Juliana

Origin Mountain Bike Frame-2014

While the Furtado lays claim to the company founder's last name, the Juliana Origin is the updated version of the first bike that bore the Juliana branding. The Origin continues to pursue its predecessor's goal of providing the quality of professional-level cross-country bikes in sizes and with spec sheets appropriate for women. Importantly, this doesn't mean altering the geometry to suit the specious dogma used to justify the pink and shrink of women's-specific design. Instead, the Origin is designed for cyclists, using the same geometries as Santa Cruz's Lightweight.

The hydroformed aluminum front and rear triangles are shaped and butted to place more material where it's needed, earning the modifiers lightweight with durable while capitalizing on aluminum's storied stiffness for efficient climbing and confidence on downhills. With 29-inch wheels, stiffness is paramount, so the rear triangle is shaped asymmetrically to account for unequal drive-side and non-drive forces. This prevents flex and ensures suspension motion is directed to the rear shock and not into flexing the frame, which would cause it to dog trot around switchbacks or across rock gardens.

The Origin's steep head tube angle combined with the 17.5-inch chainstays nets a tighter feel in technical terrain than 29ers with slack head tubes while still preserving the stability of a long wheel base.

The Origin incorporates Santa Cruz's proven single pivot suspension. The pivot is slightly above and forward of the bottom bracket to offer responsive pedaling when seated. One drawback of single pivot designs has always been out-of-the-saddle sprinting, because the suspension will compress under rider loads — losing energy to moving parts. To mitigate this, the FOX FLOAT CTD Evolution shock spec'd on the Origin has three distinct damping settings: Climb, Trail, and Descend (hence CTD). With the turn of a little switch knob, you can set the shock to provide the right platform for a given level of pedaling effort.

The Juliana Origin is available in two sizes, Small and Medium, in the color White/grey.