Santa Cruz Bicycles

Highball 29 Carbon C Mountain Bike Frame - 2017

We'll admit that having a full suspension mountain bike on many trails is a blast, but on rolling hills littered with punchy climbs, it's hard to beat the sprightly responsiveness, precise lines, and effortless speed of a hardtail like the Highball 29 Carbon C Mountain Bike Frame from Santa Cruz. Breaking the traditional mold, the Highball takes an aggressive stance with its evolved geometry that lets it tackle terrain that would make other hardtails stop in their tracks. If you're a dedicated cross-country racer, ride smoother trails, or simply appreciate the efficient and lightweight ride that can only come from a hardtail, the Highball is your answer.

This second generation Highball frame is still the same rebellious answer to the super cushy, slacked out enduro trend dominating the industry news feeds as of late. Santa Cruz uses a lower modulus carbon for the Highball Carbon C frame than that used in the top-end Carbon CC models, so more material is required to achieve the same stiffness and durability. The tradeoff is that those few additional grams also come with a big decrease in cost.

The whole frame is also a single layup instead of a jigsaw puzzle of individually cured carbon tubes, so the fibers wrap continuously through structurally important junctures like the head tube and bottom bracket. This strengthens the frame by reinforcing vulnerable joints, dissipating the force from impacts, and more efficiently channels pedal input.

To accommodate its big 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 27.5. The Highball 29 is nimble enough to pick through trail furniture and dance through berms, but it still shines brightest when cranking up the watts to full throttle. Toward that end, the 12 x 142mm rear axle keeps the rear triangle's stiffness on point to ensure that every possible watt goes straight into the trail, and the slimmed-down 27.2mm seatpost helps alleviate chatter from the countless more miles of trail you'll be able to traverse compared to the hulking six-inch monsters your buddies are on.