Staff Bike Test: Amanda’s Juliana Maverick Carbon CC XO1 Reserve

This article was first published in Issue 129 of Singletrack Magazine.

As I pushed back up a certain (pretty large, for me at least) feature on a huge loop in the Peaks, I caught the eye of two young lads riding an adjacent trail.

“It’s just a Santa Cruz in a girly colour.”

“It’s red, what’s girly about that? I’d WELL buy one.”

Juliana Bicycles is the female division to Santa Cruz and, since its launch in 1999, it has continually grown to ensure all our mountain bike needs can be met without being limited to unisex bikes that don’t necessarily fit everyone. By combining smaller frame sizing and lighter suspension tuning, and adding female specific contact points for comfort, Juliana has a bike for almost every terrain.

The Maverick is the newest addition to the Juliana line-up, bringing the first long travel 29er to the range and bridging a gap between the two all-mountain models currently available. With 140mm frame travel it sits comfortably between the 130mm of the Furtado and 150mm of the Roubion, both on 27.5in wheels.

If you’ve taken yourself to any race or cycle event in the past six months, you’re almost guaranteed to have seen a fleet of excited women on ketchup-coloured bikes. Santa Cruz and Juliana have a very generous test fleet, and they don’t shy away from any event. I took my Maverick to the Gowaan Gals festival at Farmer John’s last year and enjoyed two days of seeing women of all ages, sizes and ride ability grinning their way through a downhill park and progressing at such a rate that it made me want to push myself out of my own comfort zone.

But I do wonder, without having one handed to me to try out, if I would have chosen the Maverick out of the three all-mountain bikes available from Juliana? Generally I haven’t got along with 29ers for various reasons, the main one being that cornering is my weak point and they feel less manoeuvrable in that area. And I do favour lower travel bikes, as rarely can I justify hoiking 150mm+ travel up a hill.

The Bike

Although new to the family, Juliana doesn’t deny that the Maverick is not far from just being a Santa Cruz Hightower in a ketchup colour, meaning there’s four years of development and progress behind this model. First introduced in 2016 and updated annually ever since, the Hightower has received some major updates for 2020, which include a longer reach, slacker head angle and marginally shorter chainstays, but the biggest change is the lower link-mounted shock to match most of the Santa Cruz range. This lower linkage includes a flip chip for making overall adjustments to the geometry for steeper trails.

There are three build options in total for the Maverick – I’m on the Carbon CC X01 Reserve model. All models are offered in S, M, L (all other Juliana bikes are XS, S, M), a size range that’s specific to the Maverick as the longer travel on a 29er platform is hard to get into a smaller size frame. To make up for the lack of an XS model, the L has been introduced in order to accommodate taller riders.

Unlike the Hightower, the Maverick is only available in carbon, meaning the cheapest full build is £4,499, and there’s only one colour choice too. Having ridden this bike for several months I get the feeling there may have been a discussion about offering more colours or models, but they realised this bike would sell regardless of colour.

The Virtual Pivot Point (VPP) suspension platform seen throughout the Juliana and Santa Cruz ranges works by cancelling out unwanted compression from pedalling while soaking up small bumps. On many full suspension bikes, when you push the pedals down you compress the shock, but this being eliminated means the bike can absorb bumps when pedalling, while also pedalling more efficiently. This system was seen on the previous Hightower models, but the lower linkage is new.

Stopping power is brought by SRAM Code RSC with 180mm rotors front and back, and never have I needed to trust brakes as much as I have on this bike – it’s a speed demon. With tool-free lever reach and bite point adjustment and more power than say, Guides, they are a great match for the Maverick.

Frame details include a built-in bashguard, downtube protection, a mudguard built in to the shock mounting, space for a bottle cage on all sizes and a rubber chainstay guard. There’s no detail overlooked, but at this price you really shouldn’t need to be adding frame protection yourself.

The Ride

Climbing seems effortless, and I can say that confidently as I’ve done a lot of it. My local trails are steep, technical and always wet and I feel planted with great traction. As someone who usually has to stand up for extra power on steeper climbs, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much easier I’ve found it to remain seated when climbing, and have frequently been surprised by climbing over features I’d not expect to have the power or energy for. Rocky climbs are ironed out by the big wheels.

