New Santa Cruz Bikes Released

News

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We snuck out a story back in February of an as-then-unnamed, early sample carbon 29er. http://www.singletrackworld.com/2011/02/new-santa-cruz-carbon-29er/

Well, now the cat is officially out of the bag as Santa Cruz announces the Carbon Highball 29er hardtail.
With a 2.45lb frame weight and a full bike build of 21lbs (with chi-chi components) it might be the bike that’ll topple some people from their ’29ers are heavy’ viewpoints.

And also being announced are other three new bikes: an aluminium Tallboy 29er, the ‘surely made for the UK’ Blur Trail Carbon – with 5in of travel and slacker than the XC angles, plus one more bike that we’re not going to be told about until the Sea Otter Classic in the middle of next month.

The official story is here on the Santa Cruz website.

 

As a taster, here is the new Tallboy 29er in aluminium. More pics here: http://www.santacruzbicycles.com/tallboy/pr.html

 

And the Blur Trail Carbon! Made for the UK with 5in of travel, but with the more trail-friendly head angle of the Blur LT-c rather than the ‘steer with your eyebrows’ responsiveness of the Blur C

A great looking frame. (although we can't help thinking that that paintjob makes it look a little like an old GT I-Drive.)

A load more photos here:  http://www.santacruzbikes.com/blurtr_carbon/pr.html

 

It looks like being a very interesting time at this year’s Sea Otter, with major new ‘radical’ announcements from a number of bike companies. Stay tuned for Chipps’ coverage in a couple of weeks…

Here are the photos from Santa Cruz.

And add your voice to the Singletrack forum thread here:

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/santa-cruz-highball-245lbs-29er

 

Not bad for a big wheeler, eh?

 

Black and red paintjob dubbed the '49er' scheme after the San Francisco team.

 

Regular, threaded BB shell

 

Black and white paint job known as the 'raider nation' colourscheme

 

Flared headtube. Natch.

 

Rear corner uses a proprietary one-piece layup

 

Skinny back end with plenty of mud clearance

 

Everyone loves wishbone stays

Here’s some geometry for you:

We’ll get you the UK prices as soon as Dickon has finished with his calculator…

 

Slightly curved seat tube for shorter chainstays.
Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 22 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)

More posts from Chipps

Comments (20)

    timraventimraven March 28, 2011 at 11:39 am

    Quite good looking, pity about those fugly big wheels

    jimmyjimmy March 28, 2011 at 11:43 am

    Blur Trail Carbon, you say….?

    tangtang March 28, 2011 at 12:03 pm

    Niner air9 still wins in the beauty stakes.

    james_turkjames_turk March 28, 2011 at 12:17 pm

    Like the look of the that new Blur, but I reckon the Yeti ASR5 Carbon is a still a step ahead, with even more ‘aggressive’ geometry.

    superdalesuperdale March 28, 2011 at 1:23 pm

    Looks good but why no postmount rear tabs – is this not possible on carbon frames?

    ChippsChipps March 28, 2011 at 1:34 pm

    I think it depends how you’re going to secure the brake. Would you have the steel bolts thread into the carbon? A little risky. Or have inserts? A little complicated. Having IS mounts with PM adaptors seems to be a good way of dealing with differing rotor sizes, different brands of brakes and assorted alignment of things.

    rickmeisterrickmeister March 28, 2011 at 2:31 pm

    It all looks a bit tight in the seat tube chain stay area…. where will I fit all the mud in?

    mudmonstermudmonster March 28, 2011 at 2:35 pm

    The turner way of making a post mount might be the best way to do it.

    mudmonstermudmonster March 28, 2011 at 2:38 pm

    “We’re going to see a lot more post mount rear brakes in the future. Expect the International Standard brake mount to be internationally ignored within the next couple of years…”

    ChippsChipps March 28, 2011 at 3:11 pm

    Or not. 🙂
    It’s interesting that Santa Cruz has chosen to stick to a regular threaded BB rather than one of the swanky new press-fit ones. I’m sure it’ll all work out in the end.

    momomomo March 28, 2011 at 3:47 pm

    Blur trail, is this the reincarnation of the 4X perhaps?

    Looks like the bike that’ll replace mine eventually anyway.

    DJCDJC March 28, 2011 at 4:17 pm

    I wish I had backed my guess about the name.

    frank4shortfrank4short March 28, 2011 at 5:22 pm

    Post mount rear calipers require much higher manufacturing tolerances than IS mount. Also manufacturing inconsistencies in IS mount are much easier to rectify once they’ve occurred. As such for the foreseeable future it’s a lot more likely that IS mount is likely to stay the standard for rear brakes for most manufacturers.

    GavinBGavinB March 28, 2011 at 9:27 pm

    So, why the LT TRc? Not sure if its so different to the LTc that it’s worth producing, but I’m sure I’ll be proved wrong. Checking over the geometry of the LTc, there is a slightly longer TT here, a lower BB, slightly longer WB – but ultimately, it’s a 140mm VPP frame with a 68 deg HA weighing around 5lbs taking a 140-150 fork. Confused!

    BenjiBenji March 28, 2011 at 11:20 pm

    “slightly longer TT here, a lower BB” – can often make quite a big difference.. may even be able to run with a big more sag than is recommended on the LTc.. I dunno

    ddmonkeyddmonkey March 29, 2011 at 7:46 am

    Thats the first 29’er I’ve seen that really make me want to have a go, would a brilliant mile muncher. I bet it will cost a fortune though… :o(

    M6TTFM6TTF March 29, 2011 at 12:19 pm

    as above – those stays aren’t designed for a muddy british winter are they!

    OnzadogOnzadog March 29, 2011 at 2:47 pm

    “Skinny back end with plenty of mud clearance”

    Were they looking at different pictures from me?

    DonkDonk April 4, 2011 at 12:03 pm

    “We’ll get you the UK prices as soon as Dickon has finished with his calculator…” I assume it’s one of those big display ones so he has enough room for all the zeros. I’d quite like a BLTc or TRc but I think a heckler is about the only thing I could afford.

    Skyline-GTRSkyline-GTR April 6, 2011 at 10:50 pm

    If the calculator is like Dickon’s bikes, it’ll be polished alloy with carbon fibre buttons and look immaculate.
    TheTallboy looks wrong to me, but the Highball, everything about it looks right. And I’m a shortarse that would never see the benefit of one.
    But I want one now.

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