Santa Cruz 29er Tallboy LT

SURFAS

New Member
Pois é amigos, muito se falava e aqui está ela ...

A Tallboy LT, com 130mm de curso para se colocar na frente a Fox 34 140mm de curso!!!
Virá em carbono e aluminio, mas aqui fica o registo de quem esteve no bike camp da Santa Cruz

"When we reported on the Santa Cruz 2013 29er lineup, debuted in Sedona, Arizona a few months back, we only told you half the story. The big news at the redrock ridefest was a redesigned Tallboy 29er with a full,130-millimeters of suspension travel and updated geometry with a decided tweak towards the all-mountain side of the handling spectrum. Two models, the carbon fiber Tallboy LTc and its welded-aluminum sibling, the LT, were made available to a select group of journos for ride-testing in Sedona’s unparalleled trail network. Ride we did, and as impressive as the Santa Cruz big-wheel bikes were, we promised not to speak about the long-travel Tallboys until April first. Here is the story.

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Santa Cruz Tallboy LTc Features:

• Rear-wheel travel: 130mm
• Medium, large and X-large sizes
• Frame: Carbon fiber front section and swingarm, VPP suspension, tapered head tube
• 142/12mm through-axle
• Adjustable collet-type pivot bearings
• ISCG-05 chainguide mounts
• Replaceable rear derailleur hanger or Shimano Direct-Mount option
• Aggressive AM frame geometry
• Dropper-post cable routing
• Offset lower link for better chainguide clearance
• Molded seatstay and downtube protectors
• Universal, threaded bottom bracket shell
• Custom-tuned Kashima-coat Fox RP23 shock
• Claimed frame weight: 5.3 pound
• Available as frame and shock, or complete build

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The Back Story

To say that Santa Cruz was not an early adopter of the 29er would be a gross misrepresentation. A devout long-travel AM rider, Founder Rob Roskop despised 29ers, and his distaste for big-wheel bikes was mirrored by many at the sea-side factory. The key to Santa Cruz’s successful bike line, however, is that most of the crew are mountain bikers and the company only produces designs that the staff wants to ride. So, when employees started showing up with 29ers, Rob caved and set his designers to work on the project that he never thought Santa Cruz would undertake.

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As a late arrival, Santa Cruz had the luxury to ride and evaluate a lot of good 29ers before deciding how its new design should perform. The end product was the original Tallboy – a beautifully balanced carbon-framed XC/trail bike with 100 millimeters of travel, smooth, second-gen VPP suspension and an appetite for challenging terrain. Considering Roskop’s favorite haunt is Northstar-at-Tahoe’s uber techy DH trails, it came as a surprise to all (especially Rob) that the Tallboy became his number one ride. In fact, the original Tallboy was such a confident descender, that most owners were over-driving the suspension and wishing for more travel. The introduction of the LT version of the Tallboy was assured from the outset. It was just a matter of when.

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Meet the Tallboy LTc

The all-mountain edition of the Santa Cruz Tallboy feature a stronger, stiffer and about the same weight frame as its predecessor. The curvy carbon chassis sports more aggressive frame geometry and 130-millimeters of wheel travel, which is a lot for a 29er. Currently, the 140-millimeter-stroke, Kashima-coated Fox 34 Float 29 fork is the slider of choice for Tallboy LT series, but its debut was timed to coincide with the release of 130mm and 140mm-travel 29er forks from all major suspension brands to grant Santa Cruz customers freedom of choice. The Kashima-garnished Fox RP23 shock is custom tuned for the Tallboy’s second-generation VPP suspension. Durability and technical performance are job-one for the Tallboy LTc, so its frame is heavily reinforced where it may get bashed around and its component selection and geometry are chosen to showcase technical rider skills. To this end, space is provided in the swingarm for tires up to 3.5 inches wide, and a dropper post is standard equipment.

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Santa Cruz claims the medium sized LTc frame with its shock weighs only 5.3 pounds. At least half of the longer-travel 29er frame’s weight reduction comes from knowledge gained from the conservatively built Blur Ltc and original Tallboy frames. When Santa Cruz began its carbon frame development with the Blur LTc, it teamed up with the most exclusive composite frame maker on the Pacific Rim as its only MTB customer. The duo erred on the side of strength and reliability to ensure their first venture was bomb-proof. Subsequent destructive testing and field reports indicated that the frames could be lightened considerably, which led to new layup procedures and design strategies. To further reduce weight, almost all of the aluminum bits molded into earlier frames to house bearings and threaded pivot hardware were either eliminated or reduced to miniscule proportions in the Tallboy LTc frame. The Tallboy LTc can be had in medium. Large and X-large sizes as a frame and shock only, or as a complete bike in two all-mountain builds that range from $45399 to $5299 USD. Colors are matte carbon/orange graphics or yellow/black graphics.

