A ride-from-home Jordie Park, Thetis and Hartland specific fun machine. Cody built this up as it felt unsustainable and slightly limiting hammering a full xc race bike on the daily and a long travel enduro machine was too slow rolling and overkill for a daily driver on the South Island. Cody chose Santa Cruz as their current crop of bikes are some of the most sorted, easy to live with and maintain bikes on the market right now. Push some grease through the lower link grease port every couple months and that’s basically it. Everything stays tight, quiet and fuss free hammering through endless rain, dust and blasting it with a hose afterward for years on end. Free bearings for life if you forget to push grease through that lower link and just ride that thing.
The Tallboy as chosen as the geometry and travel hit a sweet spot of playfulness and stability as well as the easy to maintain, trouble free nature of Santa Cruz bikes. Cody wanted to keep the build light and fast rolling as that really increases the fun factor, speed and nimbleness of the bike; hence XTR mechanical, xc wheels, tires that roll fast and grip enough, etc. The suspension action is very active and poppy, it’s a small bump traction monster, but if you really put the watts down and torque the chain the high anit-squat tightens the suspension system and the bike flies skyward. It really excels on technical climbs fighting for traction as well as anything out there. On the descents the Tallboy really excels on blue and black singletrack where pumping and popping for gaps beats a pure point and shoot plow.
The bike gets a little overwhelmed once you hit that double black trail with large holes and compressions at race pace (think ZigZag, Airflow, On the Rocks), but hey it is a small bike! It excels on slightly lower grade tech trails such as (3 Bears, GT1/2, 90’s Jank, PBKF) where rolling speed, pumping and popping over the large bumps is the name of the game. Cody wanted to test this out at the recent Cumberland Island Cup to very fun effect placing 6th overall and 2nd non-local haha. This bike absolutely flew down Furtherburger, Scat/Brat, Blockhead, etc and was slightly overwhelmed on Cupcake, but it was a fun-time getting it through the double black sections as smoothly as possible.
Full build spec below!
Frame: Tallboy 5 C Gloss White (with matte Ride Wrap Tailored)
Fork: Fox 34 130 Grip 2 Performance Elite 130mm
Shock: Fox Float Performance Elite 190x45mm (120mm travel)
Wheels: Nobl TR32 rims, Sapim d-light spokes, DT350 Hubs
Tires: F Rekon 2.6 exo maxxterra (18 psi), R Rekon 2.6 exo+ maxxterra (19 psi)
Dropper: Bike Yoke Revive 160mm
Brakes: XTR 4 piston
Rotors: XT 180mm front and rear
Shifter: XTR 12s
Derailleur: XTR 12s
Cassette: XT 10-51 12s
Chain: XTR 12s (Silca wax)
Crankset: Raceface Era 165mm, 32t
Bar: Santa Cruz Carbon 20mm rise, cut to 740mm width
Stem: Bike Yoke Barkeeper 45mm
Saddle: Pro Stealth Off-Road
Pedals: XTR
Weight: 29.5 lbs