The Santa Cruz Bullit is the brand's big travel e-mountain bike that's slated to be 'a downhill bike with a built-in chairlift'. For 2025, the brand takes that formula but has given it a serious shake up, ditching the VPP linkage in favourite of the four-bar platform as seen on the Vala, and gracing the bike with the very latest Bosch tech.

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Being built with Bosch's Performance Line CX motor, the Bullit is capable of outputting 85Nm of torque but, in an interesting move, the brand has kitted the bike with a 600Wh battery rather than anything larger. That choice has been made in pursuit of better handling, but if you're after more capacity, the PowerMore range extender can be purchased aftermarket and will boost the 600Wh up to 850.

2025 santa cruz bullit hero.jpg, by Liam Mercer

As before, the Bullit rocks 170mm of suspension at both ends, and Santa Cruz says it's built to outlast. Santa Cruz has prioritised strength with a seat stay bridge and a one-piece rocker link, as well as an enclosed downtube. That said, all Bullit build kits are promised to weigh less than 22kg, and those weight savings have been made through a streamlined design.

That durability story spreads to the bearings, too, where they're all larger than before and accessible via a 5mm Allen key.

2025 santa cruz bullit suspension extender.jpg, by Liam Mercer

The new Bullit also brings a new level of tuneability. Its geometry is adjustable via a flip-chip. There's a second flip-chip that addresses the suspension's progression. This adjusts the progression between 26 and 29%. As for the geometry, in the LO position, there's a 63.3-degree head tube angle, a 78.4-degree effective seat tube angle and a 447mm rear centre on a large frame. That's a proportional geometry, too, so the chainstay is size-specific, as is the seat tube angle. A large then gets a 477mm reach. The brand has also brought a small frame size to the Bullit.

VPP has been a staple of Santa Cruz's bikes for years, but we've seen the brand move towards a four-bar linkage on the Vala and now the Bullit. The reasoning behind it is packaging, especially with a motor to consider. This change is said to bring more freedom in the suspension's design but also better handling, according to Santa Cruz.

2025 santa cruz bullit flip chip.jpg, by Liam Mercer

Elsewhere, the bike boasts 10mm more seat post insertion depth for long-travel droppers, internal cable routing, and space in the front triangle for a bottle cage. It also runs a mullet wheel setup. There's a UDH mount, space for up to a 2.5in rear tyre, and post mount brakes to accommodate 200mm rotors.

There are four builds on offer, all of which run SRAM T-Type drivetrains with prices starting at £6,800 and going up to £10,000.

• www.santacruzbicycles.com

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