Not long ago Santa Cruz lacked a dedicated bike for cross-country racing, so brand loyalists opted for the Tallboy when they wanted a snappy trail bike that could rack up miles as quickly as possible. With the return of the Blur to the XC race scene, Santa Cruz was free to fine-tune the Tallboy 29 Carbon CC XTR Reserve Complete Mountain Bike into a true short-travel weapon, and this year it comes to us redefined, with a new trail-hungry personality that offers deeper travel, and an all new suspension design built to soak up rougher terrain, while still rolling atop the 29-inch wagon wheels we covet for soaring up climbs. While it seemed to be a trend that shorter travel bikes were expected to be ridden slower, we're pretty sure we've never geared back our speed on a fun trail just because we didn't have deep travel, and we appreciate Santa Cruz having an understanding for our drive to keep a lively and rowdy ride going on our shorter travel whips. As such, the new tallboy is built to be more capable than ever, with new geometry that boosts confidence on the descents, while maintaining the lively climbing properties we love. And if the new geometry isn't enough, Santa Cruz spec's this particular build with Shimano's new race-ready XTR 12-speed groupset, along with their in-house Reserve carbon rims laced up to snappy Industry Nine Hydra hubs, leaving nothing to be desired for the discerning rider and racer. We suppose that with Santa Cruz's Bronson and Hightower getting makeovers in the suspension department, we shouldn't be all that surprised to see tweaks to the Tallboy went in the same direction. The new Tallboy follows the trends of its deeper-travel siblings, moving the VPP suspension down to a lower-link that offers improved stabilization in the roughest terrain, while an extra 10mm of travel helps soak up additional rocks and roots that the previous Tallboy would have shied away from. This makes the new ride more confident than ever, ready for bigger trai...