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Santa Cruz Bicycles
Highball Carbon CC XT Complete Mountain Bike 27.5in - 2015

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Just right.

With its lightweight Carbon CC frame and stiff suspension-free tail, Santa Cruz's Highball Carbon CC XT Complete Mountain Bike with 27.5in wheels initially presents itself as an XC rocket with a penchant for hitting climbs hard. Point the just-slack-enough head tube down a technical descent, though, and the Highball shows that its speed doesn't come at the cost of the ability to stick lines across technical terrain. Climbing, descending, and laying tracks across terrain from fast singletrack to techy stretches of trail furniture — the Highball 27.5 is almost always just right.


The frame is built according to Santa Cruz's Carbon CC design philosophy. Carbon CC frames start with a higher modulus carbon fiber that's then laid-up in a proprietary process to achieve the same strength and stiffness characteristics of the heavier Carbon C frames. Compared to the Carbon C models, a Carbon CC frame saves a claimed 250 to 280 claimed grams per frame. The frame itself is constructed as a whole rather than from separate sub-assemblies bonded together, which allows Santa Cruz to wrap the fibers continuously around structurally important junctures like the head tube and bottom bracket, strengthening the frame and dissipating the force from impacts and pedaling load. Translated into trail talk, this means it hits the bricks when you stomp on the pedals, dampens high-speed chatter, and holds lines like a cat on carpet — all with a low weight that makes any full-suspension bike look like a bloated downhill-only machine.


While it doesn't shirk from the rigid speed of a hardtail, the Highball does somewhat address the lack of rear suspension with a diminished seatpost, down to 27.2 millimeters. This doesn't quite equate to the square-edge hit capabilities of the Nomad or Bronson, but it does help to eat up trail vibrations that tend to accumulate over the course of a long ride. Up front, the 27.5 model has a more moderate head tube angle than the Highball 29er. At just 69 degrees, it rides the divide between slack stability and razor-sharp handling, avoiding the floppy front wheels of slacker geometries while helping to control the terrain. Unsurprisingly, it also has shorter chainstays than the 29er version, which maximizes the hardtail rear triangle's efficiency while mashing.


The Highball Carbon CC XT's drivetrain is a tidy package of Shimano XT components, which sacrifice some of the bling of XTR kit but won't cost a second mortgage if you happen to clip a derailleur off on a rock in passing. We're especially fond of the XT brakes, which — to our minds — are the only hydraulic disc brakes worth spending money on. Even if we upgraded to the latest electro doohickey drivetrain, we'd still be rocking the XT M785s. Finally, the wheels also bear mentioning, bringing two familiar faces together with WTB rims laced to DT Swiss hubs.


Frame Material
Carbon CC
Fork
FOX 32 Float CTD Adjust Factory Kashima
Front Travel
100 mm
Headset
Cane Creek 40 tapered
Shifters
Shimano XT M780
Front Derailleur
Shimano XT
Rear Derailleur
Shimano XT M786 GS Shadow Plus
ISCG Tabs
yes, ISCG 05
Crankset
22 / 34 t Shimano XT M785
Bottom Bracket
BSA threaded
Cassette
11 - 36 t Shimano XT M771 10-speed
Chain
Shimano SLX HG75
Brakeset
Shimano XT BL-M785
Brake Type
hydraulic disc
Rotors
160 mm Shimano RT86 Ice-Tech
Handlebar
Santa Cruz Carbon
Handlebar Width
720 mm
Grips
Santa Cruz Palmdale Lock-on
Stem
Race Face Turbine
Saddle
WTB Silverado Team
Seatpost
Easton EC70
Wheelset
[rims] WTB Asym i19
Hubs
DT Swiss 350
Front Axle
15x100mm
Rear Axle
12x142mm
Tires
Maxxis Ikon
Tire Size
27.5 x 2.2 in
Pedals
not included
Recommended Use
cross-country, trail
Manufacturer Warranty
5 years on frame

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