Does a carbon hardtail become obsolete?
With the 2015 redesign and reissue of the Santa Cruz Highball, my carbon 2012 Highball model is officially old news… or has it? Although the new XC release from Santa Cruz is lighter than previous generations, a bike with modern XC geometry has stabilized, and not much has really changed.
2012. At 2.45 lbs. the frame is pretty damn light. It’s got a tapered headtube, two bottle mounts, and a 30.9mm seat tube that readily accepts dropper posts. What it lacks is a through axle rear and internal routing for the dropper post cable. Or any other cable.
I’m a trail rider, but like having a light XC steed in the stable for that one time a year I roll up to punish myself at a short track or underground CX race. Here’s the thing: I initially wasn’t that into the bike; I just wasn’t excited about 29″ wheels. However, after experimenting with a few different setups, I’ve finally found the love for the larger wheels. In fact, after spending so much time on the big wheels, going back to smaller 26″ wheels has left me a bit bummed.
After several weeks of restricting myself to riding 29″ wheels, I’ve grown to like it. Not so much the roll over, or the monster truck riding style, but the traction provided by the larger contact patch of a bigger diameter wheel size in typical NorCal trail conditions. (With “small” volume 2.0″ Small Block Eight tires no less.) Going back to my 26″ wheels after a few weeks of acclimating to 29″ was an eye opener, but it took a creaky fork to get me there.
Before the fork on my trail bike with 26″ wheels — a Santa Cruz TRc with 5″ of front and rear travel— started an incessant creaking, my new 29er just sat in the corner of the room. With such a fun and lightweight trail bike in my quiver, I never felt the need or desire to ride the hardtail with the big wheels. Once my beloved trail bike was out of commission, though, it was a good excuse to get the 29er in rotation. The light hardtail was ideal for the weekly after-work group ride we were leading with the SF Urban Riders to promote the McLaren Short Track race we were promoting. Each week we took folks out to share the course route and showcase the urban riding opportunity in SF.
Riding with other folks astride XC and Cross bikes made me realize I really liked having a light, fast, cross-country race bike.