I got mine after I tried both a short travel trail (process 111 w/ an angleset) and a more aggressive "enduro" bike (Megatower). Try one if you can and see what you think, YMMW. Less travel means less bump absorption, but it also means more stable geometry which I've found I really like! The little bike does get overwhelmed in rough terrain faster and beats me up a bit more on longer rough rides. The little bike pedals, pumps, jumps, and flicks better than the similar weight & geo 150mm trail bike I replaced it with did, and is easier to chuck around in and out of corners. It's a refined trail bike, with easy-to-live-with handling and all of the frame features (and corresponding price tag) that Santa Cruz has become known Mountain biking IS fun. Those lighter and livelier options are great for riders trying to scratch that downcountry itch, but when gravity takes over it's the Tallboy that pulls ahead, with a more planted feel that delivers the confidence required to hit higher speeds and more challenging trail features.Īs the saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," and that's exactly what Santa Cruz have done with the Tallboy. All of those bikes have 120mm of rear travel, but the Trek and Transition sit more on the aggressive XC side of the spectrum, and have more of an appetite for sprinting uphill than the Tallboy. That's not to say that it feels heavy or lethargic – far from it – it's just there is a noticeable difference between how it feels compared to something like the newest Trek Top Fuel, or even a Transition Spur for that matter. That said, the weight combined with the more muted suspension feel does make it feel closer to a short travel Hightower rather than a longer travel Blur. The Tallboy's handling is very calm and predictable, and the same goes for the pedaling performance - it strikes a nice balance between efficiency and traction. Still, for general duty the G2 brakes work all right, and a rotor upgrade to the new HS2 versions would be an easier way to bump up the stopping power a little further. I'd also probably swap out the G2 brakes for some Codes if I was going that route, since there's only a small weight penalty and a noticeable performance difference. The Maxxis Dissector / Rekon tire combo worked well for the dry, dusty conditions that have prevailed lately, although I'd likely put something a little meatier on for wet conditions or to really try to wring out the most downhill performance possible. The Tallboy's strength is its versatility – it feels solid, free of any unwanted twitchiness, even on rougher, high-speed trails. There's still plenty of support, though, and even when I used all of the travel there wasn't any harshness at the end of the stroke. It's been a little bit since I last rode a Tallboy, but going off my somewhat fuzzy memories I'd say that the suspension does feel better than before - it's a little softer overall, which makes the bike more comfortable on choppy sections of trail. There are more similarities than differences between the two versions, and the overall ride characteristics are nearly identical. Honestly, I could probably just drop the link to Mike Levy's review of the Tallboy 4 in here and call it good. There's no sketchiness or unpredictability to be found – it's the rider that'll be bringing those traits to the table, not the bike. Instead, it's a do-everything machine that has a 'just right' air to its handling. The Tallboy isn't a downcountry bike, and it's not trying to be. Those changes were done to increase the bike's small bump compliance, and to give it a more predictable suspension feel at all points in the travel.Įliot Jackson charging on the new Tallboy. Santa Cruz lowered the Tallboy's leverage ratio to give it a slightly less progressive shock curve, a change that's also accompanied by a lower amount of anti-squat in the beginning of the travel, and a less aggressive drop off later in the stroke. The slightly steepened seat tube angles balance out that increase, creating a top tube length that's relatively unchanged, which means the seated climbing position will feel nearly the same as before. The reach for a size large is now 473mm in the low setting, an increase of 5mm. The new Tallboy isn't any slacker than before, but it did get a little bit longer, with reach numbers that match up with the rest of Santa Cruz's lineup. That helps ensure that taller riders won't end up too far over the back of the bike when climbing. The Tallboy's seat tube angles are also size-specific, getting steeper with each larger size. Chainstay lengths range from 431mm on a size small up to 444mm on an XXL. The Tallboy's shock flip chip remains, but the ability to alter the chainstay length by 10mm has been removed, replaced by size-specific lengths for each size.
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