How I built it: Santa Cruz Stigmata 4 review

A bike review, yes, but also some insight into the choices I made on this custom setup.

Santa Cruz’s fourth-generation Stigmata finally breaks out of the cookie-cutter mold with a truly progressive MTB-inspired geometry, a smoother-is-faster ride quality, and a practical list of features clearly focused on the meat of the market. It doesn’t stand out on paper in terms of traditional performance metrics, but this is one of those instances where the total is greater than the sum of its parts.

• Pros: MTB-inspired frame geometry offers MTB-like handling on MTB-suitable terrain, excellent ride quality, refreshingly normal fitments, compatible with seemingly everything.

• Cons: Could (should?) be lighter, fiddly down tube storage hatch, minimal accessory mounts.

• The takeaway: A fantastic choice if your gravel riding leans more toward the mountain bike side of things than the road.

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Fourth time’s the charm

The Stigmata has long felt like a bit of an afterthought in the Santa Cruz lineup.

The first-generation model (made from 2007-2011) was a TIG-welded aluminum affair made of nominally round-profile Easton tubing, an off-the-shelf Enve carbon fork, middle-of-the-road frame geometry, and cantilever bosses front and rear. It felt like its primary function wasn’t to leave a mark, but to capitalize on the rising popularity of cyclocross in the United States.

The second and third generations (2015-2019) were closely related. They moved to carbon fiber construction and made more of a commitment to the growing gravel segment with more tire clearance and a more relaxed geometry, but it still seemed like they were more interested in fitting in instead of standing out with middle-of-the-gravel-road geometry, a me-too feature set, and overall performance that was very good, but also wholly forgettable.

This fourth-generation Stigmata, though? Now we’re getting somewhere.

The Santa Cruz Stigmata family tree. Image: Santa Cruz Bicycles.

Santa Cruz wholeheartedly embraced its mountain bike roots this time around with a radical change in geometry. The front end grew 30 mm longer across the board while the stems shrunk down to a stubby 70 mm, the head tube angle slackened by 1.5-2.5° (down to just 69.5° for all six frame sizes), the bottom bracket dropped an additional 4 mm, tire clearance grew to a generous 700x50 mm, and the 430 mm-long carbon fork is sized to maintain the same handling characteristics with 40 mm of suspension travel.

Fender mounts? Yep. Down tube storage? Yes, sir. Dropper compatibility? Of course. Santa Cruz even intentionally made the frame less stiff so it’s better suited for rough terrain, although it’s also now 120 g heavier than the previous generation Stigmata at 1,380 g (claimed weight) for a size medium, plus another 489 g for the fork. As with previous carbon Stigmatas – and unlike what Santa Cruz usually does with its mountain bikes – there’s just the one tier of frame construction instead of the usual upper-end “CC” and more attainable “C” options.

Santa Cruz didn’t go too far down the MTB-inspired rabbit hole, though. The frame is still compatible with 2x cranks (though that brings the rear tire clearance down to 700x45 mm), and you can even still run mechanical drivetrains should you prefer them. The stack height is still sufficiently stubby that most riders should be able to get a decently aggressive position should they want one, there aren’t a ton of other accessory mounts to clutter up the visual cleanliness, and while the added weight will certainly be disappointing to many, that 1,380 g figure will still be reasonable to many.

The California brand hasn’t abandoned its dedication to compatibility and serviceability, either.

So normal. Hallelujah.

Not only do the control lines run external to the head tube, but they’re also internally guided for most of the way through the front triangle with no magnets, strings, vacuums, or cursing required. The bottom bracket uses standard English threading, the 27.2 mm-diameter round seatpost is as normal as could be (as is the external aluminum collar that holds it in place), and the UDH-compatible (Universal Derailleur Hanger) rear dropout works with the latest SRAM derailleurs if you want to stay right on the cutting edge. The Stigmata does once again require a proprietary clamp if you want to run a front derailleur, but it’s at least included and nicely made.

Santa Cruz offers the Stigmata in five different build kits ranging in price from US$4,000 / AU$6,000 / £3,900 / with a SRAM Apex XPLR mechanical groupset and aluminum wheels, up to US$7,700 / AU$11,000 / £TBC / €TBC with a SRAM Red/Eagle Transmission “mullet” wireless electronic groupset, a RockShox Rudy XPLR suspension fork, and Reserve carbon wheels. US$2,700 / AU$4,500 / £2,800 / €2,800 gets you a bare frameset that includes the frame, rigid carbon fork, Cane Creek 40 IS headset, seatpost collar, front and rear axles, and front derailleur clamp.

Whichever way you build it, there’s only one level of frame available. This is unquestionably the best color, though.

The Stigmata I’m reviewing here didn’t come to me as a factory loaner specifically for a review. In fact, I originally had no intentions of reviewing it at all (but was prompted to after feedback I received from my first newsletter). I ordered a frameset sight-unseen back in April with plans for a bit of an underbiking-flavored Frankenbuild focused on versatility, speed, and fun.

The bike’s popularity unfortunately meant I wasn’t able to actually get mine until July, though one distinct upside is I was able to switch from the single brick red color Santa Cruz originally offered to the fantastic “gloss purple granite” I ended up with. Regardless, it’s now been four months into my little experiment, and let’s just say it was well worth the wait.

The build

Frame-up builds are always fun since they offer a wide latitude for parts creativity. My setup is most certainly eclectic, although there was reasoning behind each line item.

For the groupset, I went with a 2x setup of Shimano’s latest-generation GRX Di2. Part of this was because I simply wanted to spend more time on it after attending the official launch event this past May, but also because several of its attributes genuinely appeal to me. Despite the cassette being relatively small at 11-36T, combining it with the 46/30T chainrings yield nearly as much total range as a SRAM “mullet” setup so there’s plenty of leeway for exploration while the tighter gaps between individual gears and faster shifting in general are well-suited for mixed-terrain group rides.

Running two chainrings may not be en vogue, but at least the way Shimano does it, few can argue that it doesn’t work really well.

As I already mentioned, front suspension was a primary motivation for me shopping for this bike in general, and I went with Fox’s 40 mm-travel 32 Performance Taper-Cast. The Stigmata’s front end is designed around that axle-to-crown length so I didn’t want to go with anything longer or shorter, it’s decently light and steers well, and I knew from previous experience that I preferred the greater adjustability of its FIT4 damper for how I intended to use this bike over what was available from RockShox, SR Suntour, Lauf, Cane Creek, or other competitors.

Wheels were an easy choice in my mind: Forge+Bond’s 25 GR. They’re plenty light at right around 1,400 g for the pair, but more important to me is the distinctly cushy ride quality provided by the thermoplastic carbon rims. Relatively speaking, of course, they’re not even all that expensive considering the made-in-USA construction and Industry Nine Torch hubs.

Suspension on a gravel bike? Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.