Description

2017 Santa Cruz Bicycles Tallboy Carbon CC 29 X01 Complete Mountain Bike

 

At the moment, the buzzy, hyperbolic headlines and glory shots littering the covers of the glossies might have you believing that burly all-mountain and enduro bikes are the ones to watch this season, but a closer look across disciplines would reveal that it’s not just long-and-low, terrain-devouring rigs that are changing expectations across the mountain world. The definition of XC has quietly become more fluid every year, and with the all-new 2017 Tallboy Carbon CC 29 X01 Complete Mountain Bike, Santa Cruz demonstrates that it’s possible for an XC bike to enjoy rough and rocky terrain every bit as much as smooth ribbons of singletrack.

To put it simply, the new Tallboy is a more capable, versatile bike that doesn’t stray far from the design that earned it so many loyal devotees. Though the new version counts plenty of notable changes compared to its predecessor, its major changes include a more relaxed, spacious geometry and the improved performance of a reworked linkage that all of Santa Cruz’s latest models have received. Santa Cruz also made important modifications to its flip chip technology, first seen on the Hightower, to ready it for use on the Tallboy 3. Flip chip was developed to allow riders to switch between 29 and 27.5+ wheel sizes, and on the Hightower, necessitated a slight change in head tube angle. However, Santa Cruz was able to fine-tune the technology to allow the geometry to remain exactly the same across each wheel size. This means, depending on the day, your Tallboy 3 could be barreling with stability through gouged-up grassy trails and rock gardens, or floating over root-latticed switchbacks with plush, quiet confidence of 27.5+.

By XC standards, the Tallboy 3’s head tube angle takes it leaning towards the trail side of things, from a traditional 70.2 degrees to a more relaxed 68 degrees, and Santa Cruz managed to shave a little over 13mm off the chainstay length to bring them down to 17.01in. This, coupled with a significantly longer reach, results in a rear triangle with the snappiness you’ll need to dice through the tight and twisties, and a stable, confident front end for diving off the XC course and into the white-knuckle stuff.

Geometry is only half the story, of course, and with such extensive changes, change-averse Tallboy fans will be pleased to learn that the Third Generation VPP suspension platform the Tallboy uses didn’t undergo any earth-shattering changes. In fact, it’s the same VPP that the Bronson 2.0 and 5010 2.0 received, inspired by the burlier Nomad, which means you get links that stay out of the way to accommodate a piggyback shock’s external can without giving up the bottle cage. Because of this, Santa Cruz was able to build the frame with more ground clearance, lower standover, and a stiffer design to complement the already stiff Boost back end.

Third generation VPP also received a few tweaks to its tuning compared to older version, with its new curve deviating from the previous “U” shape and moving towards more of a flattened check mark, with less dramatic ramping on either end of the arc. This improves the suspension’s traction and compliance early and towards the middle of the stroke, lending more consistency and grip across root-laced, inconsistent trails. These changes thankfully don’t have any impact on acceleration, so the Tallboy 3 remains just as nimble and responsive as its predecessors in case you find yourself on the starting line of a weekend race, with an overall increase in consistency and bump compliance throughout your ride.

Seeing no need to change such a rock-solid construction process, Santa Cruz continues to shape its top-tier Carbon CC frames with a higher modulus carbon than the Carbon C models, allowing engineers to use less material to achieve ideal strength and stiffness levels. That high-modulus carbon is then used to shape each triangle as a whole piece, allowing engineers to continuously shape high-stress junctures and avoid creating weak points or areas of the frame with less structural integrity. Before completion, the carbon is also compacted from the inside as well, eliminating excess material build-up inside the tubing and saving even more weight over quicker, less precise construction methods.

Showing where it believes the future of mountain drivetrains is heading, Santa Cruz allowed the reworked linkage of the Tallboy to define it as one-by only, but it did include ISCG 05 tabs. We still can’t speak highly enough about the threaded bottom brackets Santa Cruz specs its bikes with, promising far less creaking and eliminating the headache of dealing with tricky tolerances and inconsistencies of press fit. The Tallboy 3’s 27.5+ mode accommodates every manufacturer’s 2.8in tires, but you may have issues with some 3in models. Its clearance will decrease as a 29er, of course, but you’ll still receive Maxxis’ 2.35in Ardent tires out of the box, which are more than capable of providing traction in loose and slick corners and a hearty dose of plushness on the harder stuff.

2017 Santa Cruz Bicycles Tallboy Carbon CC 29 X01 Complete Mountain Bike

Frame Material:

CC carbon fiber

Suspension:

VPP

Rear Shock:

Fox Float Performance Elite

Rear Travel:

110 mm

Fork:

FOX FLOAT 34 Float 29 Performance Elite

Front Travel:

120 mm

Headset:

Cane Creek 40 Integrated

Shifters:

SRAM X01 (11-speed)

Rear Derailleur:

SRAM X01

ISCG Tabs:

no

Crankset:

30 t Race Face Turbine

Bottom Bracket:

73mm BSA threaded

Cassette:

10 – 42 t SRAM XG1180

Chain:

SRAM PC1130

Brakeset:

SRAM Level TLM

Brake Type:

hydraulic disc

Rotors:

180 / 180 mm Avid Centerline

Handlebar:

Santa Cruz Carbon Flat Bar

Handlebar Width:

750 mm

Grips:

Santa Cruz Palmdale lock-on

Stem:

Race Face Turbine Basic

Stem Length:

55 mm

Saddle:

WTB Silverado Team

Seatpost:

RockShox Reverb Stealth 150mm travel (125mm on size small)

Wheelset:

Easton ARC 24

Hubs:

DT Swiss 350

Front Axle:

15 x 110mm Boost

Rear Axle:

12 x 148mm Boost

Tires:

[front] Maxxis Minion DHF Exo 3c, [rear] Maxxis Ardent Race Exo

Tire Size:

[front] 29 x 2.3 in, [rear] 29 x 2.35 in

Pedals:

not included

Recommended Use:

cross country

Manufacturer Warranty:

lifetime on frame

Actual Weight:

Yellow/Emerald, S: 12000g

 

2017 Santa Cruz Bicycles Tallboy Carbon CC 29 X01 Complete Mountain Bike

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