fox. The lower levels of Fox leave a lot to be desired in terms of ride quality. A Factory X2 may be something to look at for the rear as well. Or just get a Super Deluxe of your choice and have the can hard anodized gold?
I would tweak the damper and air spring on the fork if your bike is feeling harsh long before spending a huge amount of money on wheels
Kashima dropper post would look good. Great videos!
Golden instead of the silver OneUp stickers
On your polygon emtb you changed to a coil, can you compare the effect of changing to a coil vs changing to a more compliant wheelset? I know compliant wheelsets reduce chatter a little but I would think even just a softer tire compound would have a bigger effect than the wheelset. Also, have you tried a RockShox fork with buttercups? If so we would also like to hear about how that compares when it comes to trail chatter.
I also have the Hawk 30s on my Tallboy. Definitely super sweet wheels. Pricey as hell tho. Should have just ordered them in black! And brah, you should get an I9 gold stem. That would bling it out.
Oh yeah Berd asked me last time they sent me spokes that they be white for the video so I just ordered them in white again. I thought maybe the white would look good for this build
hey evan you should try a helmet mount for filming its much more stable and a better angle
Great video - once again!!
we want to see gold brake-disks, please
Nice tyres! But why go for carbon wheels if you want them to be able to flex? Isn't stiffness the main reason for carbon?
As much as I’d like to see you stick with rock shocks if your going gold themed the kashimi coat fox forks, shock, and seat post would be the way to go.
get gold stems for the wheels and maybe fox shocks if you really want gold struts
Curious on the tire pump you are using. Mind posting it for us Evan?
I would have dyed the spokes before installing them.
The Berd spokes do what they say they will do, but they are a very spendy upgrade. You could certainly get nearly the same performance with a careful selection of rims on regular spokes, either a burly but compliant alloy rim, or a compliant carbon rim like We are One Triads. I also find it hard to believe that Interplanet Janet overwhelmed the suspension on a Bronson, unless that DPS shock is THAT bad. I rode that trail at full send on a Ripmo AF on the craptastic DVO suspension back in 2022 and never felt like it was getting overwhelmed.
Haha it's funny, the Berd carbon rims are either made by We Are One or in collaboration with them. Interplanet Janet got a complete revamp last year and it's the one rock garden section I showed
Lewis LHT brakes have gold Titanium parts and look sick
There’s only one upgrade you needed on this bike, the shock
Working on it! I was torn between several brands and models but I think I'm finally settled on going with a coil
Gold Trp brakes like the ones on the Commencal Dh v5 supreme
9:10 Kinda funny thats a stech trail in bentonville inbigsky that would be considered a flow trail lol
Love the videos though keep it up!
ohhhhh brother, that Fox 36 could be saved by polishing that scratch and a full fox factory rebulid. :(
Yeah but I'm not paying the price for pristine forks and having to do all that
Gold Better Bolts to complete the look!
have you tryied the mavens brakes do you like the feeling and you should try a ghost bike :)
Maybe you should go with gold titanium Bolts from betterbolts they make bolts for a lot of Santa Cruz bikes
I have em on my commercial meta tr v4 build with onyx hubs and convergence carbon wheels, them berd spokes rule
I agree! Your bike sounds awesome too
Next time black/gold fox Factory suspension? ❤
I fell like this video is all over the place. You swapped out wheels set AND tires. Yet you're claiming that the climbing performance is increased by "15%" due to the wheels (!!!), I highly doubt that the wheels had any impact but rather the rolling resistance of the tires. If you wanted to increase compliance to the wheels, why not try out aluminum wheels first rather than going for the most expensive wheels available?
Furthermore, what tire pressure are you running? Decreasing the pressure will have massive impact on the damping performance.
Yeah, right, the "low-end" Rockshox Lyrik...
Its the lowest spec Lyrik. Charger RC
Can you do a review on that base lyrik and the Rush RC damper? There is barely any info on that damper. I bet it would get some views.
I use fingerless gloves leather gym weight training XL
Gold trp brakes
That will be the next video!
@@EvansMTBSaga as someone mentioned above, add the Oak Components lever blades. They lean a bit copper compared to the TRP, but I like them. They bring the levers in about 12mm.
You can try fox kashima dropper post
Should have done gold spokes
I was hope'n to get my hands on the 2021 Pistachio Fox 38 in a 29'er but they didn't make many of them
Where/how did you find that root beer fork? Was it custom painted for this build, but also used if you got it on Pinkbike? I'd love to some custom painting but it's just so expensive.
It was a limited edition run that Fox did in 2021
I had Berd spokes strapped up to my Reserve 30 SL wheelset thinking the exact same thing you did but it made my ride so muted I couldn’t pop off of any roots or rocks and just made the ride dull and not fun. I put them on my wife’s bike (she likes them) but I bought a pair of WR1 convergence wheels and they feel much better
Oh dang that's crazy! I think I remember that on the first bike I tried them on, a canyon Spectral 125. My first Berd wheelset was really good with Hardtails
It makes sense that they feel that way though, they're designed for compliance. They make sense if you intend to go fast but they might be hard to justify for most users
guy's understanding of material physics: "these spokes are half tension of metal spokes that's why wheel can flex over rocks "🤔😆
Feel free to provide an explanation
You should so get some gold trp dhr evos to upgrade the bike
the new fox factory 36 gripx2 would look great on that, coupled with the fox factory float x2
I was thinking about that suspension set up! I was even considering the new electronic suspension they released, but the Fox marketing guy stopped emailing me back
@ sounds good 👍 the fox live valve neo would work great, i had looked up some videos on it & it seems in my opinion it works better than flight attendant
Too bad about the root beer fork. Hopefully you find another. It's a must with the root beer bike
You should get some trp dh-r evo brakes!!!!
That will be next video!
@EvansMTBSaga tsm
Could you do a dh bike next?
Some information between the current Bronson vs the previous, the new Bronson is more compliance 😊. The older Bronson version is stiff just the way I like my bikes.
Haha yeah I heard the old Bronson wasnt great for fast Rock gardens and was pretty stiff. I'm working on trying out an older gen Bronson on the channel
is there a reason you put a larger 2.6 in the rear? when you have a smaller 2.4 in the front
Can u do an upgrade episode on a norco torrent s2 pls Bcs u used to do a bunch of hard tails
Try a Coil Shock you can probably one a gold coil also.
I was thinking about coil, but I'd have to check how much weight that'd add to the bike. I don't want to be lugging around a 38lbs trail bike 😂