Santa Cruz Tallboy LT and LT Carbon

Tallboy LT

The Tallboy has been a hugely successful bike for us. And it is clearly evident that the 29″ market is evolving, and the industry is figuring out how to make these bikes handle and perform well in a wider set of terrain than was thought possible a few years ago. (Somewhere we can hear Wes Williams laughing at us all) So, in order to meet the needs of riders who want aggressive all mountain bikes AND big wheels, here’s the Tallboy LT. It’s a 135mm travel bike with VPP suspension designed to run 130-150mm forks.

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Features:

M, L, XL sizes

Hydroformed top and downtubes

Tapered headtube

Replaceable derailleur hanger

ISCG05 mount

135mm travel, 7.875″x2″ shock

Custom tuned Fox Float RP23 Kashima shock

Collet axle pivot hardware

Offset lower link (better chainguide clearance), recessed grease ports

Continuous cable routing, dropper post routing

Threaded BB shell (we think this is still the best, most userfriendly, widely compatible, globally serviceable way to install a bottom bracket.)

Tallboy LTC

Here’s where we get into the flagship of our flagships. We put a lot of emphasis on the suspension performance and ride characteristics of our VPP suspension-design tuneability of shock rates for individual designs, superb pedaling AND bump absorption characteristics, awesome chassis stiffness and ride dynamics, short stiff links with really good hardware, durability, ease of service—but we get real geeked out when we can build all that stuff into a carbon fiber bike. Carbon fiber processes are not all equal, and this is not all just random “black metal.”

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We are very proud of what we can achieve with carbon fiber, and the way we do our layup gives us the advantage to build bikes that are lighter AND stronger than just about everyone else. That said, this is the Tallboy LTc. Same geometry, same suspension, same intent as the aluminum version, but crafted from carbon fiber using our proprietary onepiece layup process. This is also our first foray into 142×12 rear axle territory. For lack of any better hyperbole, this bike is siiiiiick! 135mm travel, all the good juicy features already mentioned in the Tallboy LT blurb above, but also stiffer, stronger, and really, really effing light. Weight for a frame, with shock included, is 5.3 pounds. Yup.

Tue 3rd Apr, 2012 @ 11:25 am