There is something deeply magical about mountain bikes exploring the history of a trail that pre-dates mountain biking, and Santa Cruz Bicycles’ latest project, “More than an Old Map,” delivers exactly that flavor. It reminds you of why we fell in love with riding in the first place – the simple desire to explore and see some cool stuff. But tucked into this great documentation of the adventure is a sneak peek at what is likely the newest Santa Cruz Tallboy.
Santa Cruz Bicycles
The film follows Ben Hildred and Ruth Holcomb as they tackle New Zealand’s legendary Old Ghost Road, an 85-kilometer (52mi) ribbon of rugged alpine ridges, tech, and lush cloudforest. But if you look past the jaw-dropping vistas and Ruth’s impromptu geology lessons, there’s another story hiding in plain sight. Both riders are rolling on what appears to be the highly anticipated, unreleased Santa Cruz Tallboy.
Eagle-eyed gear nerds will immediately notice a massive architectural shift for the iconic short-travel machine. Santa Cruz seems to have ditched its traditional dual-link VPP suspension layout in favor of a Horst-link design. Following the recent Vala e-bike, this marks a monumental pivot for the brand’s non-motorized lineup. This new four-bar configuration repositions the shock, likely opening up coveted real estate for deeper seatpost insertion, better bottle clearance, and a highly rumored bump in travel.
This isn’t the first teaser of the new Tallboy, either, and we’ve been expecting the 6th-generation Tallboy for a little while, but the fact that it was soft-launched in this suggests that we should be seeing the new Tallboy any day now.
Considering the terrain and nature of this ride suggests that this bike hasn’t lost an ounce of its gravity-loving XC identity. It’s a reimagining of the adventure machine built for those spirited power-hour loops or all-day backcountry spins.
Santa Cruz Bicycles