Santa Cruz Bicycles

Highball Carbon CC 27.5 XX1 Complete Mountain Bike - 2016

The 2016 Santa Cruz Highball Carbon CC 27.5 XX1 Complete Mountain Bike settles into that flowy zone between agile handling and steamrolling aggression to clean brutal climbs and twisty descents alike. SRAM's venerable XX1 drivetrain and Shimano's XTR hydraulic brakes keep you railing cross-country courses in style, with fast-rolling Easton ARC 24 rims to deftly navigate the trail.

Santa Cruz utilizes a 69-degree head tube angle, citing the line-holding benefits of high rake combined with 27.5-inch wheels to keep the Highball running true. Compared to the original 29er Highball, the 27.5-inch model has a lower, longer geometry, so it's tethered to lines both on the way up and the way down. Despite its long wheelbase, the Highball 27.5 has shorter chainstays then the 29er, so it capitalizes on the stiff, carbon hardtail and 12x142mm rear axle for efficient power transfer that lends itself to pushing through grades and carrying speed out of switchbacks.

The Highball Carbon CC frame is built with the same Carbon CC construction as its predecessor. It features a higher modulus carbon than the Carbon C model, so less material is required to hit the same strength and stiffness numbers. Less material equates to a lighter chassis that needs fewer watts to propel, and the watts that you do pour into it are transferred with greater efficiency courtesy of the increased stiffness.

The entire frame is also constructed as a single piece instead of a jigsaw puzzle of individually-cured carbon tubes. This allows Santa Cruz to wrap the fibers continuously around structurally important junctures like the head tube and bottom bracket, buttressing the frame and dissipating the force from impacts and pedaling load. Translated onto the trail, this means it jumps when you stomp on the pedals and dampens high-speed chatter—all with a low-weight that makes any full-suspension bike's climbing and sprinting feel about as sharp as a blob of putty.