Reader’s Ride: Adrian’s Santa Cruz Tallboy 3

Cast your eyes over this riding>walking fast>faster fifth carbon fibre mountain bicycle.

Your name

Adrian Thurrell

Bike

Santa Cruz Tallboy 3 CC

Fork

Fox 36 (reduced to 120mm travel)

Shock

Fox Float with RWC needle bearings

Suspension setup

190cm, 82kg, 80psi front, 190psi rear, everything else is in the middle.

Wheels

Chris King hubs, LightBicycle carbon 30mm rims, asymmetric spokes and nipples, home built. Non-boost hubs in a boost frame using homemade spacers and dishing.

Tyres

Magic Mary and Hans Dampf (with Slicy Smooth insert rear) are perfect for the Peak district 10 months of the year. Nobby Nic or Rocket Ron or Racing Ralph in summer.

Brakes

200mm Saint 4 pot front, 160mm XTR 2 pot rear.

Drivetrain

180mm XTR cranks (unfashionable, but I haven’t shrunk (yet), 32T oval ring, Eagle/Shimano mix, Crankbrothers Eggbeater pedals (modified bearings and greasing system so they last).

Cockpit

Ergon grips, 35mm stem.

Seatpost

RockShox Reverb (admittedly in need of a service).

Saddle

WTB SL8 wide saddle.

Accessories

Homemade CombOver + Toupee front mudguards (year-round). Modified rear race guard (9 months of the year). Spare ‘Plus’ wheels when I want to be a monster truck. Rucksack: Camelbak HAWG, 1m of duck tape, zip-ties, proper tools – no multi-tool, SAM Splint doubling as a back protector (since joining Mountain Rescue), spare brake pads.

Size and weight

XXL, 13.5kg

Why this bike?

Carbon bikes seem like marmite – some people hate them, but me, I love ’em. Fifth carbon bike and I have no desire to go back (snapped enough aluminium frames) – and four still running.

Santa Cruz have their price haters, but they design for the long term and stand by their commitments. My Tallboy is a crash replacement for my also loved 2010 Blur XCc (the 1st carbon one). The shortlist was Tallboy, 5010, Hightower. As soon as I tried the 29ers, there was no going back – heavier, but faster and more capable up and down. Close thing with the Hightower, but the difference on the ups (riding vs walking) mattered more than the downs (fast vs faster).

The other key test was XL vs XXL. I’m a lanky bugger. I didn’t realise what a properly fitting bike felt like until the XXL: ‘in’ rather than ‘on’. It is ‘planted’. It oozes confidence that leaks out as a smile. It’s no BMX, but I gained far more than I lost with the wheelbase. I think bikes have got longer since, but in 2017 a long enough frame for me was rare.

This is a bike that I can trust to look after me when it gets rough, at high speed, in boulder fields, steep descents, on technical climbs, miles from anywhere in the clag. Or with the family on a flat, dry railway line. It can probably handle air too, but I wouldn’t know – I’ve never got the hang of it.

But fashion? I hear you say. Hmm, maybe cycling for me is all dreamy days and Mint Sauce. I’ve never really been Gnarr, or Rad, or been Tubed. Sure, I’ve tried plenty of ‘extreme’ sports. But I’ve never been cool while doing them. I’ve just been absorbed in whatever – maybe a bit grey, a bit lanky, a bit jack of all trades, a bit like my bike.

And I think that’s the key – it allows me to have adventures, explore places, find somewhere remote and rough and beautiful and challenging. And trust the bike.

It’s a bike that will do almost everything better than me and will keep doing it far longer than I can. And in all weathers – it isn’t a sunny day bike – it requires very little upkeep: no electronics, decent seals and stainless angular contact bearings almost everywhere mean multi-year service intervals. Even riding in the Peak District several times a week and with post ride maintenance at just a two minute hose and chain lube.

It’s a far cry from mountain biking as a student back in the 90s struggling to keep components alive long enough to afford some more. Carrying multiple spare sets of brake pads for a single ride. Too many rides stuffing grass in tyres, replacing mechs with sticks, linking chains with zip-ties, towing each other with inner tubes – remember them? Oh, yes, punctures, in the rain, and wind, and sleet – yes, I remember them. This bike is about avoiding all that – I’d rather ride.

Would prefer: it to be lighter, a steeper seat angle (the Aenomaly SwitchGrade looks like it might be the ticket), fork lockout like my RockShox Pike had, quieter brakes, but nothing worth changing until it wears out.

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