Editor’s Note: Since Grannygear had both the Epic Marathon 29″er for review and the Santa Cruz Tall Boy, we thought it might be interesting or our readers to have Grannygear give his take on the two rigs head to head.

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I rode the Santa Cruz Tall Boy and the Epic Marathon back to back at Interbike Demo Days 2009 and it immediately struck me that when questions are posed on internet forums across the nation (and beyond) as to what XC 29er FS to buy for fast trail work, any short list should include these two bikes. So now, after riding the Epic Marathon for quite some time, and recently the Tall Boy on the same trails I am quite familiar with, I have come to some conclusions. And interestingly enough the conclusions are very very close to my initial thoughts at Demo Days.

So to begin with, let’s take a look at the two bikes as far as parts selection, set-up, and weights and dimensions.

Parts:

P1240138The Epic is a nearly stock Marathon model, XL with only tire changes from the way it came out of the box with a $6100.00 retail price.. It is a rather impressive combo of 2×10 XX SRAM goodies, a custom Reba with carbon crown, etc. The Roval wheels are quite nice. Top end stuff here, but the parts do drive up the cost of the Marathon. And, there is a bit of resistance in the off road world to 2×10 as a viable mountain bike drive train for the average Joe, citing increased wear, finicky set –up and high replacement costs as an answer to a question they were not asking. However, my time on the 2×10 has been flawless and it makes other shifty stuff feel numb and slow in comparison. And as always, the good stuff always costs. It is also available as a frame/fork/seat post/front derailleur combo for $2800.00

P1240139The Tall Boy is a frame set retailing for $2400.00 that you can order parts kits for from Santa Cruz or an authorized bike shop can build up or whatever. In this case the XL Tall Boy I had to ride was a very decent mix of XT, Avid, DT Swiss, etc, with a Fox F29 Fit/RLC 15QR fork set to 100mm, the basic SPXxc kit,which should sell for $4700.00. It was a very smart build and typical of what an average buyer would spec for weekend duty, not racy weight weenie-ness.

Set-up: By set-up, I mean the overall feel of the combo of the parts and the bike as a whole. The Epic Marathon is a 100mm front and 90mm rear travel bike. It has a slightly narrow handlebar compared to my normal bikes I ride and the long top tube, 105mm stem, and low Q-Factor SRAM XX crank add up to give the bike a tucked in, stretched out and fast feeling ride. The Mini Brain and the highly tunable Reba make for a bike that immediately comes off as a fast pedaling, firmer feeling ride. It is not a quick steering bike despite the parts list, and Specialized chose to keep things manageable with a slightly slacker head tube angle.

The Tall Boy as I had it with 100mm front and rear travel, felt nearly equal to the Epic in overall feel, but had a wide handlebar that is more like I run on my single speed. Other than that, the relationships of bar height, reach, etc were very, very close between the two.

The tale of the scale/tape: I hung both bikes on the scale (with the same SPD pedals) and the Epic squeaked out a victory by 9 ounces. The Epic was 27lbs, 6oz and the Tall Boy was 27lbs 15oz. The Tall Boy begins with a weight advantage with the carbon frame, but the uber-parts selection of the Marathon overcomes that. The Tall Boy with a comparable parts build in XTR, etc would be lighter than the Epic for sure and would likely cost about the same. The dimensions of the two are very close. The Epic’s combo of angles and dimensions gives it a ¾” longer wheelbase, likely from the .25” longer TT, the steeper seat tube angle, and the slacker HT angle. BB heights, chain stay lengths, etc are all very close. I applaud the move across the 29er full suspension market toward shorter chain stay lengths. 18”-18.25” is an old and tired dimension in my opinion and the advertised 17.5”-17.75” range of these bikes is welcome.

OK. So what? In the end what really matters is how does the bike feel? What does one do better than or worse than the other? Well, first off let me say that we are in an era of really, really good 29er FS bikes. The sharp bike makers have got this pretty buttoned down now and either one of these choices are pretty stunning in comparison to what we had to choose from a couple of years ago. However there are enough things going on here to set the two bikes apart a bit. And so, let us get down to it and choose a winner.

