Well, to that end, Ritchey saw fit to send us their latest WCS model. A flat, high modulus carbon fiber job, that is 660mm wide, with 10 degree sweep. That doesn’t tell the whole story here though. This bar has something a bit different that sets it apart from most bars of this type. Let’s take a look….

You will notice that this bar has the now familiar to alt bar fans “forward wiggle”. This is a design feature intended to allow for a swept bar yet not require a change in stem length. Ritchey designed in this “forward wiggle” in the carbon bar with a 10 degree sweep, which is definitely more than a standard XC bar, but is right in line with a riser bar. The second thing to note is the lack of rise. This bar is absolutely flat, and this is in part aimed at 29″er riders to allow them to set the bar height lower yet retain a “riser bar feel” with the sweep.

The WCS Carbon Mountain 10D Flat bar is available now and MSRP is $169.95. The bar is listed as having a “UD” finish, and has a claimed weight of 178 grams. The center section of the bar is textured to allow for a better interface with a stem. The rest of the bar is finished in a high gloss, smooth look.

Our sample weighed in at 190 grams, so a bit more than claimed, but less than the aluminum bar it replaced which weighed 230 grams. Also, in a strange twist, the Ritchey bar actually lengthened the cockpit length of the bike I mounted it to by about 12mm. So the “forward wiggle” actually wiggles a bit too far forward, apparently. This didn’t really mess with my personal preferences too badly, but for someone who is ultra sensitive to position changes, this should be noted. Another noteworthy item concerns the grips I chose. Originally I was going to stick with the stock, light weight, lock on grips that featured 2mm Allen bolt clamps. Unfortunately, the slick looking finish on the bar was too slick. I couldn’t keep the grips from spinning. So I resorted to the Ergon grips, which I prefer anyway, and they held on just fine. Grip choices may be an issue here.

Now that the bar is mounted, a test ride or two is in order. I’ll report back with my impressions and a final take on these bars then.

Note: This product was submitted to Twenty Nine Inches for review at no charge. We are not being bribed or payed for this review. We will strive to give our honest opinions throughout.

The Woodchipper is claimed to weigh in at 332 grams. My example weighed in at 330grams on my digital scale, so that seems right on. A Moto Ace Woodchipper weighs in at 360 grams on my scale versus a claimed 353 grams. Hmm……..seems okay to me. Let’s face it though, you don’t get an off road drop bar because of weight. Still, it’s nice to know that the 31.8mm bar saves you a few grams.

The Woodchipper bars also come in a 42cm width, but I have chosen 46cm width examples since I wanted to use these off road and wanted maximum leverage. It must be said though that the Woodchipper is really wide! Much wider than the Midge bar, so if you have some close trees or other tight spots on your trails, you may want to go with the 42cm bar.

The second set of bars went on the Singular Gryphon that is in for test/review here. I’ve had a few rides so far on it as well. The Woodchipper is a forgiving bar in the Moto Ace flavor. It definitely has some give over rough stuff. The sweep of the extensions seems about right to my mind for comfort and helps in getting your elbows out more effectively for slow speed, techy stuff. This manifests itself as leverage which allows better control when the front end gets crazy on my rigid set ups. As the spring time progresses and more trails open up, I hope to explore this a bit more on single track.

One of the questions concerning the 31.8mm Woodchipper is about compatible stems. Salsa makes the Moto Ace in black, but as I was researching stems for the Woodchipper, I came across these Bontrager Race Lite stems available in black, silver, and white for color and in a 40 degree rise. Running a bit lighter weight than a Moto Ace, my example pictured here weighs in at 150 grams. Perfect for the 31.8mm Woodchipper. Several reaches are available as are other rises. It should also be mentioned that IRD also offers some 31.8mm stems in a 30 degree rise. So a good range of 31.8mm stems does exist for these.

Look for more Woodchipper updates in the coming weeks.

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:

The 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

The 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.

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.

Rider Info: 6′2″, 170lbs, racer turned coach, 3-4 hour rides all the time, last bike was 1st 29″, can’t ever see going back to a 26″

A couple things to note. The first is that I am not riding the bike reviewed. And the second is I really like the VPP suspension design on both Santa Cruz and Intense bikes. Riding the Spyder 29er (with a 120 mm FOX Fork, to tame the steep head tube) built up as a 1×9 with a Mavic CrossMax wheel set. The bike was my favorite to date. There was only three things I thought could make it better. In order of importance they were, make it stiffer/less flexy, a squeak free bearing/linkage design and as always making it lighter never hurts. I remember listening to Mike Ferrentino a year ago tell me about the new Blur LT Carbon and how the frame was a pound lighter than the Aluminum Blur LT. The part that shocked me was when he said the frame went up 80% in stiffness. Think about it. That’s the kind of increase that makes a small bike manufacturer be able to give their bikes no rider weight limit and any fork option they want.

The day I heard they were going to make the Tallboy I placed my order. I knew this frame would have all the changes that I was looking for including the new bearing design that is smooth, silent and easy to fill with grease. Since this bike is not the same as the 27.5 lb one that is tested in this write up I thought it would be helpful if I gave you the lowdown on the bike build. I run Easton Carbon Downhill bars for the longer width 28″ and 180mm crankset for a little more leverage since I don’t have a granny ring and only run a single ring in the front. The Tallboy you see in the photo is 24.21 lbs on the scale at Bicycles Plus in Folsom. Quite a bit lighter than my Spyder 29er and sooo much stiffer, it has become my dream bike for all day rides. The fork is a custom tapered FOX FIT w/ 120mm, handlebar lockout and the 15QR axle for even more rigidity. It’s amazing how much more I use the lockout now that it is mounted next to my shifter. The brakes are Hope M4’s with a 200mm floating rotor on the front and a 160mm on the rear. They don’t even blink at Downieville. I love extra powerful brakes. The drive train in the front is XTR 180mm crankset w/ MRP guide and single ring, the rear is XX shifters, derailleur, cassette and chain. It’s currently running a Stans ZTR Race wheel set. Not what I planned but, they are really amazing for how light they are. My planned wheel set is the stiffest one I could dream up, a pair of EDGE Carbons that I have been waiting forever due to a pair of back ordered Chris King hubs (hopefully one day soon). I rode a pair of these on a Tallboy at Demo Day and knew that was the stiff I was looking for (amazing but, uber expensive). I have run a lot of tires on this bike and so far my two favorites have been 2.4 Racing Ralphs and 2.2 Geax Saguaros.

