There's a really good reason why Santa Cruz's Tallboy enjoys such universal praise. Simply put, it's a 29er that's very at home on such a variety of terrain, and it shows us just how fun a small travel bike can be with big wheels. This v3 version is even more optimized for the trails with its slackened head tube angle, short chainstays, and a steep seat tube. As such, it's better able to cope with bigger terrain while lending more speed, control, and comfort. The Tallboy Carbon XT Mountain Bike is ready to be your go-to ride, racking up the miles on your well-traveled trails as well as exploring new singletrack and tackling fresh lines for the first time.

Because Santa Cruz's Bronson and Hightower got makeovers in the suspension department, it doesn't come as a huge surprise to see the tweaks to the Tallboy went in the same direction. The new Tallboy follows the trends of its deeper-travel siblings, moving the VPP suspension down to a lower-link that offers improved stabilization in the roughest terrain, while an extra 10mm of travel helps soak up additional rocks and roots that the previous Tallboy would have shied away from. This makes the new ride more confident than ever, ready for bigger trails, rutted-out lines, brakes bumps galore, and even turning the odd set of rollers into doubles—but not at the cost of climbing. The new suspension is designed with the same engineering principles as the brand's longest travel bikes, making it just as at home riding cross-country as it is extreme backcountry. Santa Cruz's VPP suspension is designed to stabilize the suspension when you're putting power down on the pedals, meaning the rear end ceases to bob, providing a much more responsive and lively feel when you hammer up steeps, so you aren't wasting all of the power you put down. This is achieved with counter-rotating links that are carefully arranged to resist activation by pedaling forces, all but eliminating bobbing under power.

But the suspension is hardly where Santa Cruz stopped on upgrades with the new Tallboy. The bike sees entirely different geometry, but continues to use the flip-chip we saw in previous years for adaptable geometry that can be tuned to your own personal riding needs. In the front things start out with a much slacker head tube angle that shifted from the 68-degrees in years past to the ultra-long 65.5-degrees it is today (with the flip-chip in Low). This slack head tube elevates the confidence of the Tallboy when you point it downhill, providing improved handling in rough and jarring terrain, and boosting control at high speeds. With the head tube's shift into the slacker realm, balance needed to be achieved to maintain the bike's reputation for lively pedaling and handling, so the engineers at Santa Cruz opted to move the seat tube angle up a few degrees to a steep perch of 76.3 degrees—a full three degrees steeper than the previous model, allowing you to stay on top of the bike when pedaling power matters, and keeping the cockpit compact enough for comfort when handling the bike in rowdy terrain.

In previous generation Tallboys the flip-chip seemed to beckon for loftier 27.5+ hoops, but on the Tallboy v4 it serves a purpose tuned more acutely to riding style preferences. The flip-chip not only tweaks head tube and seat tube geometry, but there's also a full 10mm of adjustability to the stubby-short 430mm chainstays, which allows riders of all sizes and riding styles to make the necessary tweaks to feel right at home. This combines with a low bottom bracket for a combination that's built to thread the needle, rail berms, and launch out the other side with power and confidence.

The frame on the Tallboy Carbon S build uses Santa Cruz's Carbon C construction, which is Santa Cruz's second-tier carbon level. It's just as strong as the higher-level CC carbon, though a little bit heavier. The carbon layup process remains the same, just with a different carbon modulus that's a bit more budget-friendly, which is why you're able to score the Carbon C at a much more modest asking price, all you sacrifice is an equally modest 240g of gained weight.