Santa Cruz Tallboy v.4

If ever there was a gravity riders’ XC bike, the Tallboy is it.
The new 120mm Tallboy takes a leap further into what short-travel bikes really are capable of. With kick-ass lower-link VPP suspension, a streamlined design, the typical Santa Cruz refinement, and rather radical geometry, the Tallboy is back to being a genre bending folk hero.

Sure, 10mm more travel might only seem like one small step—but coupled with a lower link-driven VPP suspension design this is one giant leap for the Tallboy.

It’s the kind of bike that makes you sprint while going up, along, over, or down due to the maximum efficiency of the VPP design and responsive, lightweight chassis. But because it shares the same engineering principles as our longest travel bikes, the progressive lower link-mounted shock feels equally at home doing cross-country as it does in extreme-country. Paired with a 130mm fork the new Tallboy becomes ever more appealing to riders who like to open it up.

And the geometry, that's a big part of what's going on...

Established theory suggests shorter travel bikes get ridden slower, therefore require steeper and more conservative geometries. In reality though, when was the last time you ever throttled back on a fun trail because you weren’t on a bigger bike? Caution to the wind and all that. So we’ve done the same here and mimicked our longer travel geometry to create a bike with a 65.5-degree head-angle, generous front center, and short offset fork. Something rarely seen on a bike of this ilk.

And the radical thinking doesn’t stop there. The Tallboy’s short-short 430mm chainstays have +/- 10mm of rear axle adjustment to ensure riders of all sizes and styles feel equally at home. Match that to a relatively low BB (335mm and 37.5mm drop) and you’ve got a combo that’s ready to haul into every pocket turn and launch out the other side.

 

Planning on keeping my V3 for a long time... it's a good bike for me! I like how you can put a full-sized center mount bottle on this one though!

 

Beat me to the punch. More reviews

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/santa-cruz-tallboy-trail-bike-2020-review.html

As more and more riders turn to less travel, and bikes with less travel get better and better, you could probably make a decent argument for trail bikes being the most relevant segment for much of the mountain biking world. Now, instead of lugging a soft-pedaling, slacked-out rig that makes climbs more difficult than they need to be in order to maximize fun on the descent, there are a good number of trail bikes fit for that purpose that manage to do a hell of a lot with what little they have.

Santa Cruz's all-new Tallboy isn't a surprise - it was one of their last models waiting for a redesign - and it's not exactly a shock to see it using their lower-link VPP suspension to deliver 120mm of travel, 10mm more than the previous version. They've paired that with a 130mm-travel fork, big wheels, and new-school geometry that should see the Tallboy fit for all sorts of purposes that would have troubled a trail bike not that long ago.

Tallboy Details

• Intended use: Trail
• Wheel size: 29"
• Rear-wheel travel: 120mm
• Fork travel: 130mm
• Head angle: 65.5-degrees
• Reach: 468mm (lrg)
• All-new frame and geometry
• Adjustable chainstay length
• Alloy, CC and C carbon frames
• Sizes: XS - XXL (lrg tested)
• Weight: 28.3lb (as pictured)
• MSRP: $8,199 USD
• More info: www.santacruzbicycles.com
My test rig is the CC X01 RSV model that comes with Santa Cruz's own Reserve carbon wheels for $8,199 USD, but you'll have to pay even more if you want the Shimano XTR or SRAM AXS drivetrains on the top two versions - they go for $9,799 and $10,399 USD. There are less expensive carbon models, of course, but if all that sounds more than just a bit over the top to you, the same geometry and suspension kinematics can be found on the $2,699 USD AL D model that's assembled around an aluminum frame.

Speaking of frames, you can get that alloy one for $1,999 and the high-end carbon CC frame for $3,099

 

Same with my Hightower... Unless I stumble on an awesome GG deal.

But they have addressed all of the issues that made me choose the OGHT over the last generation Tallboy. Very cool... If I were buying today, the new TB would be the choice.

 

The extra travel ain't a bad thing...

 

That's a lazy front end for such short travel.

 

All right.... Looks good...

I need to decide how to invest my money in the coming months....

New fuel ex 8
New tallboy

Both avail in XXL....

Also, new intense primer is looking promising....

And yt jeffsy.....