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Frame Technical Highlights

Through-Axle: Santa Cruz adopted the 142/12-millimeter through-axle standard for the rear of the Tallboy LTc, which is considered by 29er designers as a must for lateral stiffness at the rear of the bike.

Suspension upgrades: Its dual-link VPP suspension runs on easily adjustable angular-contact bearings. The upper link is carbon fiber and the lower link is aluminum. To make room for derailleurs, chainguides and crankset options, the lower link arm has been offset to the left. The two Zerk-type grease fittings on the lower link are now recessed to eliminate the possibility of bash damage.

Chainguide mounts: Single-chainring riders will herald the Tallboy LTc’s ISCG-05 chainguide flange, and part-swappers will appreciate that the bottom bracket is a universally adaptable threaded type.

Single-ring adaptability: Another conservative switch was from an integrated front derailleur mount, to a standard band-clamp-type. Santa Cruz media hound Michael Ferrentino explains that the clamp setup offers more options and looks better for derailleur-free single-chainring drivetrains.

Cable routing: The Tallboy LTc’s cable routing is clean and intelligent, with faired-in guides throughout, including a pathway for a dropper-post housing.

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Carbon brake caliper mounts: With most frame makers touting that they have integrated post-mount brake caliper bosses, Santa Cruz does a 180, using flange-type rear brake mounts on the Tallboy. Chief Engineer Joe Graney explains that the caliper mounts are carbon fiber with simple drilled holes for mounting the brake hardware. Joe maintains that this is a best-use application of carbon material and that using a threaded insert or threading a carbon post-type boss would cause more problems than bending to present fashion would solve.

Short head tubes: Tallboys, like all 29ers are quite high at the handlebar and when one adds a 130-millimeter-stroke fork, higher still, so its tapered head tube is reduced to the minimum length that can be used with tapered-steerer forks. Head tubes for the medium and large frames measure 3.9 inches (100mm), while the X-large size is only 4.3 inches (110mm).

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Geometry: It takes a lot of restraint for knowledgeable 29er designers to choose a head angle that is correct for a 29er rather than picking a compromise, super-slack head angle to satisfy the present mentality of core riders. Larger-diameter wheels cause a bike to react much more slowly to steering input than a smaller 26-inch wheel does, and to scribe a dramatically wider arc when leaned into a corner. Santa Cruz slackened the LTc’s head angle 1.5 degrees from the original Tallboy’s 71-degree figure to 69.5 degrees. In Joe Blow speak, that’s the equivalent of going from a 69-degree head angle on a 26er, to a 67, but with better straight-line performance in the rough. The new Tallboy’s seat angle has also been slackened by about a half-degree, presumably to paste a little more weight onto the rear tire to compensate for the fact that 29ers have longer chainstays on average -17.9 inches (455.9mm), in the case of the Tallboy LT.

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Tallboy LTc Suspension Notes

The Tallboy LTc’s dual-link VPP (Virtual Pivot Point) suspension is designed with a slight falling rate in order to firm up pedaling in the initial stroke, and a slight rising rate in the end-stroke to soften full-travel impacts and landings to flat. A smooth transition between the two extremes in the mid-stroke prevents the suspension from blowing through its travel. Assisted by Fox’s slick Kashima-coated 34-millimeter-stanchion Float 29 fork and Float RP23 shock, the Tallboy is designed to squeeze as much performance as possible from its moderate-by-all-mountain-standards suspension travel.

The choice of Fox suspension for its all-mountain 29er was not a whim. The Float fork and shock have boosted end-stroke compression damping, which helps cover the Achillies’ heel of 29ers. Big wheels can smooth a lot of rough ground, but when the bumps get truly big, or when landing from high places, there is no replacement for suspension. The 29er’s restricted wheel travel due to frame-clearance issues means its fork and shock must be able to soften repeated full-travel hits without bottoming harshly, and Fox has mastered this aspect of suspension damping quite well.

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Tallboy LTc First Impressions

Riding the new Tallboy LTc was a familiar experience. The feel is much like the original, with predictable steering, smooth acceleration and no need for excessive body English to keep the bike on line when clawing up or down rocky sections on the trail. Sedona’s combination of smooth-as-silk clay singletrack, square-edged steps and drops provided ample opportunity to judge whether an additional 30 or 40 millimeters of wheel travel was worth two years of development at Santa Cruz. The verdict was not as clear as expected.

The added travel did not make the LTc feel like a magic carpet. Bumps that jarred me on the old Tallboy could be felt through the longer legged version. Drops to flat and G-outs used every bit of the suspension. To its credit, however, the new LTc feels exactly how I wanted the old Tallboy to be – faster uphill, faster downhill and even more capable in the rough.

