Juliana

Roubion 2.1 Carbon CC X01 Eagle Reserve Mountain Bike - 2018

Harness aggression into flat-out speed on the mountain with the Juliana Roubion 2.1 Carbon CC X01 Reserve Mountain Bike. Purposely designed for aggressive styles of all-mountain riding and professional enduro racing, the Roubion demolishes chunky rock lines and rips alpine descents with unflappable composure. 150 millimeters of VPP travel smooths out the roughest terrain without flinching, making it an unstoppable force for all-mountain and enduro disciplines where larger rock gardens, steep descents, and bigger hits pose a significant challenge. Seeing that Juliana tailors their bikes for the needs of female rippers, you'll find the Roubion's tuned specifically for lighter riders with its female-specific shock tune. This makes it all the more sensitive when you're pedaling over roots and rocks standing in your way. Additionally, this model comes equipped with Santa Cruz's Reserve 30 Carbon wheels, which are some of the strongest carbon wheels on the market and they're backed by a lifetime warranty, just like their frames.

The second-gen Roubion is longer, slacker, and more aggressive than the predecessor, meaning it's far more stable and confident charging at higher speeds. This aggressive geometry makes the Roubion well suited for conquering demanding alpine terrain and rocky descents where short-travel bikes would be overwhelmed. The 66-degree head tube angle provides stability when you're opening it up at higher speeds and dropping into steep, rocky descents. The longer reach provides a roomy cockpit, so you're never cramped or uncomfortable riding the Roubion for long distances. Furthermore, the snappy 17-inch chainstays keep it quick turning and agile around tight switchbacks and sweeping berms. Though the third generation Roubion is now available with even longer and slacker geometry, this 2nd generation frame caters well to riders that spend long days in the saddle conquering alpine rides that require significant elevation gain before you reach the descents.

Juliana has been in the game for many years, with bikes that hit the nail on the head for just about any rider out there, and it's done with ultimate respect for the rider. There aren't any dumbed-down builds, soft geometry or lazy carbon layups in Juliana bikes, their engineers know that women ride just as hard as the guys we share the trails with, and embrace us with high performance bikes that can handle the whole mountain. Speaking of high end carbon layups, the Roubion 2.1 Carbon CC frame uses Juliana's highest level of carbon, which is stiffer and lighter weight than their mid level Carbon C manufacturing. Incredibly skilled workers in the Juliana factory use one-piece carbon layup and curing to create CC level frames, which means the front triangle is assembled and cured together, rather than assembling pieces with messy joints to be sanded and prettied up later. While curing the carbon, an internal bladder presses against the exterior mold, which reduces resin pooling and overall material to land you with a lighter, stiffer, and more durable frame. In the unlikely event that you take your bike beyond the limits that frame can take, Juliana stands behind their carbon and bearings with a lifetime warranty so you're never left behind in the dust.

The big story with the Roubion is the VPP suspension, which gets a revised architecture of the linkages for its third iteration. The third version of VPP attaches the upper linkage to the top tube, making it all the more stiff, as well as creating greater stand-over clearance for shorter riders. The bottom linkage is neatly tucked above the bottom bracket, protecting it from damaging rock strikes. These changes in VPP extend to the suspension's overall performance. For the third-gen VPP, you'll find it's more sensitive off-the-top when you're pedaling over rocks and roots. It's also more supportive through the mid-stroke, making it track consistently without the old version's tendency to wallow in the mid-stroke. As always, you'll find the VPP suspension ramps up considerably hard at end-stroke, preventing it from bottoming out harshly on bigger hits.

This Roubion build delivers components that are similarly ready to tackle any trail you face. It begins with class leading suspension from Fox. The fork is a 36 Float FIT4 Performance Elite unit with 150mm of travel, paired with the Float DPX2 Performance Elite air shock. This setup offers a supple stroke, on-the-fly adjustments at the flip of a lever, and easy tuning for both suspension gurus and those less experienced. SRAM’s phenomenal X01 Eagle 12-speed groupset provides the gear range necessary to take on big climbs and all-day rides, while the Guide RSC brakes provide modulation and control in the face of unpredictable terrain. The Rockshox Reverb dropper post enables the necessary on-the-fly saddle height adjustment, while the Santa Cruz carbon fiber handlebar offers a perfectly tuned balance of stiffness and flex that simply surpasses many of the best aftermarket carbon fiber handlebars available. And as we touched on above, you'll enjoy the precise handling and impressive durability of the Reserve 30 Carbon wheels which are made to handle some serious abuse without losing their true.