I’ve been only riding this bike for a short time but so far this one is incredible. Every time I throw a leg over it I smile and feel like I’m cheating.


Coach Mark
www.trojanmtbracing.com

Editor’s Note: Thanks to Mark and be sure to stay tuned on our upcoming story about the Trojan High School Mountain Bike Team.

Before I go any further, I’ll give the run down on the complete build:

Frame/Fork: Singular Cycles Gryphon, size large
Wheels; Industry 9 single speed hubs laced to DT Swiss TK 7.1 disc rims
Tires: Front- Geax Saguaro TNT/ Rear WTB Vulpine- both set up tubeless.
Crankset: White Industries ENO w/34T ring
Cog: Surly 17T with Surly spacer kit/lockring
Bottom Bracket: Shimano cartridge, 115mm spindle/ Phil Wood EBB insert.
Pedals: Shimano
Chain: SRAM PC-951
Brakes: Avid BB-7 mechanical disc brakes/ Avid Clean Sweep rotors. 185mm front/160mm rear
Stem: Thomson 100mm
Handlebar: Salsa Woodchipper 46cm
Brake Levers: Tektro RL 520
Tape: Double wrapped. Outer layer Deda.
Seatpost: Thompson
Saddle: Brooks Special B-17
Cables/Housing: Standard road brake cables w/Jagwire housing.

The build of a drop bar specific rig differs a bit in terms of set up from standard 29″ers and from drop bar conversions. Here the taller head tube allows for a set up that uses very few spacers and a standard stem. The caveat is that you will have a frame with a severely sloping top tube. (Otherwise the set up would require a severely sloping stem!) With a rigid fork layout and a lower than most bottom bracket, the Gryphon sets up nicely with the Woodchippers. I was able to easily match my desired saddle to grip area drop. The Gryphon is set up, as most off road drop bar rigs should be, with the primary hand position being the drops. (Note: I didn’t say you “never” use other positions. It is just that during most rough, technical riding, you’ll want to be in the most advantageous position- that being the drops.) Because the drop section is where you’ll be spending most of your time, you’ll want to make sure you can operate the brakes from the drops. Take a look at the following image to see how that looks.

Notice how the levers are positioned downward. This allows me to reach out my index finger while I grip the hook and easily grab the tip of the Tektro lever to operate the brakes. If the lever was higher, I would have to cock my wrist upwards, which would be very awkward and uncomfortable. Because the levers are positioned the way they are, you won’t have a super convenient hoods position, but as I said, it doesn’t matter, since you’ll be riding off road and in the drops most of the time. Not that you can’t cruise around on the hoods, or use the tops, because you can. It just isn’t the point of an off road drop set up, which we pointed out in our drop bars for off roading post here. I’ll post more on the off road drop bar subject coming up this week.

My impressions of the bike now are that it is very similar to the Fargo by Salsa Cycles. The important points where it varies from that drop bar specific rig is that the Singular can be set up as a single speed and the Singular is not a bike that bristles with braze ons like the Fargo does. No, the Singular makes do with only the two bottle mounts. There are subtle differences in the frame and fork from the Fargo though that I will detail in a later post. The frame seems to have decent clearance with the 2.1 inch Vulpine in back and plenty of room up front around the Geax Saguaro. The rest of the bike is pretty straight forward. Now it will be on to the handling department, and a First Impressions post will come in a couple of weeks.

Note: This product was provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for reviewing. We are not being paid or bribed for this review. We will give our honest opinion or thoughts through out.

Grannygear: 2.2″ Control Purgatory- Set up tubeless on Stan’s Flow rims.
2.2″ S-Works Puragatory- Set up with tubes on DT Swiss TK 7.1 rims.

My favorite tire so far of the 29er line-up from Specialized have been the Captains, both in a 2.0 and 2.2, usually the Control version. They are a very good all around tire, roll fast, and have a nice sized casing on them. They are not a mud tire or loose surface tire per se, although they are really pretty good everywhere, so last winter I was expecting the Specialized Eskars to be the tire I might run in looser or muddier soils. However I never quite got along with the Eskar. I did not like the lack of transitional knobs and the way it could not make up its mind when cornering on hard surfaces. If it was really loose and chunky, they were great. As well, they rolled slowly.

Last season I ran Continental Mtn King 2.4s on the SS for winter thru spring and loved them, even though they are a slow rolling tire on hard surfaces. When things dried out I loved them less as the large side knobs flexed around and squirmed a bit. Still, they were awesome in the muck.

The Purgatories are advertised as a loose surface tire and that gave me hope for rubber that I could run from winter through spring to deal with the rainy season and yet still feel good about them when things dried out in between storms. Along those thoughts, I mounted up the S Works version front and rear in a 2.2 size on the SS Jabberwocky with tubes, replacing a set of 2.0 rear and 2.2 front Captain Controls. The first ride was a mud fest that began with a 3 or 4 mile paved climb on an old Water and Power road and then got into some huge sections of slop mixed with dry dirt roads. The Purgatories have a round profile and turn/steer in a nicely neutral way. It is my impression that they have more/smaller knobs then the Eskars, still with lots of space in between, and less of a gap in the transition to the shoulder of the tire. Rolling on the pavement, I did not feel at all like I was pedaling a 4×4 truck tire, something the Eskar reminded me of. They are pretty quiet and roll OK, but not as fast as the Captains.