At 13.4 inches, its bottom bracket feels quite low for any AM/trail machine. And the BB centerline falls over an inch below the axles’ center, which greatly enhances cornering traction. The Tallboy LTc can track a line around a corner regardless of what may lie in its way. In fact, the Tallboy LTc took me from zero to hero when turns magically appeared where I had expected a straight-away descent. Same goes for rolling near-vertical drops, where the big wheels and in-the-chassis cockpit feel always managed an exit with the rubber side down. After a day on the new Tallboy, I got the sense that the bike would cover for me when I hit something that looked iffy, which is exactly how an all-mountain chassis should feel.

The flip-side of all-mountain is that the bike must pedal well enough to tackle enduro-length ascents without tears. Santa Cruz gave the new Tallboy ample firmness in the pedaling department to keep a relatively fit rider’s legs fresh enough to enjoy the descents. I surprised myself by acing some relatively technical switchback ascents, powered partly by ‘new-bike-syndrome’ for sure, but I felt I was boosted through the steeper sections by a nicely balanced chassis that kept the front end planted and steering while I huffed my way up Sedona’s steps and babyheads. Climbing with the shock and fork wide open was best practice for most technical steeps. That said, the extra firmness that the shock’s ProPedal platform lever offered up long ascents was very welcome. The long-travel Tallboy is an efficient climber, and it maintains an uncanny amount of speed on any type of trail, but it understandably lacks the ‘go-for-it’ snappy acceleration of a dedicated XC-oriented suspension bike.

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Technical Report

The Tallboy I spent the most time on was set up with a triple-chainring Shimano XTR drivetrain and Trail Brakes with ICE Tech rotors. The RockShox Reverb dropper post is a must if you truly want to enjoy Sedona’s trail network and, without trying any other suspension package, I will venture that the Kashima-enhanced Fox fork and shock were the best choice for the Tallboy’s moderate wheel travel. I rarely used the big chainring on the XTR triple and sometimes wished for a lower gear. I would happily toss the triple for a more useful-for-29er double-ring crankset with a 38- or 36-tooth big ring and a 22 tooth low for muscling up the steeps.

Pinkbike will certainly have a full review up for the Tallboy LTc in the near future. Until then, the takeaway for Santa Cruz's new all-mountain/trail 29er is good news. Few 29ers feel this good at the outset. Fewer still handle as lightly and nimble in demanding situations - nimble enough that I often forgot that I was on a big-wheel bike. The Tallboy LTc is not going to inspire many to don a full face and mach DH runs and it isn't going to win XC races. The Tallboy LTc's selling point is in the riding. Hit the trail and in less than a mile, the boundaries between bike and rider begin to blur until at some point, there is only speed, effort and line choice. It doesn't get much better than that - RC"


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E eu que andava com ideias de trocar a minha BLT2 ....... vou jogogar no euromilhões e já venho :wink:

[video=vimeo;39575491]http://vimeo.com/39575491[/video]
 

vald

Member
É com bikes destas que começo a olhar para as 29'ers com outros olhos. MUITO INTERESSANTE, esta bike...
 

SURFAS

New Member
Agora da revista SingletrackWorld

Tallboy LT carbon – The Ride

Unsurprisingly for a bike coated in Shimano XTR and weighing around 28lbs, it accelerates hard. It’s not prone to wallow and seems to translate pedal turning into forward motion, the larger wheels muting small trail chatter. Despite running reasonably weighty UST Tubeless 2.25″ Maxxis Ardents, it got up to speed and stayed there with little effort. I found that in the first few corners the handling took a bit of getting used to. The feel through the front end is that of a slack, sturdy bike, but turn the bars and the bike darts quickly to where it’s aimed. While a 26″ wheeled 160mm travel bike needs to be coaxed and cajoled into turning by leaning plenty and honking on the bars, the Tallboy LT does as it’s bid, instantly.

142x12mm rear end is a first for SC
While this resulted in lots of veering off line as I attempted to reconcile the feeling of stability with the fast handling action, it was something I soon got used to. Yes, the extra rotating mass does require a bit more effort if you want to sling the bike around in really tight stuff, but even then it feels like a mini downhill bike.

It happily consumes rough, rocky sections in a way a bike with five inches of bounce has little right to, maintaining speed and a lively feel throughout. It definitely felt at it’s best with some big bars and a little stem – if you’re a lighter person or lack masses of upper body strength then you’ll need all the extra leverage you can get to help you move the bike around.

Suspension wise, the VPP system transmits enough feedback to let you know what’s going on under the rear wheel and you can really feel it bite down for traction when heading uphill. Downhill it does an excellent job of making bumps disappear and the custom tune on the Fox shock doesn’t feel wayward mid corner, happily picks itself out of tight turns. It’s such a fun bike for riding fast that I found myself wondering if an even harder tune would make it feel even keener. That may be more to do with my predilections than any fault with the standard bike.

