Highball Carbon S Complete Mountain Bike 29in - 2015
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The wave of high-travel, 27.5-inch enduro sleds washing over the industry during the past several years definitely makes a statement, but for many riders, that statement takes the form of an excuse to go slow. If you often find yourself lamenting watts lost to a marshmallow rear end or dodging around the downhill specialists while they dawdle up a climb, then the Santa Cruz Highball Carbon S Complete Mountain Bike is more your style. With 29-inch wheels and a stiff, hardtail Carbon C frame, the Highball 29er doesn't hide behind big travel and gimmicky suspension designs. Your engine — and nothing but your engine — is the only thing on display.
The carbon Santa Cruz uses for the Highball Carbon C frame is a lower modulus of carbon than that used in the "pro," Carbon CC models, so more material is required to achieve the same stiffness and durability. This has two effects on the bike: it weighs more — around a claimed 250 grams per frame — and it costs a lot less, making the Highball 29 a carbon XC missile for the masses. The weight difference amounts to about half a pound, so if you just trim a few inches off your beard and spend a week not indulging in our culture's collective bacon fetish, then you'll more than cover the spread.
The California manufacturer still brings its meticulous construction practices to bear on the slightly heavier Carbon C chassis, using a single layup 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, strengthening the frame, dissipating the force from impacts, and more efficiently channeling pedal input.
Translated into trail talk, this means it hits the bricks when you stomp the pedals and dampens high-speed chatter with a low weight that makes any full-suspension bike look like a bloated gravity machine that only sees inclines from the chairlift. The Highball 29er does somewhat address the lack of rear suspension with a diminished seatpost, slimmed down to 27.2 millimeters. While this doesn't quite equate to the square-edge hit capabilities of the Nomad or Bronson, it does help to eat up chatter that will otherwise punish your body over the course of a long ride.
In order to accommodate its big, speedy wheels, the Highball 29's chainstays register at a hair under 17-inches, but a steep head tube brings the wheelbase to over a half-inch shorter than the smaller-wheeled Highball 27. The Highball 29 is nimble enough to gently pick through trail furniture and it tracks through switchbacks like a cat on carpet, but it still shines brightest when the throttle is fully open. The 12x142mm rear axle is the stiff rear triangle's best friend, ensuring that every possible watt goes straight into the trail, and the FOX 32 CTD fork can toggle between lockout settings for stiff climbing or 100mm of travel to smooth roots while burning through berms.
The drivetrain's blend of Shimano's XT and SLX components ensures that the frame's power transfer isn't hampered or interrupted altogether by sloppy operation or dropped chains, and the included WTB rims are also tubeless-ready, so you can max-out the Highball's already low weight while riding with impunity through the goat head patches of late summer.
- Frame Material
- Carbon C
- Fork
- Fox 32 Float CTD Performance Fit
- Front Travel
- 100 mm
- Shifters
- Shimano XT M670
- Front Derailleur
- Shimano XT
- Rear Derailleur
- Shimano XT M786 Shadow+
- ISCG Tabs
- no
- Crankset
- 24 / 38 t Shimano SLX M675
- Bottom Bracket
- BSA threaded
- Cassette
- 11 - 36 t Shimano SLX HG81
- Chain
- Shimano SLX HG75
- Brakeset
- Shimano SLX M675
- Brake Type
- hydraulic disc
- Rotors
- 160 mm Shimano RT66
- Handlebar
- Race Face Evolve Flat
- Handlebar Width
- 720 mm
- Grips
- Santa Cruz Palmdale Lock-on
- Stem
- Race Face Turbine Basic
- Saddle
- WTB Volt Race
- Seatpost
- Race Face Ride
- Wheelset
- [rims] WTB STi19 TCS
- Hubs
- SRAM MTH 716/746
- Front Axle
- 15x100mm thru-axle
- Rear Axle
- 12x142mm thru-axle
- Tires
- Maxxis Ikon
- Tire Size
- 29 x 2.2 in
- Pedals
- not included
- Recommended Use
- cross-country
- Manufacturer Warranty
- 5 years on frame
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