The Tallboy is Santa Cruz’s 29 inch trail bike. Over the past two years in the shop I work, the Tallboy has become one of our most popular bikes. We generally sell it as an cross-country or all mountain style of bike, definitely not as a freeride or downhill bike! In this video Cedric Gracia makes the Tallboy and 29 inch bikes look like they belong at your local shuttle trail!
Pushing the limits of the Santa Cruz Tallboy, and showing off the new (re: prototype) Banshee Prime. Cedric Gracia and Simon Andre show us all that 29 inch mountain bike wheels are not just for cross country riding anymore!
Most of us probably don’t have the skills (or free bikes!) that Cedric has, so shredding your Tallboy like this might not be such a good idea. That said, I have had a chance to trail test the Santa Cruz Tallboy myself (set up with a 120mm fork), and it does kind of encourage you to ride like that. I can no longer be a doubter of the benefits of big wheels, as it manuals and jumps better that many 26 inch all-mountain bikes do. And with the 29 inch wheels, the 4 inches of travel feels more like six.
It is interesting to note that Simon Andre, the other rider in this video, is riding the prototype Banshee Prime. The Prime is Banshee’s new take on the big wheel bike, and is being marketed as a 29er that is as comfortable in the bike park as it is pedaling up your local lung burner. I have always like Banshee’s bikes. I have owned three of them. Their bikes cater well to some unique styles of riding, as even their most cross-country oriented bikes are built to withstand an incredible amount of punishment, and the best of their all-mountain bikes (the Spitfire and the Rune come to mind) can hold their own when it is time push the pedals. Judging by what I can see in this video, it looks like the Banshee Rune will be a fully capable trail bike when it finally comes to production, and will perhaps open the door to 29 inch mountain bikes to the more aggressive all-mountain and freeride crowd.
Just watch Cedric and Simon shred it in this video, and you will no longer have an easy time coming up with reasons not to own a 29er.
March 1st, 2012 Update! The video up above was just a teaser for a short movie called 29er Rocks posted at VTT29.com the full video has been released and is available to see at the link below. It is worthy of a view.
29er Rocks – VTT29.com – Featuring Cedric Gracia and Simon Andre
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