I haven't owned a true XC bike in a long time now. I've got plans to get back into endurance racing next year and figured I'd treat myself to this wonderful machine. I was torn between this and the Tallboy, but in light of also getting a Bronson (Life's way to short to not get the things you want) I figures I'd go full XC and have bikes at opposite ends of the spectrum. I took her out on a longer loop from my place today and was shocked by how fun the bike is. This build definitely doesn't adhere to the "its the rider not that bike" rule. This thing will make you climb faster. Santa Cruz states "The Highball is unapologetically fast and surprisingly fun", I can't think of truer words for this bike. Santa Cruz made a few tweaks to highball this year and I'm sure that's what produced the surprisingly fun ride. It's got shorter chainstays and a longer top tube, which makes this medium frame fit me perfect. The 70mm stem is just right, I think I will ad some slightly wider bars though. Not out of necessity, just preference. Other than putting a 36 chainring on it, this is the stock xx1 build. I put the bike in as many different scenarios as I could today. Irvine Open Space had "East Fork" open today and after a warm up though shady canyon and up bomber it was time to see how she felt on some serious inclines and East Fork has plenty of steep, sustained climbs. The Enve's are cheater wheels for sure. East Fork was no easy task, but the light wheels had me cleaning all but one section. Next was to see how some technical decent felt. I opted for Laguna Ridge (T&A). I tried to highpost at first, but that was just way to sketchy. With the seat down this bike is very capable of steep, technical descents. It's certainly not as fun as my Honzo, but for what I intend to do with it, there couldn't be a better bike.
nice bike, like the color..is that carbon fiber? the IKON's are a good choice especially the 3C version. Is your Bronson also carbon fiber?
I've been thrashing on a Highball Al for the last 3 years....the first 2 years on the original frame, and the last 6 months on the new frame. Does it all....and pretty damn well. Would have loved to go carbon....but they refused to put the SS dropout on that frame.
