Hot on the heels of the stunningly beautiful carbon fibre Santa Cruz Blur XC – and its long-travel brother the Blur LT – Santa Cruz kept their carbon layup experts toiling over a new and even bigger project. Codenamed Tallboy, possibly after the First World War bomb, it's a 29er Blur with 100mm of travel.
The demand for 29ers from the US market continues to grow and the designers at Santa Cruz shuffled the lightweight 5lb frame Tallboy up the pack of new projects to make it work in time for 2010.
Santa Cruz say: "One of the critical elements to making this bike work the way we wanted it to – rather than the way 29 tradition has so far dictated – was to keep the rider positioning the same as on the 26in wheeled Blur models, not raised up or with flat bars to compensate."
The bright orange Tallboy (nude carbon versions also available) feels like a 26er from the saddle, so riders who previously shied away from 29ers on grounds of positioning should find this bike to their liking.
Just like the two other Blur carbon models, the patented Virtual Pivot Point (VPP) rear end is peppered with pivots, all fully sealed and fitted with grease nipples to allow service without disassembly. Our two-year-old Blur is running perfectly with only occasional squirts from the grease gun.
We asked Santa Cruz where the carbon fibre department will take them next – we'd like a Super Superlight in carbon and a matching hardtail. Sadly all concerned were remaining tight-lipped.
The Tallboy is in production and set for delivery to the UK in the next month. In fact there is one already on the loose. Santa Cruz's UK importers Jungle were burgled last week and the only other pre-production Tallboy model (a nude black model) was stolen along with other products. If you happen to see a black carbon Santa Cruz in the Yorkshire area with unusually large wheels, call the cops because it's a badboy on a Tallboy...
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