I’ve had the flip chip in low and haven’t experienced pedal strikes. Calderdale ruts have been as much of a nuisance as always, but on the Maverick there’s so little rolling resistance I can, for the most part, flow through and sneak a pedal in where possible. I feel really smug riding this bike, because it just makes everything manageable without sapping the fun out of it.

I have a bad habit of saying that I don’t find 29ers fun, which is a misinformed generalisation based on maybe one or two bikes a couple of years ago. So on a longer reach 29er I made my assumptions that I’d be clumsy around corners and bored on flow trails. I couldn’t have been more wrong. This bike is not only manageable, it’s nimble, and oh so playful.

The main characteristic that stands out on the Maverick is how pinned you feel. Having all the weight of the linkage and suspension low down makes the bike feel planted and trustworthy at speed, and the suspension takes care of any small bump sensitivity, adding to that stable feel. So with the small bumps soaked up and the big wheels ploughing over the rough stuff, there’s very little occasion for feeling unstable. And believe me, I’ve tested that theory! This bike has been pushed to its limit, from Revolution Bike Park to the vertiginous natural trails in Samoens and Morzine.

Another really noticeable part of the ride is how bottomless the suspension feels. When you’re skipping over small rocks and roots not really feeling any impact from them, you’d expect to really feel the bigger hits since your suspension is actively smoothing all that small stuff out. But you don’t – it takes the initial impact out and ramps up to towards the end to stop you bottoming out.

So in answer to my earlier question of whether or not I would have chosen the Maverick for myself, normally a 27.5in short- to-mid travel fangirl… yes, I would choose the Maverick all day long. It’s opened up my capabilities and allowed me to progress without me really trying – it’s almost as if I’ve been taught how a bike should behave, and in turn I’ve learned how to control it.

Overall

The moment you point the Maverick downhill, it’s off. And you aren’t just a passenger, it’s really controlled and manoeuvrable, which has given me confidence I haven’t had on a bike for a long time.

If you’re into fast, flowy trails at any degree of steep, the Maverick will have your back. If you enjoy jumping, or want to get into it, this bike is a fast-track ticket. The Maverick is reliable, stable and extremely fun and has put my riding skills where I would have expected them to be in a couple of years’ time. I have become comfortable riding at speed, I can be social on climbs because I’m not blowing out, and I no longer want to be at the back of a group to avoid holding people up.

If you can afford to, consider getting a bike that will make you giddy and excited to ride, regardless of the trail.

Juliana Maverick Carbon CC X01 Reserve Specification

• Frame Santa Cruz premium ‘CC’ carbon, 140mm travel
• Fork RockShox Lyrik Ultimate, 150mm travel
• Shock RockShox Super Deluxe Select Ultimate
• Hubs DT Swiss 350
• Rims Santa Cruz Reserve 30 29in Carbon
• Tyres Maxxis Minion DHR 29in x 2.4in, 3C EXO TR
• Cranks SRAM X01 Eagle, 12 speed
• Shifters SRAM X01 Eagle, 12 speed
• Derailleur SRAM X01 Eagle, 12 speed
• Cassette SRAM XG1295 Eagle, 12 speed, 10–50T
• Brakes SRAM Code RSC
• Stem Race Face Aeffect R, 50mm
• Bar Santa Cruz AM Carbon, 780mm
• Grips Juliana 
• Seatpost RockShox Reverb Stealth, 1X Lever, MatchMaker, 31.6
• Saddle Juliana Primiero
• Size tested M
• Sizes available S, M, L
• Weight 30.6kg / 13.9lbs

Review Info

Amanda Wishart

Art Director

Amanda is our resident pedaller, who loves the climbs as much as the descents. No genre of biking is turned down, though she is happiest when at the top of a mountain with a wild descent ahead of her. If you ever want a chat about concussion recovery, dealing with a Womb of Doom or how best to fuel an endurance XC race, she's the one to email.

More posts from Amanda