The Santa Cruz 5010 and Juliana Furtado are the bikes for taking the “Funcut.” They aren’t the fastest or burliest, but most certainly the funnest. Yes, I just said funnest.

First off, let’s get this out of the way. I’m going to call the 5010 and Furtado “this bike” a lot in the article. Hell, I might get a little wild and even use the names interchangeably. In reality they’re identical — the same bike. They have different paint jobs, suspension tunes and contact points (saddle and grips), but other than that the geometry is the same and build kits are the same. Second, let’s define the “Funcut.” Like a shortcut, it’s not the main line. Unlike a shortcut, this one isn’t about getting from point A to point B as fast as possible. It’s about having the most fun on your way there. It’s about every side hit, every set of back to back corners and goofing off. Now let’s get into it.

The bike for the “funcut”

The short-travel 27.5” bike is a bit counter culture at this point. It’s not the fastest or the most efficient bike — a short-travel 29” will beat it there. It’s not the most capable bike in really nasty terrain either — a long-travel 29” will win there too. Then why does it exist? It all boils down to having the most fun on the trail. When it comes to jumping, cornering, doubling up every rock, root and roller, it’s tough to beat a short-travel 27.5” bike. Why did you start biking in the first place? I’m going to guess it was to have fun. It serves a lot of other purposes as well, but it’s the most fun way to get fit and experience the great outdoors. But what is a fun bike? Aren’t they all fun? Why is the 5010 so good at being fun? Jeez. You’re asking a lot of questions.

A fun bike is one that’s quick around a corner, easy to get in the air, fast to change lines and one that doesn’t make you take yourself too seriously. For example, the Furtado. It has small wheels, supportive suspension and geometry that makes it easy to maneuver. The 2021 version gets the longer and slacker treatment as well as an updated suspension curve thanks to the lower link design found on all of Santa Cruz’s new bikes (except the Blur). This happens to be the first bike from Santa Cruz that has proportional chainstay lengths for each size. Don’t know why it’s taken so long for companies to start doing this. I’m a tall lanky guy at 6’2” and I usually ride an XL. It makes sense that my front half of my bike would be a lot longer than someone’s who is only 5’2”. So why in the world would the back half of our bikes be the same length? They shouldn’t be. Either they’re too short for me and I’m falling off the back, or they’re too long for the short person and they can’t manage to get the bike around a corner. It’s great to see this new trend of proportional chainstay lengths. Kudos to Santa Cruz.

SANTA CRUZ 5010 AND JULIANA FURTADO Comparison to the New Ibis Mojo 4

Just last week, Ibis released the new Mojo 4. There must be a little spy vs spy going on over in California. They both launched redesigned versions of their short travel 27.5” bikes within 7 days of each other. Anyway, we should probably compare and contrast these two –

Who we think the SANTA CRUZ 5010/JULIANA FURTADO is for.

We have a couple types of folks in mind who would be ideal candidates to ride a 5010/Furtado. Smaller riders can benefit from this bike. Lighter riders, both male and female, may want to take a look at the Juliana version, due to the lighter suspension tune. It’s OK dudes — ladies have been riding men’s bikes forever. Plus, the Juliana paint job looks pretty sweet. Performance should outweigh everything anyway.

The second type of rider who could get the most out of this is the advanced rider looking to turn the trail into a skatepark. The 5010 rewards rider input and makes the most of even the smallest trail features.

Lastly, someone who just wants a great, versatile bike is going to love it. If you’re not racing, and just want to enjoy riding, go for it.