Now that I have decided to give up mountain biking I am more committed to gravel biking. Back in 2015 I started down the gravel road with a Diamondback Haanjo Trail bike. I love riding in the woods and avoiding the danger and noise and pollution on the road. Don’t get me wrong, I still love riding on the road but I also love rolling around in the woods too.
In 2016 I got a Trek Crossrip gravel bike for Colorado. It was OK, but heavy and the gearing wasn’t low enough for serious steep uphills. In November 2022 I found a Specialized Crux for gravel riding in Colorado.
And in February 2023 I found a Santa Cruz Stigmata to ride gravel on the east coast. I ordered one from my LBS Pedal Montclair. I happened to be in the shop one day when the Santa Cruz rep was there and he put it on his “wish list” to help get one. Fast forward 9 months and still no bike. Pedal Montclair said they didn’t think they would ever get one. So I went online and found one at Mike’s Bikes in the right size and with the options I wanted. Click! A week later the box arrived.
I re-assembled the bike and went for a quick spin. It was a great ride despite being assembled by an amateur (me.)
The bike came with SRAM Rival Axs electric shifting, a 1x crankset, and tubeless tires. I moved the bottle cages, pedals, computer mount, bell and mirror to the Stigmata (what a strange name for a bike) and went out for a quick spin to see if things worked correctly and to do a bit of “bed-in” on the brakes. The bike is not as light as the Crux but it is great on the trails running lower pressure in the tires thanks to the tubeless set-up. (This is the first time I have ridden tubeless.)
Stigmata in the wild
About a week after getting the Stigmata I noticed that Santa Cruz cut the price by $850 bucks. I felt like a jerk and was pissed at the dealer and Santa Cruz. I called Mike’s Bikes and voila! they cheerfully refunded the $850 because they have a 30 day low price guarantee. If you can find the same bike at a lower price within 30 days of buying it they will refund the different. That is great customer service.
As for my opinion of Santa Cruz… they have bullshit policies that harm their LBS dealers and annoy the consumer. It shouldn’t be so hard to order a bike from my favorite local bike shop.
April 2023 update: After riding 100+ miles I took the bike to Lou at Pedal Montclair for “a little love.” He tuned and tweaked and made the bike perform at the highest level. A good bike is now great.