The feeling of confidence can lead to some speed perception problems – sometimes you simply don’t realise how fast you’re going on the way into corners or rough sections. When that happens the bubble bursts slightly; this isn’t a bike with masses of suspension to spare, it just tricks you into feeling that it is – and that’s great fun. It’ll cover distance happily, make light of all but the most obscenely technical sections – and you’ll struggle to get the smile off your face throughout.

It’s not a bike that’ll do it all, but it is a bike that’ll do a hell of a lot; from techy rock sections to mile munching, the Tallboy LTc is excellent fun. Stiff and light with a reassuringly planted feeling. Where it excels is in high speed, fast carving turns that demonstrate the sheer amount on traction on offer from the bike, especially mid-corner. If you wind it up fast enough to get things sliding, it’s beautifully controlled. Hero drifts await on corners that would make lesser bikes into nervous wrecks.

There are still some things where I’d rather be riding a 26″ bike, but if you have fast, rocky and steep trails near you then the Tallboy LTc makes excellent sense. It’d eat up trail centres at speed, devour Peaks rock gardens and keep you entertained on Lakeland epics. This Californian Kool Aid tastes delicious.
 

SURFAS

New Member
Mais um video

Mike Ferrentino da Santa Cruz
[video=youtube;2QxPaLsZZFU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QxPaLsZZFU&feature=player_embedded[/video]
 

SURFAS

New Member
Pela revista Bike Mag

By Brice Minnigh

"Truth be told, I was sold on the concept before I even got to ride Santa Cruz’s new long-travel 29ers—the aluminum Tallboy LT and carbon Tallboy LTc.

For starters, the company’s first stab at a full-suspension, 29-inch-wheeled bike—the Tallboy—was the first wagon-wheeler I really loved, from the moment I first took it for a shred around Whistler’s Lost Lake trails back in October 2009. To my mind, Santa Cruz had been the first bike maker to truly crack the 29er code, dialing in the geometry to make a big-wheeled beast that was somehow eminently maneuverable. I remember applauding the Tallboy’s ample standover and comparatively short chainstays and thinking, “Shiiiit, these 29ers might turn out to be really fun bikes after all.”

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I wasn’t alone in my admiration. Within weeks, our meager editorial ranks were consumed by competition, with each editor jockeying for position, calling imaginary dibs on the test bike and trying to curry favor with Santa Cruz’s overwhelmed marketing manager, Mike Ferrentino. No sooner had I reviewed the bike, one of our sales managers confiscated it and claimed he was going to buy the frame and shock from Santa Cruz immediately. The Tallboy suddenly became a scarce commodity, and it probably was a good half-year before two members of our staff were actually able to buy the frameset.

Given our team’s enthusiasm for the original Tallboy, our collective excitement over the prospect of a longer-travel version shouldn’t have come as a surprise. I mean, it’s no secret that Bike’s humble hacks are amazingly amenable to longer-travel bikes—if for no other reason than they make tough trails easier and more fun for the everyman to shred into oblivion. So the idea of a Tallboy with 135 millimeters of rear-wheel travel designed to run 130- to 150-millimeter forks pretty much had us sold from square one.

After my first rides on the alloy and carbon versions—at a cloak-and-dagger press camp in Sedona, Arizona, that was wonderfully inundated by the rough-and-ready UK mountain-bike press corps—my astoundingly favorable predisposition for the bike was vindicated.

Simply put, the Tallboy LT is sick—especially the carbon version, which weighs just 5.3 pounds for a large frame with shock. Believe it or not, that’s 0.3 pounds lighter than Santa Cruz’s 26-inch Blur LTc. The bike’s lightness and stiffness is bolstered by sensible all-mountainesque geometry, with a head angle that is 1.5 degrees slacker than that of the Tallboy and a seat angle that is almost a half-degree slacker.

The bike wasted no time in putting abundant trail under its big wheels, eating up steep and technical climbs with ease before barreling straight down through the chunder on the other side. For the better part of a week, the Tallboy LT and LTc—equipped with the 140-millimeter-travel Fox 34 fork—munched up mile after mile of sweet Sedona singletrack. By the time Ferrentino had dropped me off at the Phoenix airport for my return home, I missed the bikes already. It sucked to leave.

Of course, upon my return I immediately begged for an alloy LT to be sent to our Southern California headquarters for ‘longer-term testing,’ and that bike has already been sent to Bellingham, Washington, to be put through its paces on some steeper, burlier terrain.
"

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SURFAS

New Member
Estive a ler o teu review, e concordo que nas subidas as 29" apesar de passarem por cima de pedras, raizes melhor que uma 26" se se perde a embalagem .... é que não podemos esquecer rodas e pneus mais pesados e relações mais pesadas que nas 26".
Não sei que pedaleira tens, mas experimenta meter um prato 22 dentes!!!
 
