Speak to me about…Santa Cruz Tallboys…(Gen 5 2023 onwards)

Hi

Have seen a SC Tallboy 29er ex demo for sale and kinda tempted. Looking potentially for a xc-trail full sus that pedals well and is reasonably light- my HT weights 13kg so I’m used to not superlight bikes.

Anyone got one? Would be used for big days out and some bikepacking too.

yes got the matt taupe C  second hand this summer, lovely bike,  stuck on a fox36 factory and upped it to 140mm.

moved all my kit XT/XTR/hope tech 3 e4 over from an orbea occam,  never looked back

it pedals well uphill and its quick down smoother descents, the yeti arc has definately taken a back seat since i got it.

took it up cutgate last week, definately faster than trek slash up and a few mins off the pace down..

for my local woods it reminds me of a 29er version of my old 5010 mk2, which you’ll never see a bad review

I’ll let you know soon… I bought one at the weekend but yet to ride it. New-to-me but not new-new, it’s a 2023/V5 XXL. Only experience I’ve had was a 5min trail ride on one a few weeks ago and really liked it. My main bike was a V3 Tallboy for years though so not surprising. Mine’ll be my main trail bike alongside a bigger-travel bike for lumpier stuff.

For reference, this one is 15.2kg as pictured inc fairly chunky flat pedals. I suspect my scales are crap as everything I own appears heavier than anyone else quotes!

15.5 kg ? yeah definately seems over, unless your wheels/tyres are those hunt e-enduro’s on sale at 2.6kg.

i’d say mine is 12.5–13.5kg ,

has your bike got the trap door under the water bottle i didnt think the v5 took coils or piggy backs..

Yeah definitely V5 and has the glovebox. Wasn’t aware of any piggyback shock concerns – wasn’t something I considered as the seller is someone whose judgement/knowledge I trust explicitly.

Wheels are Reserve HD30 carbon so not overly weightly. Cushcore Trail/XC inserts (no idea what these weigh?). No idea on tyre weight. Deity carbon bar (220g) and stem. Full XT 1×12 inc 4-pots and 203 rotors. Manitou Mezzer Pro fork quoted as 2040g. Fox DPX2. On the chunky end of typical build for a Tallboy for sure.

I know XXL has more frame material than a smaller size but not enough to account for such a weight difference, but equally there’s savings possible in the spec of mine. The ‘picking it up’ weight feels fine to me so I suspect dodgy scales to some extent.

i’m probably wrong, must just be the coil shock that wont fit in the tunnel.

the conti’s will be a kg a piece, certainly well  over 14kg, your scale may not be that far off

I’ll be swapping the tyres before proper use – winter mud season here – so will get weights then, rear’s a Cross King 29×2.3 @ 745g quoted and front’s a Xynotal 29×2.4 @ 1040g. Full spec as weighed. Still 2.2kg lighter than my Geometron on same scales.