My riding buddy was running the same sized Captain combo on his Selma that I had been running on the Jabber, so it was interesting to see that when the climbs got really tough and loose/wet, I was able to stay hooked up better than the Captain on his Selma. Not a huge difference, but some. The Purgatories seemed to clean out well and drive nicely in the goop. On the downhill coast-fest back to the truck, the Captains on the Selma would pull away.

Following that, I mounted a set of 2.2 Purgatory Controls tubeless on the Epic Marathon’s Roval wheels. Like every 2Bliss tire I have tried they aired up with a floor pump and never weeped a bit of Caffe Latex sealant out of the beads or sidewalls. 2Bliss rocks!

I now have about 12 hours of riding the Purgatories through some of the wettest weather in recent memory as one storm after another has rolled through So Cal. They have been nothing but solid performers and I have no complaints. Now, keep in mind I am no expert on mud tires, so I will let Guitar Ted see what he thinks of the 2.4s when he gets into the Mid West mud that is coming with the snow melt. But I am going to leave these on through spring. To be fair, we get into ‘Hero Dirt’ in the winter/spring when we transition from wet to dry, so any tire feels super then. But, so far they have showed no bad traits on the hard pack when things have dried out for a ride or two, so I am hoping I can run them into mid spring at least and be happy. I will let ya’ know. (by the way, here are the measurements for these two tires: Measured a true 2.2″ knob to knob on the Roval rims tubeless, 2.15″ on the DT Swiss 7.1 rims with tubes.)

Guitar Ted: 2.4″ Control Purgatory- Set up tubeless on Gordo rims.

The tires seem to be measuring up to stated widths. The 2.4″er is measuring out at a casing width of 60.8mm before any riding has been done on it. I expect that it will stretch after riding at least another millimeter. So with being just a smidgen under 2.4 inches already, this tire should easily make it over 2.4 inches once ridden. Of course, the Gordo rim at 35mm wide certainly helps this. Still, with several other stated 2.4 inch tires coming in at well under the stated width upon mounting, the Purgatory 2.4″ tire is a pleasant surprise. Volume seems about on par with a Maxxis Ardent 2.4 incher, and better than the Mountain King and Rampage tires. Knob to knob outer width is actually somewhat less at 60.4mm on the Purgatory. This suggests that perhaps a 28mm wide rim would be better for sidewall protection in rocky areas, since the narrower rim would pull in the sidewalls just a bit, keeping them from being the widest part of the tire.

I noticed that the lower the pressure got, the narrower these tires would measure up. I got my widest measurements at 30 psi. This sensitivity to pressure may not be a big deal, but I noticed it. Until the trails clear up a bit more, I won’t have any performance data to report, but that time is coming soon. First up will be a test of mud performance. I’ll post a separate update on the 2.4″er coming in a couple of weeks.

Look for a Mid Term report following that in about a month.

Note: These products were provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for reviewing. We are not being paid or bribed for this review. We will give our honest opinion or thoughts through out.

Stay tuned for an Out Of The Box post coming soon where the weight, mounting method, and measurements for our sample will be given.

Note: The reviewed products were provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for review. I was not paid or bribed for this review. I will give/gave my honest opinion or thoughts through out

The color is a nice shade of creme and the panel is done in a rich green hue with red lettering.

The fork is not corrected for a suspension forks length and features smart, forward facing drop outs for disc brake use.

Okay, now that we’ve had a look at the frame and fork, let’s dig into some of the finer details. We’ll also explore some of the reasons this is a “drop bar specific” frame. First up, let’s take a look at what the Singular Cycles site has to tell us about this frame and fork:

A drop barred, rigid, big wheeled, singlespeed – it’s not for everyone but some may find it just perfect.

- Reynolds 520 steel fork, non-suspension corrected

Okay, now that we have a very basic understanding, I’ll take on some of the particulars here. Before I delve into that, I have to take a moment to introduce you to Sam, who runs Singular Cycles. Sam lives in the U.K. and rides and races a fair amount. He knows a thing or three about bikes and has a particular vision for Singular that you may, or may not identify with. Without taking up a huge amount of this post, I will instead ask that you take a moment and read this page. Really. Read it!

It will give you a greater understanding of why Sam has designed this Gryphon the way he has, and yes- why he uses an eccentric bottom bracket versus sliders. You don’t have to agree, but at least you will know why. I will also add that the geometry information is a bit dated in concern to suspension fork offsets, but that doesn’t affect us here with the Gryphon, as it isn’t meant for a suspension fork. More on that in a bit. Still, the trail figure idea is carried over to the Gryphon.

The eccentric is a Phil Wood, it is relieved for some weight savings, and very highly polished. A shame it has to be mostly hidden! The drop outs feature a hooded design and a nice, curved brake brace on the disc side. Oh yeah……it is a disc only frame. This gives the Singular Cycles Gryphon a very clean, sleek appearance. Along with the panel graphic, it makes me think, “classic”. Steel and classic meet modern touches like disc brakes and 29″er wheels.

So, what about that fork? Well, it is a 445mm axle to crown fork with a unicrown construction that features forward facing drop outs to assure the front wheel stays put during hard applications of the front brake. Because this frame’s geometry is optimized for use with this forks length, a suspension fork is not recommended at all. No, this is a rigid frame design all the way. The fork is constructed from Reynolds steel tubing, so that is a nice touch.

