SANTA CRUZ BICYCLES HIGHBALL R XC COMPLETE BIKE

When Santa Cruz stepped onto the 29er playing field, it did so with highly refined geometries in carbon chassis. Those bikes quickly became the industry standard for weight, strength, and handling -- this came with a price tag, though. However, those days over. The Highball R XC Complete Bike shares the same geometry as its carbon cousins, only it uses aluminum to keep its ticket of admission more palatable.

This isn't a cheap seat, however. Equipped with the R XC kit, the Highball sports Shimano SLX components, a tubeless wheelset, the Fox 32 Float 29 CTD 100 fork, and Avid Elixir 5 brakes. With this stellar package, the Highball will place a competent rider on any XC podium. And while the almighty black weave has become the favored medium for 'high-end' mountain bikes, Santa Cruz's renowned hydroformed-aluminum expertise results in a responsive and lightweight frame for these components to hang off of.

At the rear end of the Highball, you'll find adjustable dropouts for either a single or geared use. They've been connected to shapely, large-volume-tire clearing seatstays and stout chainstays. This gives the aluminum frame excellent dampening on choppy trails and extremely responsive acceleration over multiple terrains. At the bottom bracket junction, you'll discover an asymmetric, forged chain stay yoke that provides maximum strength and stiffness while ensuring adequate tire and chainring allowances.

Connecting the rear triangle to the front triangle are material-optimized, hydroformed top and down tubes. In addition to these, Santa Cruz also incorporated a stout, tapered head tube. This combination ensures the best mix of strength, weight, and stiffness. But, these design features would be useless if the geometry was cobbled from inexperience or archaic industry norms. Instead, its short 17.3 inch chainstays put your center of gravity over the rear wheel for a surprising amount of flick'ability out of a 29er chassis. Adding to the aggressive race feel is a short head tube -- only 3.9 inches in the Medium and Large frame sizes. This, combined with the 70.5 degree head tube angle, gives you a compact, fast-steering front end that allows you to get into a powerful cross-country position.

The Highball R XC Complete Bike comes with a Fox Float fork that has a 15mm thru axle, 100mm of travel, and the easy-to-tune CDT dampening system. The wheels consist of WTB tubeless i19 TCS rims laced to Shimano M678 (SLX) hubs, wrapped in Maxxis Crossmark 2.1 inch tubeless tires. The cockpit contains a Race Face Ride seatpost, stem, and bars with a WTB Volt Race saddle.

Shimano SLX shifters direct an SLX rear derailleur over an SLX 11-36t cassette. For the front derailleur, the Highball comes equipped with the Shimano XT. Driving the bike, Santa Cruz included a M552 crankset with 24/32/42 chain rings for smooth, dependable shifting performance. Finishing off the build is a set of the powerful, lightweight Avid Elixir 5 brakes.

The Santa Cruz Highball R XC Complete Bike is available in four sizes from Small to X-Large and in the colors Gloss White and Traffic Blue. Please note that Santa Cruz states that with a 22 inch top tube length and 28.3 inch stand over, the Small size of R XC is a little shorter and lower than your typical X-Small sizes.

Highball R XC Complete Bike Price: $2198.95