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cmbo

New Member
SURFAS, tenho a pedaleira de origem com dois pratos 24/38 dentes, mas não quero dizer que sinto necessidade de colocar a 22 dentes, o que quis dizer foi que em subidas e em especial se forem bastante inclinadas, se por algum motivo tivermos que abrandar, custa mais a "acelarar"! mas não é nada que me preocupe.
 

SURFAS

New Member
[video=youtube;dcynr6NUm3s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcynr6NUm3s&feature=g-all-u&context=G2c9a3b4FAAAAAAAAHAA[/video]
 

Poeira

New Member
Sim senhor, mas uma bela maquina para o pessoal dos trilhos empinados ao contrário. Esta será mesmo à tua medida SURFAS. Pode ser que o César tenha lá, depois, uma para tu testares.
Boas pedaladas.
Poeira
 

SURFAS

New Member
Se me saísse o euromilhões era esta amarela com umas jantes de carbono Easton.

Até já tenho trilho para a estrear

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SURFAS

New Member
A Speedgoat já recebeu uma e andou a testar, com rodas carbono Enve, vejamos ...

First Ride: Santa Cruz Tallboy LT

New bike releases are not taken lightly at Santa Cruz, and rightfully so – when the Tallboy Carbon hit the market a few years ago it instantly won over even the hardest of hard-tail enthusiasts. The geometry was perfect. The frame was among the lightest in its class. The handling and ride made you feel (and go) fast whether you were on a race course or riding messier, more aggressive terrain. It was, in every way, more than just a ‘me too’ bike thrown at the consumer to fill a gap in their product line – it became THE bike to own if you craved all of the BEST aspects of a mountain bike with 29 inch wheels. But, for many riders, the only thing it’s been lacking is a touch more travel. Not anymore. Meet the new Tallboy LT.

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On a recent visit to Santa Cruz, I was treated to a 4-hr test ride on the new Tallboy LT Carbon. In those 4-hours, we covered every possible terrain you could imagine: twisty singletrack, hour-long climbs that break your legs and burst your lungs, mile-long ocean-view descents, and a dozen or so short and steep downhill runs that you could swear were straight out of a world cup event. The last time I rode here, I was on board a Blur TRC – a 26” bike with 5.5 inches of travel – which, is what I’m used to riding because I’ve logged hundreds of backwoods miles on a TRC, and I’ve got a BMC TF01 with 5.9 inches of cushion back home. I’m mostly a roadie, so a long-travel bike like the TF01 is a ton of fun when a trail ride starts to take an all-mountain bent, but as the travel on those bikes increases – so does the weight. And, the shaved-leg calorie counter in me starts to get a little skeptical about how a bike will perform when the weight creeps past the 25-pound mark, especially when the trail points toward the heavens.

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So, when I showed up for a Tallboy LT test ride in Santa Cruz I was equally skeptical. I surveyed my bike for the day – a fresh-out-of-the-box screaming yellow Tallboy LT Carbon with a full XTR drivetrain and a locking Shadow Plus rear derailleur (yes, it silenced chain slap as promised - which was really, really nice), ENVE wheels, slightly beefy Maxxis Ardent tires, and a Rockshox Reverb post. A top-notch build, no doubt. I was definitely expecting a bike that went downhill like Missy Giove (yes, that’s a deliberate double entendre), and that climbed like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. I was also expecting school-bus like handling on tight uphill switchbacks, that is, if I could actually manage to keep pedaling through them on this heavy, sluggish, lumbering beast. Yep, that’s what I was expecting. What I got was something completely UN-expected: a cross-country bike in an all-mountain wrapper.

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Now, before I tell you about the ride itself, let’s back up and talk about the tech behind the new long-travel version of the carbon Tallboy. That means a quick trip to the inner sanctum of the Santa Cruz R&D department and test lab. Santa Cruz’s HQ is an old cannery, and it’s made up of several buildings with wide concrete driveways in-between. There are also long, unlit breezeways running through each building. To get to the lab, you walk down one of these caves to a black door marked “17C”. There’s no ‘Employees Only’ or ‘Secret Test Lab’ or ‘Research and Development’ signs anywhere – it’s just a big black door. Behind door 17C are three rooms connected by cut-outs in the wall – the machine shop, the lab, and the space where the R&D guys store and assemble all of their prototypes and “mules” (mules are aluminum frames welded together as templates which closely mimic the ‘new bike’ they’re currently developing. We caught a sneak peek at a few of them, but the engineers were pretty tight-lipped about what they’d become when they were pushed into final production.