The fork also has two cable guides on the back of the non-drive side fork blade with an International Standard disc tab. With an uncut steer tube, the example we have weighs in at 1090 grams. Not bad, really, for a steel fork, and it should go under a 1000 grams when we do cut the steer tube down.

The frame features cable routing for the rear brake that runs just off center to the left on the top of the top tube. It also has full housing cable guides down the center of the down tube and right chain stay for a rear derailluer and a cable stop is brazed onto the bottom bracket shell for a bottom pull 28.6mm clamp diameter front derailluer. So, full housing runs are necessary if you want to run gears, and for a bicycle coming from a U.K. design philosophy, that shouldn’t be too surprising. Other braze ons include two water bottle mounts placed in the usual locations. Weight for our size Large example, including the EBB insert and seat collar, is 5lbs, 11oz. MSRP is U.S. $590.00 (See the Prairie Peddler for U.S. sales)

The head tube is extended a bit to accommodate getting a drop bar high enough for a proper set up. (I will post a drop bar tutorial on proper off road set up as a part of this review later.) The top tube has been designed to be a bit shorter as a result of the drop bar theme. Sam has also penned his bit on drop bar set up, which you can read here, but I have gleaned out this excerpt for you:

As to why you might want to ride off-road with drop handlebars, there are a number of good reasons.

1. A more natural angle and position of the hands, allows you secure purchase on the bars without needing a death grip.
2. A more secure feeling on the bars, no tendency to slide off the front. In rough terrain the hands are simply forced further into the hooks.
3. Variety of hand positions. Riding long distances with the hands in one position can cause them to become numb. Drops allow you to sit up and ride on the hoods or the tops to rest both hands and body.

Now as I wrote here, I will delve into the drop bar theme in a bit more detail later, but it should be noted that certain “alt bars” may also be fitted with some success, which opens up the use of mountain bike controls and grips. Titec’s H-Bar and J-Bar come to mind here. However; due to the shortened nature of the drop bar specific top tube spec, you may find highly swept bars problematic for optimum off road positioning. This bike really will shine with an On One Midge, an Origin 8 Gary Bar, a Soma June Bug, a WTB drop bar, or Salsa Cycles’ own Woodchipper Bar, which is what will go on our example here.

Here is the geometry for the size large from Singular’s site. Pretty standard fare for what most 29″er geometry has today, as far as handling cues here. I suspect the Gryphon will be fairly neutral handling, but numbers can be misleading, so I wouldn’t read too much into that right now. As for the build, I will be setting the Gryphon up as a single speed bike as a foil for the inevitable comparison to Salsa Cycles Fargo, which is a geared only, drop bar specific mountain bike/tourer. Look for a more detailed report on the build and a drop bar set up guide in the near future.

Now I’m off to go buy some parts!

Note: The reviewed frame and fork is being provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for review. We are not being paid or bribed for this review. We will give our honest opinion or thoughts through out.

By Grannygear:

“All good things come to an end“, they say, and the Tall Boy is headed back to Santa Cruz. I have a few final thoughts, some set-up updates, and then we will hear some words from other riders that sampled the Tall Boy. Finally, in another article, I will take a look at how I think it compares with the Specialized Epic Marathon I have been riding lately.

I had some difficulty getting the Tall Boy to feel the way I wanted it to feel. For some reason, right or wrong, it is expected that short link bikes do not require a platform shock to pedal well. That may or may not be true as each short link bike from different makers has a unique slant to it. The VPP2 is intended to be a very active suspension and the Fox RP23 shock for 2010 is a very open shock with pretty much no platform if Pro Pedal is off. So, I found I needed to run the Tall Boy with the RP23 in Pro Pedal #2 pretty much all the time to keep it settled down. The good news was that I did not feel that it took much away from the overall performance of the Tall Boy. Now, some folks like a very active bike and if that is the case, you got that here. As well, the Tall Boy seems to have a fair amount of anti-squat designed into it and this is more apparent in the small chain ring, especially when standing and climbing. I can sense it in the middle ring as well. If a full suspension bike is going to react when you pedal it, I would prefer that the shock tries to extend rather than compress. I had an old Intense Tracer that used to squat on its hindquarters on every steep hill. I hated that feeling. So the anti-squat in the Tall Boy feels odd, but never affected my forward progress or ability to keep the rear wheel ‘hooked up’.

I also found it to be a pretty quick handling bike, not scary or nervous, but very accurate, so you needed to be precise with where you pointed the bars. The reward was a sports car response that would slice and dice like crazy. I wondered aloud if the Tall Boy would not be a better bike for me with a 120mm Fox fork on it. I felt that it would compliment the active rear end and tame the steering just a bit.

There was some flex going on in the back end of the bike and most of that was from a less than stout wheel build. It was felt by the other heavier test riders on off-camber hills and I noticed it in parallel ruts. I think that if you are at the 200lb mark, perhaps a stiffer wheel would be a good idea. The rest of the chassis of the Tall Boy seems to be absolutely solid, as under mashing/pedaling and turning, etc, it is excellent.

About mid way through the testing time, Santa Cruz sent out a Monarch 3.3 rear shock. It is designed to have more built in platform so it would be an interesting comparison. I set it at the 20% sag mark with 190psi, very comparable to settings that the RP23 was running. According to Santa Cruz, this was on the firm end of things and 25% to 30% might be more normal. I left it at 20% sag, set the rebound to the faster side of the middle ground, and went out for a pedal. The end result was transformative in my opinion. With the 3.3 in place, I was able to run the bike with no platform, (or in the case of the 3.3, ‘gate’), and ride pretty much anything with the shock open. With ‘mid-gate’ on it was firm enough to ride paved climbs or smooth trails. I never needed the ‘full gate’ setting. I was getting 80% travel on the shock as well, just on normal trails. Better than that, it balanced really well to the Fox 100mm fork which I liked to run in 75% to 50% closed (compression damping) with the rebound pretty fast.