Weight weenie award: Tall Boy The Epic’s M5 aluminum frame kicks it out of contention for the lightweight contender and it takes some very light parts to get at the 27 pound mark with an XL frame. The Tall Boy with a light build would likely be 1.5 pounds lighter, I would guess. It would cost ya’ though to get there. Carbon rules here.

Best XC Race Bike Award: Epic Marathon The Tall Boy pedals really well, is stiff at the BB and handles like a Ferrari. But the Epic comes from a lineage of winning XC bikes at the pro level and the Mini Brain, the Reba, the XX parts…mostly the Mini Brain…just make for the best FS pedaling experience I have felt if you value a responsive, fast pedaling, good handling race bike. Frankly I would not want either one of them for fast and smooth-ish pure XC racing. Give me a carbon 29er hard tail. But for endurance racing or rougher, longer XC contests it is plain to me that the Epic was bred for that stuff. Yes, it will be heavier than a Tall Boy has the potential to be, but weight is not everything.

Best Trail Bike Award: Tall Boy The Epic is a better trail bike then you would expect it to be. The 90mm of rear travel feels pretty good as long as hucking is not part of the plan. The handling is actually calmer on the Epic with the slacker HT angle compared to the Tall Boy. But, not everyone’s trail is the same. Some folks live in the land of fast and smooth and others in roots and rocks city. The Tall Boy wins this award due to its versatility. At 100mm of front travel, it handles like a sports car and would be killer weaving through the hardwoods (better cut down that handlebar though). Run a 120mm fork (something that would void the warranty on the Epic Marathon) on the Tall Boy and it would slow it down juuust a touch as far a steering response and give it a bigger bike feel for rougher trails. The Epic’s Brain shock, unless you tune it to be pretty much useless, will always add some degree of initial bump resistance. With the Mini Brain set for all around riding which for me is about 5-6 clicks out from fully ‘on’, plush is not its thing although it would not be right to call it harsh. Frankly I prefer that, but to be fair, the VPP of the Tall Boy is plusher and stays hooked up over all kinds of stuff regardless. In the end, versatility wins the day.

Best Value Award: Epic Marathon This will likely get the most raspberries from the crowds but I will say my piece about it. The Tall Boy is not cheap to begin with at $2400.00 for the frame only. A sharp build on it will be pricey but so is the Marathon. But there are things about the Marathon that carry it over the goal line in this contest. The heavier chassis brings with it an air of durability and stoutness that carbon has not obtained yet. It may some day, but not yet. I like my bikes to last a while and although the Tall Boy is coming from a reputable company, time will tell how it holds up long term. You could build a Tall Boy with XX as long as the narrow crank would fit, but the Reba with the carbon crown and titanium innards…the system of the Roval wheels ready for tubeless duty…if the Marathon meets your ideals it is an impressive package right out of the box.

Summation: All in all it comes down to what you value in a FS XC bike. The Tall Boy is plusher by design, more versatile, dead sexy looking, carbon light, and the VPP is magic when pedaling over techy sections of trail. The Epic is the King of overall pedaling response and taunts you to go faster and then some. If you like to pedal out of the saddle and feel like you are leaving nothing behind in wasted effort no FS bike can touch it (that I have ridden) and yet it will move very fast down the trail, rough or not. For where I live and what I value in a bike, I would choose the Epic. The single speeder in me loves to climb standing and the Epic rules there. I also have come to find that I do not really care for bikes that are very active/plush. I actually run my Lev 3.0 with Propedal on 90% of the time and I think it is fine. But, if I lived in an area where I spent more time pedaling up and over ledges and nasty stuff, roots, etc, I would sit down and be happy on the VPP linked, carbon beauty of a Tall Boy and never look back.

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The overall winner in this contest is not Specialized or Santa Cruz, it is we, the buyers of this new crop of 29er FS bikes. The choices are many, the bikes are great. Choose your weapon.