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Most importantly, we caught a glimpse of the inside of a Santa Cruz carbon fiber frame, and we got to see the guts of some of their competitor’s frames as well. The take away? Santa Cruz has invested a lot of time and effort to be sure there are no voids, no creases, and no weaknesses or inconsistencies on the insides of their carbon tubes. They don’t leave behind any foam or pieces of the inflatable bladder that’s used to compress the tubes into the molds during carbon fiber production. The benefit? Pure quality control: My Tallboy carbon will ride like your Tallboy carbon, and your Tallboy carbon will ride like your buddy’s. They’ll be equally stiff and equally durable, no matter which size or year model you own.

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The most important discovery we made behind door 17D was that there’s a brand new rear triangle that was sculpted especially for the Tallboy LT Carbon. That’s right – they didn’t just throw a longer fork and shock on the Tallboy – this frame and rear triangle are completely new, and made from totally different molds. The first feature is what the guys called the “MUT” which stands for “Massive Upright Technology.” When you compare the non-drive side of the rear triangles from the Tallboy and the Tallboy LT, you notice that the carbon that runs from the lower link to the upper pivot is, well, massive when compared to the standard Tallboy. You’ll also notice that the hole for the upper pivot hardware looks almost drilled out, as opposed to sitting on top of it like a semi-detached knuckle. By wrapping the carbon from the upright fully around the upper pivot hardware, Santa Cruz was able to provide a massive increase in rear-end stiffness – not only does the MUT keep the whole triangle from flexing torsionally, but it also eliminates flex where the shock mount meets the upper pivot because there’s just a helluva lot more material there.

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Of course, another nice upgrade is the standard 12mm x 142mm thru axle - but the slickest feature of the new back-end are the derailleur hanger options – Santa Cruz will offer two, one of which is offset just enough to make rear wheel removal about a thousand times easier (it’s kicked back behind the axle, which keeps the wheel from getting all caught up in the chain/derailleur/brake when removing and reinstalling).

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OK, enough tech. Let’s talk about the ride.

If you’re going for a mountain bike ride in Santa Cruz, California, then you have to pay a cover charge before you get to the trailhead. Now, you don’t have to actually hand some dude in a tollbooth a sawbuck, but you *do* have to climb for a good two to three miles to get to the really good stuff – and that’s a price of admission I’m willing to pay to ride in the fabled “Demo Woods” on trails like Star Wars, Two Tanks, and Mail Boxes Etc. Fortunately, the initial climb on this ride was a perfectly-smooth two to three percent climb alongside a set of railroad tracks that carry the seasonal sight-seeing train.

I reached down, locked out the Fox F34 140 fork, set the RP23 shock to ProPedal mode, and decided to sit on the ride leader’s wheel for a bit.

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And, that’s when it hit me – the Tallboy LT Carbon doesn’t know it’s an all-mountain bike. We were in the big ring, toward the top of the cassette, just spinning. No grinding, no laboring, just spinning about 90 RPM like we were on the flats. Surely, I thought, when I stand up to stretch out my legs and back this bike’s gonna pogo like a low-rider. So, I dropped the chain two cogs closer to the bottom, stood up, cranked it and started wrenching on the bars. Nothing. It didn’t flinch. Sure, there was a little bouncy-bouncy, but the VPP suspension combined with the RP23 made for an ultra-stable pedaling platform whether I was standing up mashing or sitting down and spinning.

It took us about 45 minutes to get to the ‘real’ trailhead, and from that point on – we were REALLY climbing. I’m not talking about 5% inclined fire roads – I’m talking about loamy, twisty singletrack with the occasional root and rock garden and hairpin section pitching anywhere from 10% to the upper teens, and maybe beyond. And the roots were from giant redwood and cedar trees, not a 12” wide pine tree. Serious granny gear territory. Serious hard tail territory.

But the Tallboy LT took it all in stride.

No matter what gear I found myself in, and no matter how light I spun or hard I mashed, for the next two hours of climbing I slowly but surely fell for the Tallboy LTC. In addition to easily conquering some tough climbing, the bike was quite agile when the trail narrowed or obstacles popped up in my path. Any last-second corrections in my line were rewarded with sure-footed grip and predictable handling. Even as I threw it at some of the worst lines on the trail, and bounced off and over some big roots and rocks, it stayed planted. And then, about two hours later, the trail finally pointed down. And, yours truly got a first-hand lesson in when to use a dropper post.