The swap to the 3.3 made it into a bike I would love to own, even with the 100mm fork on it. The 120mm fork option, in my opinion, would be better served with the Fox RP23. How you want the bike to be is up to you, but it does point out that the Tall Boy is a very adaptable and versatile platform. This has got to be on anyone’s list of endurance racers, light-to mid weight trail bikes, or all rounders. It is expensive and sexy. It is light and stiff. It is a bike that works very well and is gonna make a lot of owners happy.

The Tall Boy is a bold move and I would wager a costly gamble from a company that is new to big wheels. I think it will pay off.

I took the opportunity to have three riders throw a leg over the Tall Boy. All are 29er riders, all are big guys, either tall or heavy or both, and all of them were pretty stoked to give the big orange composite frame a try. The goal is to get more than my perspective, hoping that you may see yourself, dear reader, in one of these guys.

Tall Boy: What Others Have To Say:

After all the words I had to say were spent, I wanted to get a few other viewpoints on the Tall Boy from some other riders. I let each of them take it for a ride or two and each of them adjusted the set-up as seemed appropriate. In each case, the Fox RP23 was in place.

First up to bat was Ed the Tall. Ed and I ride singlespeeds a lot together and his main ride is a Salsa Dos Niner. He also rides a Selma SS, so no real FS going on for Ed. He is definitely a XC guy; Ed does silly stuff like solo 12 hour races, etc.

Rider Info: 6’3”, 175lbs, endurance racer wannabe, epic ride aficionado, 29” convert from “way” back (5 years), never owned a 29er full squish (unless a soft tail counts!)

Ed The Tall’s Take:

First, I’m a big fan of Santa Cruz bikes. Maybe my man crush started back in my youth, when Santa Cruz dominated the skate scene for a while. The last 26” bike I owned was the Santa Cruz Superlight, and I had a hard time parting with it. I was really looking forward to throwing a leg over the Tallboy. Fortunately, the demo bike even came in XL! Other than bringing the seat post up a bit, I didn’t change Granny’s set up at all. Fit felt pretty good, so I was off to test the bike on the local circuit; a nice mix of pavement to start, some fire road and fast, flowy single track on the way back down.

I’m not the type to agonize over BB heights, HTA, or the suspension platform, particularly if I don’t own or am not in the process of purchasing a bike. For a full suspension bike, I thought the Tallboy pedaled just fine on the flats and uphill. A little bit of bob was noted, even with the ProPedal engaged, but I don’t know what the air pressures or sag was set at. It’s not the bike I would choose for my next 12hr solo race, but I wouldn’t choose any full suspension 29er at this point (still relatively young, and dumb). Downhill, this bike is a blast! The quick steering was appreciated, particularly when we entered the tight and twisty creek bed single track. There was plenty of plush travel that I never felt I used, as the local riding is relatively smooth with little, if any, real nasty trail obstacles. I’ve told myself (and Granny) a time or two that I would like to get a 29er FS for forays into the San Gabriel Mountains and the yearly trip up to Lake Tahoe. With that type of terrain (fast, rocky descents with some technical climbing) in mind, the Santa Cruz Tallboy is at or near the top of my wish list.

Next was RandyBoy. In his words: “I’m 6′5″, 225 #’s, about 240 pounds ready to ride, very much in the XC category, I ride with another fellow, usually training rides 3 times a week for his next race, be it Vision Quest, the Traverse, road racing Death Valley 515″.

RandyBoy’s Take:

Just got back from doing a big demo on all of my local single track, both up and down, on a XL Santa Cruz TallBoy.

I believe Grannygear said the bike I rode was 26.5 or 27.5 pounds? XT build, Chub hub up front, DT Swiss 340 with RWS in the rear, Mountain King 2.4 up front, Maxis Ignitor on back, SPD pedals, Thomson seat post, XC Monkeylite flat bars, Fox 100 up front.

Quick heads up, riding conditions were peeeeeerfect today, rained 2 days ago, decomposed granite, 90% tacky, tacky, tacky hero dirt, with some 5% silty mud beds still filled with “slick as snot” goopy soup, “yer gonna skate, try to keep it straight” mud. All single track.

It’s fast on climbs, locked down with ProPedal on, but it’s a different kind of fast. It needs ProPedal. I ran 220 psi in the rear shock, without ProPedal, if on steep climbs, I blow through a good portion on the RP23. No problems with the front end coming up on steep climbs. SC has a very comfortable seat/handlebar/cockpit position on this bike, I absolutely love it as configured.

If I could use one word, to compare it to my XL 2010 RIP and my Large Atomic Blue V1 RIP, I would have to say the Tall Boy Graphite is flickable. Flickable, like your favorite micro brewed beer bottle top, snapped point and shoot style, by your thumb out of your hand around the campfire at your buddies, right where you aim it. There is stiffness in the front triangle that easily matches and exceeds what I feel in my Niner hydroformed RIP frame

Santa Cruz has built in chain suck guard on the bottom of the right chain stay, and a carbon weave/graphite gizmo on the top of the chain stay. This bike is absolutely silent, with zero perceptible chain slap, compared to either of my inner tubed up chain stays on my RIP’s We are talking almost Single Speed quiet uber minor chain slap. The linkage just never gets in the way of the chain, near as I could tell or hear. Maybe carbon is just quieter, with less resonance through the frame from chain slap, compared to aluminum, or maybe it just doesn’t make contact, due to design?

