Santa Cruz calls the Tallboy “a gravity rider’s cross-country bike,” and our testers couldn’t agree more. Head angle is a big part of the picture. This former cross-country carver now sports a 65.5-degree front end in its low setting—nearly the same as the Hightower. Its travel has also been bumped up 10 millimeters at both ends to 120 and 130, and that travel is now delivered by Santa Cruz’s lower-link suspension.
Even the cross-country racer among us (who tested the Juliana Bicycles’ version called the Joplin) was smitten by its ascending prowess, though she didn’t feel it was “mean” or “edgy” enough to serve as a race bike. It did take the edge off, though, smoothing out the chaotic root outcroppings on our climbing loop while providing a comfortable perch for its pilot atop a 76-ish-degree seat tube. Gone is the hang-uppy sensation of VPPs of yore, replaced by tractable climbing performance over edges of all shapes. It’s no softy, though. Putting down power from a seated or standing position sends the Tallboy forward with an urgency that the non-racers among us considered taut enough to go between the tape. One tester noted frequent pedal strikes and suggested that 170-millimeter cranks would be a better choice than the 175s (stock on L thru XXL sizes), but we all agreed that the low bottom bracket is worth the occasional whack.
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