Santa Cruz Bicycles

Tallboy Carbon S Complete Mountain Bike - 2015

Santa Cruz likes to make bikes that the people in the company like to ride, and with a definite long-travel bent to most Santa Cruz offerings, perhaps it's no surprise that its XC bike is a really a short-travel trail bike. The stability engineered into the frame, paired with its surprising nimbleness, make it a great choice for long-distance rides over technical terrain.

Santa Cruz made some incremental improvements to the Tallboy last year when it received its first refresh since its introduction. Specifically, the suspension curve lost a little bit of its progressiveness at the end because modern shocks are more able to resist bottom-out than the shocks of that era were. This means a smoother trip through the Tallboy’s travel via the FOX FLOAT CTD shock.

The S kit spec’d here includes a FOX 32 CTD fork, an ultra-reliable Shimano drivetrain made up of SLX and XT components, a Race Face cockpit, and Shimano SLX brakes. The wheels are SRAM’s MTH hubs laced to WTB rims, and wrapped in Maxxis tires.