I think the RIP has been built more burly, all mountain for 2009/2010. The Tall Boy is a different market segment in my eyes, more after the Jet racer type crowd, or a very light all mountain type of bike. For my needs, I’d want less pedal strike, even though I would give up a little the way this bike carves going from a 100mm to a 120mm fork. That’s just the way it is with the trails I ride around here in So Cal. YMMV, some folks may love the low CG and scalpel like handling the 100mm fork provides, especially if the single track they ride is perhaps covered with smaller diameter rocks than we have locally. I find pedal strikes to be a major turnoff, ever since one of them near The Waterfall up at Downieville almost offed me and raised my voice 3 octaves.

Rear suspension… they are different, I’m not sure if it’s just in my head, or from my old Bionicon days, but to me, the rocker arm style of the Niner RIP, with the longer lower swing arm pivots, just seems a bit more compliant, less kick back, going up over rocks and roots. Then again, it could be the way the dampening is, or that I run my RIP without ProPedal over almost everything. The RIP feels more efficient, but you feel the weight penalty. The Tall Boy, without ProPedal, does the “Unskinny Bop” when this Clyde is standing and mashing.

Only drawback I could come across was that I can’t quite figure out why I had some tracking issues on off cambered, rutted single track. There was something back there that was not digging at all how much I weighed. I checked wheel spoke tension, checked tire pressure, checked the ground I was rolling over, checked tire tracks, checked the rear 10mm RWS axle for looseness. What I was feeling was a rear end that on off camber rutted single track, did not want to track straight under my 240 pounds. I’m not sure if it was the lightness of the Mavic TN719 rims, or rear bushings, or flex in the rear triangle, but the back end wanted to wallow in the ruts, drifting down the off camber, despite the input from me to correct at the handle bars. Maybe the Tall Boy is for Tall Skinny XC type boys that don’t go over 160 pounds?

I would not sell my RIP for a Tallboy, not at least yet, but if I was coming from a hard tail to getting a FS 29′er, and I had the moolah, I would look long and hard at Santa Cruz’s efforts in the Tall Boy. I can see if Carbon doesn’t break like Aluminum Jets, and never has welding or heat treating QC issues, it may very well make 6000 and 7000 series aluminum frames fossil relics.

One last word,This bike is FUN!!!

Next up was JeffJ, a self admitted Clydesdale. Jeff is not that fast or daring, but he represents the proto-typical weekend warrior big-guy rider to me and he has a lot of bike experience. Jeff is 6′5″ and 270 lbs.

Big Boy on a Tallboy Jeff’s take:

When I got the opportunity to get a ride in on an XL Tallboy (rather than the XXL I rode at I-Bike), I was happy to do so as my Tallboy ride at I-Bike was the first ever on a bike that actually felt too big for me. The XXL also had a long stem and the saddle was far back in the seatpost clamp making for a stretched out position that is not my cup of tea.

The XL Tallboy I rode a couple days ago fit much better (I am 6’5) as it had a shorter stem (100 mm) and I was able to move the saddle to a position that was more to my liking. This bike was set up with a 100mm travel fork (Fox) and had three 5mm spacers perched beneath the 0* stem. When I had the seatpost extended to a proper climbing position, this put the nearly flat MonkeyLite XC riser bar about 4 inches lower than the top of the saddle which is admittedly quite a bit lower than I prefer (my preference is more like 0” to 2” max). The relatively short head tube length gives options to get the cockpit controls as low or as high as one wishes. My weight is 270lbs and I filled the Fox RP23 to 280psi and the Fox fork to just a tad below 140psi. Sag was in the 20% range on the fork and the 25% range for the rear shock and ProPedal in the #2 position.

It was nice to get to ride the bike on trails I have ridden over 100 times so I have a pretty good baseline with which to compare. The Tallboy is a pretty efficient climber. Not quite ‘hardtail efficient’ on fire roads and relatively non-technical climbs, but not far off. When things got a little lumpier, I was glad to be aboard the Tallboy. I will say that I didn’t do too much technical climbing, so I’m not going to make any statements about how it handles that. I put in a few ‘out of the saddle’ efforts with the fork locked out and was rewarded with minimal bobbing. I even tried the same hills a second time with ProPedal switched off and was not disappointed. With PP off, it did take a little longer for the suspension to settle (when seated or standing), but it was not significant, pronounced or particularly annoying. I would give it high marks for out of the saddle climbing manners.

When it came time to point the Tallboy downhill, I lowered the saddle (because that’s what I normally do) and headed into the local fun zone. I was expecting the steering to be a little nervous and was on alert for possible pedal strikes as the Tallboy does have a BB height that’s toward the lower end of the spectrum. I didn’t so much find the steering to be nervous or twitchy (which imply a negative trait). Instead I found it to be . . . . . precise, in a good way. I wouldn’t characterize the suspension to be either harsh or plush, more like comfortable and efficient. I also found the front end to be fairly stiff and I have to imagine the tapered head tube and steer tube have something to do with this. I did find some flex in the wheels that came on this bike compared to my personal bike, but I built those up a little burlier than a typical XC wheel set. And did I mention quiet? That’s another mark in the plus column for this bike.

My own personal preference would be to try this bike with a 120mm travel fork and have the controls mounted higher via some combination of taller steer tube/stem/bars. I feel like the BB height would still be low enough to handle well and this would help to raise the front end. I could also deal with slightly less precise handling in order to make this lean toward being more of a trail bike than toward the XC side of things as it’s presently configured.
I wouldn’t say the frame is stiff as it does have a little flex in the rear end, but it wasn’t overly so and my size will bring that out in most frames, especially those that can be built up in the 25-29lb range with common build kits.

The Bottom Line: All in all, I liked this bike more than I expected after my I-Bike experience. It did everything I asked, rides great and looks dead sexy to boot. I didn’t get the impression that I was too heavy for the carbon frame and I felt like this frame could be built up a couple different ways (full suspension XC weapon or all-day epic trail bike) and still excel either way depending on what a rider prefers. I was glad to have a second chance to get a proper first impression.

