Bling-Blinging-est Booth - Outdoor Demo

by Justin Kosman
posted Oct. 13, 2003

The temptation of free beer from Crank Brothers, the free food from Turner Bikes and the live band at TruVativ made choosing an On-Dirt Demo, "Bling-Blingingest Booth" far from an objective decision. Magura and SRAM both had female "representatives" luring passers by to their booths or at least their eyes and dirty (demo) thoughts and the energy drinks were flowing like wine from CytoMax and PowerBar.

Santa Cruz had an awning and bike racks just like every other two-wheeled manufacturer, but Santa Cruz's head quarters was a restored 1949 GM coach bus. The old-school rig is Santa Cruz engineer Joe Graney's personal ride that he uses mostly for trips like On-Dirt Demo and Sea Otter and other R&D excursions.

The GM machine was restored in 1979 and rolls with red wheels and a style miles after highway miles. The bus is yellow with crimson Union Pacific Streamliner detailing on the exterior reminding you of a derailed locomotive engine car.

Inside is all original baby blue metal with 50s nostalgia and matching camping coffee cups. The walls on the interior were plastered with Union Pacific railroad memorabilia, Route 66 nostalgia upholstery on the backsides of the bench seats and a cast steel Coca-Cola bottle opener drill into the side of the gas stove. This bus drove out of the era void of toy SUVs and coffee in syro-foam cups. Steeping out of the bus I expected to smell roasting marshmallows and see a couple Jeeps and a large canvas triangle tents circled around a boy scouts campfire. What I did see was a sublimated line of neon and spandex waiting to test out one of Santa Cruz's 45 mountain bikes that were all out on the trails of Boulder City, Utah. Certainly a clash of two eras both lured into the desert by flowing single trail and free shuttle rides on someone else's bike.

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