Santa Cruz Highball 29er
Building on the success of the 29er Tallboy dual suspension bike, the Highball has been introduced by Santa Cruz Bicycles as the leaner and meaner hardtail brother of the Tallboy. Sharing the same 29er DNA as the Tallboy, the Highball features tight chainstays, a short headtube and an aggressive "long and low" geometry that makes it more suitable for flat out XC racing and riding. Being the first XC Santa Cruz bike without a rear shock, the Highball is also the lightest frame they have ever produced, coming in at a staggering 1120 grams! But don't let the weight fool you, the clever brains at Santa Cruz wanted to ensure that this frame would maintain the snappy acceleration, responsive handling and ride quality that their bikes are renowned for, and the Highball delivers that in spades. With the larger 29er wheels able to roll more smoothly and confidently over rough terrain, the Highball becomes ideal for anything from short track XC racing through to Enduros events, where it's incredible power transfer and low weight will have you chasing down the podium. Sure, a dually could be the better option for really rough trail riding with chunky rock gardens and drop-offs, but if you're on rolling terrain with lots of climbing, sweeping descents, log roll-overs and buff singletrack, you would struggle to find a faster and more fun bike than the Highball. Bridging the gap between sluggish-handling 29ers and twitchy 26" race hardtails, the Highball carbon 29er delivers an all-round ride that will suit any rider willing to search for the limits on the race track.

From Santa Cruz:

"There are still those times and places where the best way to light the fuse and blow everyone else into the weeds is by riding a hardtail. Bigger wheels have revived the venerable double diamond design, and by mixing the smooth rolling hoops with a feathery 2.4-pound carbon fiber frame, we’ve come up with a potent race weapon. Anyone who complains about a bad day climbing while riding this bike needs to find another sport. The Highball is insanely light, razor sharp, nimble but surefooted, stiff as a plank, and designed to do two things: 1. Race. 2. Win."

Carbon Fiber
The jump that Santa Cruz have made into the carbon fiber world was made with one main motivator: to improve ride quality. The fact that using carbon over aluminum reduces overall frame weight is more of a bonus, as the Santa Cruz engineers were more concerned with being able to increase frame stiffness in the right areas whilst improving comfort and reducing rider fatigue. The Highball 29er concept took many folk by surprise, as Santa Cruz Bicycles have been renowned for their dual suspension innovation, and the last thing anyone expected was for them to bring out a new hardtail. With the advent of 29er bikes in the past couple of years however, combined with the new carbon technology Santa Cruz has been pioneering with the Blur XC LT, Tallboy and the Nomad, the idea actually began to make a lot of sense. Specifically, the carbon engineers have brought 3 unique methods to constructing a carbon fiber Santa Cruz frame including the one-piece lay up process for the front triangle (eliminating excess material around unnecessary joins), the use of long, continuous carbon fibers around frame junctions such as the BB area (improving vibration damping and structural integrity), and a net shaping design for compacting the carbon tubes from both the inside and outside (controlling the design and amount of carbon on every side of the tube).
Combining high grade carbon fiber with these exclusive design methods has created some incredibly strong frames for Santa Cruz, which have so far surpassed the strength of their equivalent alloy counterparts. The Highball is also incredibly light too, but more importantly, Santa Cruz have built upon their fantastic geometry and ride quality to ensure that it is the best handling 29er hardtail on the market. 

Sizing
- Medium: Suits riders between 5'5" and 5'10"
- Large: Suits riders between 5'10" and 6'1"
- X Large: Suits riders between 6'1" and 6'4"
- XX Large: Suits riders between 6'4" and 6'7"

Frame Geometry:




The Santa Cruz Highball 29er Carbon features:

• 29er specific Carbon Fiber frame 
• Unique net molding process and continuous carbon fiber frame technology
• Designed for 100-120mm travel forks
• Tapered Headtube
• Seatpost diameter: 30.9mm
• Seatclamp included with frame
• Front Derailleur Spec: Hi Clamp, Top Pull, 34.9mm diameter
• Weight: 1120 grams (2.47 lbs)

Choose Santa Cruz bikes for innovative design and quality geometry!