Okay, that’s a wrap on our review of Santa Cruz’s new and first 29″er effort. Twenty Nine Inches would like to thank Santa Cruz and Mike Ferrentino for this opportunity to ride this bike and write about it. The Tall Boy was provided by Santa Cruz at no charge to us for these reviews and we gave our honest opinions throughout.

When I first saw the Epic Marathon 29er at Sea Otter last year, it had a set of Roval wheels on it. I did not think too much about that other than I was skeptical. To me, Roval was a road wheel with too few spokes in it. And when I rode the Epic again at Demo Days, both Guitar Ted and I looked askance at the radial laced, non-disc side front wheel, and lack of a through axle hub on the front fork. Both seemed like concessions to foo-foo-ness or the gods of weight weenies to me.

Later on, when I received the Epic Marathon 29er for long term testing I had the time to look at the bike in detail and as I was playing around with tire changes and converting to tubeless, I was becoming more of an admirer of the Roval wheels. Hours and hours of riding later, some of that on pretty rough and fast trails, the Roval Control EL XC front wheel with OS 28mm end caps and the Roval Control EL XC rear wheel with straight pull spokes have remained true and straight.

Then I read that the hubs were DT Swiss made and the front hub was convertible to 15mm QR or 20mm thru axle.

The rims are 26mm wide, right between the vaunted Stan’s Arches and Flows. As well, they are taped from the factory and supplied with tubeless valve stems. I have found I needed to use some kind of goop under the valve stem when first converting to tubeless or I had air leaking around the valve stem that the sealant could not deal with. Other than that, the combo of the 2-Bliss tires and the Roval rims was floor pump easy to air up. I also had excellent results with a WTB Wolverine, but WTB does not suggest the tire is tubeless ready.

They seemed like a pretty sweet set-up, so how come I had not heard of Roval wheels as a player in the 29er world? Maybe they were too new or maybe I was missing something.

So, it interested me to see what the Roval EL XCs were all about. I had some questions and doubts about the radial lacing of the front wheel. I also questioned the lack of any through axle option in a 29er market that is increasingly concerned with improving the front end stiffness of the big wheeled bikes. To get some of those answers, I went to Specialized engineer Jeremy Thompson, the wheel guy for all things Roval. First some details from the Specialized website on the Roval Control EL 29 Disc Wheelset :

We took our light and proven Control EL and made the best 29” wheel available to the masses.

TNI: So, Jeremy…can we start with who Roval is, how Specialized came to own the product line and such?

Jeremy Thompson: Roval was originally started by Claude Lehaneur, a French civil engineer that envisioned a way to make a better bicycle wheel by approaching it as if it were a bridge wrapped into a circle. He produced high-end wheels on a small scale until technology got away from him (he never moved past his freewheel design). He closed the doors on his operation in the late 1980s. Specialized approached him in 2004, and he was happy to help us take over production using his name and concepts. We started out making road wheels, but introduced our first MTB wheels in 2008 using many of the same concepts that Mr. Lehaneur designed into his original wheels: straight-pull spokes, DoubleDrive, radial lacing, etc.

TNI: When I hear DT Swiss hubs, I think understated quality. Hubs like the DT Swiss 240S are held in high regard by many, even though the hubs do not have the panache of an I9 or Chris King. The Roval hubs are DT Swiss made, yes? Are parts interchangeable from another DT Swiss product like a 240S? Bearings, drive system, etc?

Jeremy: Yes, all of the internal parts on the rear hub are completely interchangeable with DT 240s hubs. This makes it easy for customers to get service parts if they need them. Everything about the front hub is proprietary, so the parts are only available through Specialized.

TNI: I was very skeptical about two things on the EL 29er wheel set: The lack of a through axle arrangement and the odd choice of radial lacing on the non braking side of the front hub. Stiffness in the front ends of 29ers is very key and both of these factors seem to add up to noodley-ness. However, I can attest for feeling no lack of steering precision in the Epic Marathon and using the old ‘front wheel between the knees and twisting the bars’ test, it compares to a bike I have that is equipped with a Fox 15mmQR, tapered steerer, and stout wheel set. What is going on here?

Jeremy: We’ve put a lot of thought into these wheels. Everything was done for a reason. Even though the perception is generally otherwise, radial spokes are a little shorter (and therefore lighter) and actually increase the lateral stiffness of a wheel. With this wheel, the 3x spoke pattern on the disc side provides enough torsional rigidity to handle all of the braking forces without transferring them to the other side of the hub. This allows us to take advantage of the stiffer radial lacing on the opposite side. The OS28 end caps on the front hub act like stabilizers for the front hub. If you think of the interface between the dropout and the hub as a traffic cone sitting on the ground, OS28 is the stable, wide side of the cone, and the standard is the narrow side of the cone. You can get the cone to stand up on the narrow side, but it works much better if you stand it up on the wide side. ( Editor’s Note: See below for a fact sheet on stiffness VS. weight of the OS28 system.)

Specialized Fork and Wheel Integration-Overview
As an extension of Total Suspension Integration (our holistic approach to developing bikes, where the frame, fork, and suspension are all designed together for each riding experience), we’ve created a system that integrates our forks and Roval wheels. By doing this, we can increase stiffness in the front of the bike to give the rider more control and confidence in technical situations, as well as out of the saddle pedaling efforts. The goal of the fork/hub interface is to add stiffness without increasing weight.

