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hi single truckers mark here I'm in
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Leeds urban bike park in Leeds and I'm
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here to show you this this is the
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all-new Santa Cruz tall boy for which
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I'm not sure isn't a music genre a flip
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chip yeah so I've been messing around on
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this bike all day which haha sorry about
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got any questions let's stick them down
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below in the comments and I'll do a very
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best to ask them ask them
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I'll answer them so first I'm gonna run
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you through some of the changes that
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have been made to this bike this year
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and then I'm gonna take you through some
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of my opinions of this bike having
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ridden it for a few days let's start
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with the main features the tallboy is
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Santa Cruz's full suspension XE bike
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it's a 29er and this model here is the
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almost top-of-the-line
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CC model in size medium we have a full
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carbon frame with a brand mixing combo
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of a fox shock and Rock Chalk spike
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select plus fork at the front the shock
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gives 120 millimeters of travel at the
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back and the fork gives us a 130
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millimeters at the front we have SRAM
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EXO shifting with SRAM g2 brakes
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featuring easy-to-use reach and bike
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point adjustment there's a RockShox
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reverb dropper post and Santacruz
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reserve 27 wheels now don't let that
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these are 29 wheels and the 27 is
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referring to the rim width that's the
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feature list but how is this model
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evolved from last year's design we're
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new santa cruz told by four we sent the
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crews have called extreme country in
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their press release which I'm not sure
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isn't a music genre so what's different
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about this year's tallboy well there is
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a whopping 65 and a half degree head
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angle which for a cross-country bike is
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pretty slack and that geometry can
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actually adjusted there is a flip chip
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down by the bottom linkage on the
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suspension which haha can ideally lower
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the bottom bracket and slack in the head
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angle further by well not only point to
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that's pretty cool other major change
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the rear dropout can also be flipped to
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lengthen the chainstay
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so if you want more stability at speed
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you can make it longer if you want that
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sort of agile feel of a shorter chain
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stay you can keep it shorter Oh
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John rebending was also another term
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coined in the press release which is an
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interesting turn phrase anyway those are
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fairly significant changes for the
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biggest one is this rear suspension for
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a start ten millimeters longer than last
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year but more crucially it now uses
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Santa Cruz's VPP suspension system so
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VPP what's it all about well it stands
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for virtual pivot point and essentially
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what it does is it separates the rear
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triangle of the bike from the main
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triangle there are no direct connections
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instead both the top and the bottom of
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the rear triangle are connected by two
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linkages and these linkages counter
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rotate and the intention is to tune
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these linkages to eliminate certain
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characteristics from the suspension that
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as a rider you don't want in this case
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those linkages have been tuned to try
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and ensure that the suspension action is
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the same and consistent whether or not
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you're pedaling sat down stood or are
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going down so on the tool boy for the
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suspension is designed to eliminate all
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the riders pedaling input from the
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suspension which means that on the
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Kleins it doesn't stiffen up which means
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you retain all that traction and on the
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descents it stays nice and plush it just
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gives a very consistent feel for the
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suspension no matter what you're doing
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I'd have to say although I've only been
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riding this bike for a few days it all
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does seem to add up and it does seem to
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Wow there's no like any curse country
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back up ridden before
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if I may quote further from the santa
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cruz press release they did say that
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this bike makes you want to sprint up
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the climbs now I can confidently admit
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right now I have never in my life wanted
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to sprint of a climb no maybe if there
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was someone at the top with a pie or a
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point or both but I have to say you can
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tell where they get that from the
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efficiency of this bike on the climbs
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I'm not going to sprint up a climb but
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if I was a sort of person who had a
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personal best on some uphill Strava
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segments I reckon I would be breaking
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those personal bests with this bike so
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how about some do's and don't like about
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this bike well my early impressions are
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very positive however the low mounting
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of this shot is so low it's really hard
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to actually bring you your fingers
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around when you're riding and actually
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activate it unless you've got gorilla
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arms you'll be absolutely fine what
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about the shock setting it up right this
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is a bit of a this is a bit Fafi as you
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can see the shock is actually mounted
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through the frame which kind of hides
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the whole stroke area of the shock I
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can't even really get my fingers in here
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to get hold of the rubber ring to set up
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the sag and the SAG settings are really
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quite specific because of the short
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nature of this shock Santacruz recommend
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that the sag setting be somewhere
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between get this 11 millimeters and 13
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that's all fine and dandy if you can get
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a ruler in there and measure it I can't
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even see where the rubber ring is so
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that's a little Fafi now I don't ride
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bikes for the climbs I'm a normal person
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you see I ride up so that I can ride
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but this bike really does take the sting
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out of the climbs it's comfortable and
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you can really feel that suspension
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working for you no matter what you're
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doing with your writing style to try and
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but this bike is not just a climber it's
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almost a cliche to say that it feels
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like a bigger bike but a cliche only
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becomes a cliche if it's true overall
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then calling this bike an XC bike may
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put off some prospective riders who I
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think would actually love it it's a
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great bike for those all-day rides and
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big days out it's comfortable and very
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efficient it's not gonna get you king of
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the mountains but it'll probably improve
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your personal bests both on the climb
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and the descents look here's the thing
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if you bought yourself one of last
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year's Santa Cruz tallboys I'm afraid
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that this version it's a lot more than
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just because metic upgrades this is a
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completely different bike sorry about
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how about prices this is the almost
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top-of-the-line version so this one is
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going to set you back around about 7,200
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pounds at this early stage in the launch
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we haven't been given the exact UK
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prices yet but there is going to be an
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alloy version of this bike that will
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retail for around about 3,000 pounds as
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a complete bike so we've got a good
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range of prices going on there
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thanks for watching guys and for more
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info on this bike and the rest of the
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tallboy range then go and check out our
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reports online at singletrack WorldCom
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you got any questions at all stick them
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down in the comments below and I'll do
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my best to answer them until next time
