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Dirt Rag Articles
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Tester: Sean Methven
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 175lbs.
Inseam: 32"
Santa Cruz designed this frame to take on anything the streets or dirt jumps could throw at it. From the flowing hydroformed top tube to the super stout rear stays with beefed up replaceable dropouts, this frame is ready to shred. Syndicate team rider Kirt Voreis inspired Santa Cruz to build such a machine when the progression of urban riding and dirt jumping demanded a stronger and stiffer riding platform.
Primarily designed around a three inch travel fork, the frame handles best when set up stiff in the front end for taking the quicker, harder hits associated with street riding or jumping piles of dirt. Santa Cruz states the frame can handle up to a six inch travel fork, although running a fork with this much travel would seriously rake out the head angle and make handling the bike a bit of a chore. The Jackal has a hydroformed 6061 custom butted aluminum top tube similar to the popular V-10 downhill rig and their new Nomad all-mountain/ freeride frame slated to hit the market in the late summer months. The Jackal is available to the consumer in two sizes, the standard size and the long version. Differentiating the two sizes are the top tube and head tube length. The standard, which I tested, sports a 22.25" top tube with a 4.5" head tube. The longer version has a 23.5" top tube with a 5" head tube, built for the guys who can see over everyone's head in a crowded bar. Bolt-on dropouts are the eye-catching piece of the rear triangle, boasting two, eight millimeter bolts on each side, which hold the super thick dropouts in place. Santa Cruz opted to give the buyer a choice between either horizontal or vertical dropouts, making a singlespeed or geared set-up possible. I went with gears, because that's what they sent and I like having the option of shifting when needed. The large bolts on the dropouts are a bit distracting to the eye, but kept the rear end stiff and never came loose. Sixteen inch chainstays keep the rear end nice and tight and make it easy to pull the front end off the ground.
Because the rear end is so stout, it took a bit of getting used to when first whipping the bike out in the air. The bike wanted to stay sideways when I was trying to pull it back under me due to the weight distribution. I mainly attribute this to the lightweight fork on the front end. Had the bike sported a bit heavier fork, say around four, four and a half pounds, it would have been a bit better balanced. After the first day of riding the rear end drift became very predictable and easy to control, though. It was just a matter of familiarizing myself with how to weight the bike in the air.
A complete Jackal from Santa Cruz with their DJ build kit will set you back right around $1600, depending on if you go for any of the upgrades or not. If you opt to build up the bike with your own parts, the frame will set you back $500 for any of the powder coat options (from which Santa Cruz has plenty to choose) and an extra $100 for the polished version. Matte orange and black are the two color options on the complete Jackal, and for $1600 you get a pretty respectable build kit with the frame. A Marzocchi Dirt Jumper III fork, e.thirteen chainguide, Truvativ cranks, bars, and stem along with a Shimano LX shifter, derailleur, and an SDG post and seat are the standout parts of the kit. I had a slightly different parts kit with the bike I tested.
Instead of the Marzocchi Dirt Jumper III, I had a Fox Float 80RC, which generally tends to cater toward the cross country side of riding, but I found it to feel quite stiff and perform well. On the plus side, the air sprung fork could be set up supple or super stiff for street riding and dirt jumping. On the down side, the bushings began to develop some play over a couple weeks, due to a few harsh landings and a few wall rides gone wrong. The design of the fork is not built to hold up for these types of maneuvers, so I was pretty pleased it held up as well as it did. It was nice to have a sub four pound fork on the front end of my DJ bike for a change and I felt pretty energized, even at the end of a long street session, because of it.
Santa Cruz had thrown on a set of Mavic EX729 32 hole rims laced onto a set of Onyx quick release hubs for the Jackal to roll on. As expected, the Mavic rims held up to every case and sideways landing. The wider profile worked great to add more stability to the tire and kept the bead from folding over under hard landings and cornering. The 675 gram weight was the only thing I could find wrong with the rims. At this weight they are a bit better suited for downhill riding, but at least they stood no chance of bending under the conditions I ran them through. I also swapped out the stock Kenda Nevegal 2.35" tires for a set of Michelin Jet S 2.0" tires to roll a bit faster and smoother for street and skatepark use. The stock Kenda tires are much better suited for off road riding due to their tall, widely spaced knobs.
Truvativ Holzfeller cranks and an ISIS bottom bracket took care of putting power to the wheels, while the e.thirteen SRS chain retention device kept the chain from rattling off during roll backs and rough landings. As expected, it worked without a glitch. The polycarbonate bash ring never cracked and slid like greased snot on the cement for sprocket grinds. The Holzfeller cranks worked great without any major problems. They felt stiff under hard acceleration and the bolts stayed tight during the whole test. The only complaint I have is the 165mm length was a bit short. It would have been nice to try a pair of 175's that fit my leg length a bit better and gave me a bit more leverage.
Avid Ball Bearing Seven mechanical brakes with six inch rotors took up the duty of slowing me down. These brakes have been solid performers that have never let me down. Easton took care of the cockpit with their EA50 handlebar, seatpost, and Vice stem. Due to the elongated set back of the post, I had to run the saddle pretty far forward on the rails, in order to put it in the right place for pinching to do barspins. It would have been nice to see a post with no set back, but once the post was tightened down it never moved and worked pretty effectively. Shifting the bike through the Shimano LX pod, derailleur, and cassette worked spot on every time. There's not much to complain about on this set-up except for the size of the cassette. For most DJ bikes you only shift through about three to four gears. For this application, a road cassette with a tighter gear ratio works a bit better.
Santa Cruz definitely did their homework when designing this frame. The odd-looking hydroformed top tube, which I wasn't so keen on at first, never hindered my riding or distracted me once I was out on the bike. After a while, the bold lines of the frame started to grow on me a bit as well. Overall the geometry was close to spot on for most types of riding and the short wheelbase works impeccably for street and park use. Don't let the odd look of this frame fool you, once you get on this steed, it will out handle and out perform most conventional looking frames.
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