When Santa Cruz's marketing manager Garen Becker pulled the new Vala out of his truck, I immediately noticed the difference in appearance and stance to their other mountain bikes. In typical fashion, the paint, finish and overall aesthetic was very Santa Cruz, however the vertical shock, suspension linkage and rear triangle commanded attention. As a rider who has long been critical of the drawbacks the VPP suspension platform have in certain conditions,  I was very excited to see how the four-bar-equipped Santa Cruz Vala would perform on the high desert chunk we test all our bikes on.

Unfortunately due to the craziness of everything in the bike industry these days, we've not been able to spend nearly enough time on the bike for a thorough review. That said, our initial ride with Garen told us quite a bit about the bike and got us excited for more time aboard this bike once our travel and shootout schedule mellows out.

First Ride and Release Article: https://theloamwolf.com/2024/10/01/th...

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