If I’m forced to answer, I’m more roadie than mountain biker. I’ve been mountain biking since college – roughly 20 years – and I’ve ridden all of the hot spots in the US (Moab, Fruita, Austin, Phoenix, Marin County). But, because it’s more convenient and you get more bang for the buck when training, most of my miles are logged on a road bike. That means I’ve not cultivated my position on the mountain bike, and I run a bit of a high saddle. When you combine that high saddle with big ass wheels, a frame with a high standover, about 20 bike shop guys racing like they’re pros, and a section of trail that has you in the air more than on the ground, it’s a recipe for disaster. So, as the speed increased the jumps started to come faster and faster, and with every jump I was pulling up on the front end later and later. Eventually, it caught up with me and sent me careening off the trail like a bucking bronco, headed straight for the stump of a gigantic ex-redwood tree.

Fortunately, I saved it, but I definitely got a few laughs from the guys behind me. When we stopped, one of my new buddies said: “Dude. Use the Reverb. Drop that sh*t on the next section.” I did, and my inner child was set free. Remote drop posts are to mountain biking what clipless pedals were to road biking 25 years ago. They’re that big of a game changer, and I had no CLUE how something that simple could alter the handling of a bicycle. I’ll never leave home without one again; on a wild and wooly downhill section, it makes the bike about ten times more manageable. Once I got used to the position of the remote thumb lever, I was dropping that post like a pro.

tallboyreverb-t.JPG

So, the ride went on, and after another thousand feet of climbing we hit a totally exposed fire road with a view of the ocean, and soft-pedaled the last few miles back to Santa Cruz. That gave me time to reflect on my last 4 hours of riding, which sent me back to my last three or four years of mountain biking. I realized that in that time, I’d done zero races, and showed up for a total of one group mountain bike ride, but that I’d also done some pretty epic alpine rides and managed to traverse some gigantic mountains in the desert all by myself. And then I connected the dots in my head – the Tallboy LT, whether carbon or aluminum, is the kind of bike that reminds you why you don’t race anymore. It’s the kind of bike that makes you WANT to ride every day, or at least as often as possible. It’s a bike that makes it OK to just pedal along in zone 1 by yourself and enjoy the contours of the earth. Could you race it? Sure. But, it’s not a racer’s bike. It’s a rider’s bike that’s built for high or low-speed cruising and BLASTING down hills. But, for the ex-racer in me that likes to throttle it every once in a while (especially uphill or in the rollers), it’s far from being a slouch. Quite the contrary – it climbs NOTICEABLY better than lighter 26 inch bikes I’ve owned with DW and Horst Links.

I got up the next morning and thought, “It couldn’t have been that good. It must’ve been the ENVE wheels and all the high-end components that made that thing ride so great.” That’s right, still skeptical. Maybe it was all just a dream. But, then I hopped on board the Aluminum version with a Shimano XT build for a two hour loop on some steeper and *more technical* trails and had darn near the same experience: excellent climbing no matter what the pitch or position (seated or standing), rock-solid stability in light of last minute corrections, and nimble handling on even the twisty-est stuff.

IMG_2731-t.JPG

Sure, it felt a bit heavier, but for the $1000 savings, it's a toss up as to which I'd choose. I think that if I had a craving for a long-travel all-mountain bike, I’d be hard-pressed to find a better build than a Tallboy LT Aluminum with XT or X0 and a set of ENVE or Reynolds carbon XC wheels.

One thing’s for sure, though: whatever I build, it’s gonna have a telescoping post!
 

SURFAS

New Member
Xiiii parece Monsanto

[video=youtube;c-bfJEObvJo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-bfJEObvJo&feature=relmfu[/video]​
 
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SURFAS

New Member
É mesmo finalmente!! Uso Mavic Crossmax desde 2002 e à 2 anos testei a Tallboy com as C29Max que se equipavam às Crossmax ST, mas a nível de rigidez nada parecido, era apenas uma ST com um aro de 29"!!

Podem ler aqui a pesquisa feita pela Mavic afim de proceder a umas rodas 29" afim do nome Crossmax.

2013-Mavic_Crossmax_SLR_29er_wheels-600x526.jpg


" Mavic had planned a Crossmax SLR 29 last summer as a 2012 product, but development took longer than they thought so the launch was delayed until now. Initial prototypes simply made a 29er version of the Crossmax, but it was flexy and weak.

Mavic’s engineers said there’s a cubic decrease in stiffness as diameter grows. So, a 29er wheel would be about 39% less stiff than a similarly built 26″ wheel. A 29er wheel also has 40% more inertia, and spokes have a lower frequency but higher intensity stress, which can affect reliability. These are the challenges, skip through to see how they overcame them and more…

They tested more spokes (24 rather than 20), which fixed stiffness but added weight. They also tried stronger spokes and keeping it at 20 spokes, and that gave them the strength they wanted with minimal weight increase. But, in both cases, they noticed cracks appearing in the rim.

Interestingly, Cannondale test riders were saying that with 24 spokes, the wheel was more comfortable because spoke tension could be lower. With 20 spokes it was harder, stiffer and faster. That translates to racier, and that’s what they preferred.

