Santa Cruz Tallboy - First Ride Review

The 2020 Tallboy is here. Summed up in one word - fun. It lives up to the claim of being "the downhiller's XC bike."

[c-noclark]

I get mine in 2 weeks. CC with GX and Alloy Wheels. I'm not at the X01 level yet. I also saved almost 2k on the build.

[garymiranda]

Best review that I have seen so far on the new Tallboy. Nice job!

[davidzimmer]

The trails in the video were not very technical. Therefore I am surprised, that you feel your SC Megatower would be faster. You could ride these trails even with a hard tail. It seems, there is a trend towards "over-biking"

[jkm]

Thanks. I’m going to demo Alchemy Arktos 29 ST and revel rascal. I own Yeti SB100 which is great for most rides, super efficient and quick, but looking for more stable at high speed.

[mrrims]

Great ride and review. That bike looks sick!!

[gweno]

This bike with a 140mm fork would be sick! I'm currently riding a Yeti sb4.5 and am starting to look for a bike that improves on what I love about the Yeti. This bike seems to check a lot of the boxes! At 6'4" I have never been between sizes before, I think I would lean towards the xl vs the xxl because of the ability to extend the chainstay 10mm(430 to 440mm).

[Wildsnipes]

I took this very demo bike out and loved it! Great bike!

[javic]

When is the Tallboy 2023 review coming out ?

[certainperfectratio]

I know not exactly same class but what are your thoughts vs the Yeti SB130, particularly on climb? My guess is Yeti is more efficient in open mode on most climbs but maybe Tallboy has better traction on really techy stuff? Thanks for the great review!

[juanhidalgo]

Quick question on the SC Tallboy. I have a new tallboy V5, 2023, and after 4 rides it developed and creak “click and clonk”. I was able to fix the “click” but not the “clonk”. I have service the rear through axel, cassette, hub, the rear shox, all the pivots, BB, direct mount chain ring. Saddle and seat post as well. Head set too. I still have the “clonk”. I feel it it coming from the BB rear triangle. Any thoughts?

[andrejmuzeka]

Great ride, I can't decide witch bike I should choose vor next year, the TB or HT ???? what is the more balanced bike between Up and Downhill ???

[edencortes]

Great review! I get mine in a couple of weeks (TB kit S). What trail are you riding?

[askeish]

I think these kind of bikes can only benefit from faster rolling tires, or at the very least a faster rolling rear one. SC has the same set of tires on more aggressive bikes in thier lineup so the decision is kinda odd.

[Shareeftraish]

Great video... well all of them are! Can you compare this to a Trek EX8 or have you not ridden the Fuels?

[ejizzle]

Hey man! Do you think the aluminum frame with lower end build perform just as good or at least as close as the ones being shown on reviews? Nobody ever reviews this bike on a bottom build. LOL

[FlyFishtheMitt]

Great review. Just bought this bike today. So did you have the Minions that came with it on? I'm debating swapping them out.

[jaysantiago]

Nice review. How does the fun factor and nimbleness of the Tallboy compares to the Ripmo V1?

[blambmtb]

Great video! Just ordered a Ripley frame. Hope I didnt make the wrong decision

[Barrick]

Hey, how would you rate the potential of this bike being able to handle park days, most of my riding is Midwest trail, but want to be able to hit the bigger stuff, also waiting to see the new Smuggler

[flyingnorseman]

Can you provide how it rides compared to the TB3?