The solution was to increase the thickness of the rim’s sidewall extrusion by 0.6mm. It’s a surprisingly small amount of extra material, but it solved the cracking problem. They also adjusted their ISM 3D milling from what’s done on the 26″ rim to balance strength with weight savings. Great, right? Not yet, this led to driveside radial lacing spokes breaking. They fixed this by giving only those spokes a special bead blasting treatment that increased strength without adding weight. After all this, the wheels held up in their field and lab tests.

Claimed weight for the new Crossmax SLR 29 is 1620g (755g front / 865g rear). Hubs work with all standards – Front 9/15 and rear 9/12 x 135/142 and they’ll come with all axle adapters in the box. And, as spied earlier, there’s a Lefty version, too! Spokes are their Zicral bladed spokes. Should be available in early June. $999.90 msrp.

2013-Mavic_Crossmax_ST_29er_wheels-600x525.jpg


While the SLR presented the most technical challenges because it had to be super lightweight to live up to expectations, the ST needed to be strong since it’s aimed at the All Mountain category. Surprisingly, Mavic says very little special features were needed to grow the wheel from their 26″ version and it still exceeds all of their test standards. It uses the same hubs as the SLR, the differences are that the rims don’t get the ISM 3D treatment, just basic ISM, and their round Zicral spokes with 24 front and 20 rear. So, while the weight difference between the two sets isn’t massive, but it’s rotational weight so the difference in feel should be more dramatic than the numbers may imply.

Claimed weight is 1710g (825 front / 885 rear) and it works with all axle standards, including Lefty and a 20mm front thru axle…something the SLR doesn’t have, but they come set up for 15mm thru axle front and other front axle adapters are available aftermarket. This and the Crossride 29 should be available in the fall around Eurobike time (late August/early September). $824.90 msrp.

2013-Mavic_Crossride_Disc_29er_wheels-600x532.jpg


The Crossride brings Mavic’s wheels to the masses. Claimed weight is 2020g thanks to reinforced rims for the larger wheel size. It uses standard spokes and nipples and downgrades to their TS-2 two-pawl engagement system. But it’s only $299.90 MSRP. It comes with 15mm front axle and 10mm QR. Other axle adapters are available separately.

Rim width is 19mm inside on all three. The SLR and SL are available in either 6-bolt or Centerlock disc brake hubs. The Crossride is only available in 6-bolt.
COMPARISONS & ACTUAL WEIGHTS

2013-Mavic-Crossmax-SLR-29er-weights06.jpg

2013 Mavic Crossmax SLR actual weights: 755g front, 882g rear (with quick release axle endcaps).

2013-Mavic-Crossmax-ST-29er-weights05.jpg

2013 Mavic Crossmax ST actual weights: 831g front, 893g rear (with 15mm thru front, quick release rear axle endcaps).

2013-Mavic-Crossride-29er-weights02.jpg

2013 Mavic Crossride Disc 29er actual weights: 831g front, 893g rear (with 15mm thru front, quick release rear axle endcaps).
"
 

SURFAS

New Member
Agora foi a vez da Mountainbike magazine

Long-travel 29ers, once ridiculed for frames that weren’t quite stiff enough, keep improving, and Santa Cruz’s new Tallboy LTc is one of the best we’ve seen of this new generation. Built around a stiff, lightweight carbon frame with 135mm of travel, the bike tracked predictably down descents strewn with rocks and ripped through technical sections. More surprising, it flew up climbs and accelerated with snap on rolling singletrack.

TallBoy-ltc.jpg


tallboy-ltc-dropper-post.jpg
A dropper post gets your saddle out of the way.

tallboy-ltc-thru-axle.jpg
The 142mm thru-axle adds only a little more stiffness to the bike than a QR would, thanks to the very stiff swingarm, but it accepts more wheel options.

tallboy-ltc-tire-clearance.jpg
Plenty of clearance at the stays leaves room for even the fattest tires; a bent seat tube means the stays can be as short as possible.

tallboy-ltc-grease-fittings.jpg
Santa Cruz tweaked the VPP linkage to make room for ISCG tabs.

tallboy-ltc-iscg.jpg
ISCG 05 tabs let you mount a chainguide system, essential for aggressive riding.

tallboy-ltc-pivot-hardware.jpg
Each pivot’s angular contact bearings and preload are adjustable via an 8mm hex bolt, then locked in place by an external 6mm hex bolt.

tallboy-ltc-pivot.jpg
Santa Cruz stiffened the rear triangle with what it playfully refers to as a MUT (Mega Upright Technology) bridge that more directly connects the two pivots.

tallboy-ltc-headtube.jpg
A short head tube keeps the handlebar low.
 
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