Concept
• Through axle hubs are bigger than standard quick release (QR) hubs, increasing surface area engagement with the dropouts and improving stiffness. Unfortunately, the larger axle and enclosed dropout add weight to the system.
• Specialized over sized (OS) end caps combine the stiffness of a through axle with the weight savings of a quick release skewer.
• OS end caps use a standard quick release skewer in conjunction with proprietary end caps, which increase surface area between the hub and fork, thereby increasing stiffness without adding weight.
• Specialized OS 28 end caps can be used on Roval wheels in conjunction with Specialized forks and RockShox forks. We also offer a modified version, the OS 24, for FOX forks.

Testing
· The hub and fork are attached to a fixture that holds them in place.

· The steerer tube of the fork is passed through another fixture to act as the head tube of a frame.

· Weight is applied at the stem at a 90˚ angle, and the resulting deflection is measured.

· In the Torsional Stiffness chart, a taller bar represents a stiffer fork/hub interface.

Results:

· The Specialized S140TA fork is 5.3% stiffer than a 15mm axle fork, yet 8.9% (158 grams) lighter.

· The Specialized S140TA fork is 28.6% stiffer than a standard QR, yet 6.5% (112 grams) lighter.

· The 15mm axle fork is 22.2% stiffer than a standard QR, yet 2.7% (46 grams) heavier. (Note: Click tables to see full size)

Now on with the interview!

TNI: The OS 28 set-up does not fit all of the dropouts on all forks in play. What does it and what does it not fit? Any plans to work around that?

Jeremy: OS28 fits on all proprietary Specialized forks, plus RockShox lowers. As far as we know, that’s it. FOX and other forks will fit up to 24mm, so we plan to release caps to fit these forks sometime this year. They won’t be as stiff as the OS28 caps, but will definitely be better than standard 19mm caps.

TNI:The Roval front hub on the EL wheel set appears to easily convert from 5mm QR to 15mm and 20mm thru axle. I pulled the end caps off by hand just to see how it works. Any plans for adding 9mm DT Swiss compatibility? Where can a person buy the 15mm and 20mm adapters?

Jeremy: Any Specialized dealer can order these as service parts. Just go to your local Specialized shop and request them. As of now, we have no plans to offer 9mm through-bolt compatibility.

TNI: I applaud the way the rims come pre-taped with blue rim tape and come packaged with tubeless valve stems. Combined with the easy to mount Specialized 2 Bliss tires, the combo looks like a dead simple tubeless conversion. It seems like Specialized is pretty committed to tubeless use. Some wheel and tire makers are not there yet. Thoughts?

Jeremy: We love everything about tubeless. It’s lighter, faster, and you can run lower pressure so it offers better traction. If the wheel/tire combination is designed correctly, it’s super easy to set up. Our goal was to design the wheel and tire so that it could be set up tubeless with a floor pump. With realistic manufacturing tolerances, this won’t work 100% of the time, but in my experience, it almost always works.

TNI: Along the tubeless line of thought, any plans to have your own brand of sealant like Bontrager does? Or, in lieu of that, is there a particular brand or type of sealant that Specialized suggests for use with the rims or tires? Some sealants are ammonia free, etc

From Chris Wyatt, Tire Engineer at Specialized: We are constantly testing different sealants with our tires to see how they perform, and along with this, we are looking at creating a better sealant out of what we are learning from these tests. We aren’t happy with the prototype sealants we have come up with at this point, and we don’t want to release until we are 110% happy with the performance. We are definitely looking at an ammonia-free option.

TNI: Where do you place the overall stiffness and strength of the EL 29er wheelset? The 26mm width is right between the well thought of Stan’s Arch and Flow. This wheel set is on a pretty racy bike. Do Clydesdales apply here? For instance, is this an appropriate wheel set for an FSR Stumpjumper 29er?

Jeremy: As far as 29er wheels go, this is a very stiff wheel set. Stiffness is probably the hardest part about designing 29er wheels. The combination of big rims and disc brakes is disastrous to wheel stiffness. And yes, this is a great wheel for a Stumpjumper FSR 29er. We don’t have a bike in our line that this wheel would fit on as an appropriate spec, but it would be a fantastic upgrade.

TNI: Do you have the numbers on a bare rim weight?

Jeremy:Our rims are only sold as part of wheel sets and were designed as part of a system. The rim weight is not important, but instead the set weight and overall performance of the wheel should be considered.

TNI: Think we may see a wider rim version down the road?

Jeremy: Right now, wider than 30mm rims are getting pretty popular for paring up with the bigger tires that are coming along, but I am not sure they mix with the high end wheel set market. We’re extremely weight-conscious, but we’re also not afraid to add a little weight when it’s necessary. When we developed the Control EL 29, we considered a narrower rim, but decided on 26mm as a happy medium between weight, stiffness, and tire shape. If the right opportunity arises, we won’t hesitate to make a wheel with a 28 or 30mm rim. The real question to us is, “Does it make the product better suited for its intended use?” If we believe it does, you can bet we’re at least going to experiment with it.

TNI: How easy is it to get spokes for this product and where would that be done? One good thing about non-proprietary spokes is easy replacement in most well equipped bike shops.

Jeremy: Since the spokes are straight-pull, you won’t be able to find them in inventory at most spoke suppliers. However, just like the end caps, spokes are available as service parts through your local Specialized dealer.

TNI: This wheel set is expensive, on par with a high end, hand made build from any number of small wheel builders around the country. Why should a consumer consider this as an option to a hand built, custom build?

Jeremy: Our wheels are all hand built to very precise tolerances, but we don’t offer any custom options. For people who know that they want, a specific hub laced to a specific rim, there’s little we can offer to make them change their mind other than to say, “Try our wheels.” I believe that they will notice a difference and like what they feel. For somebody who isn’t sure what they want, we offer a simple solution in a great product that is engineered to be strong, stiff, and relatively light. It would be difficult to match the combination of these three things in a custom-built wheel at the same price. In addition, the customer doesn’t need to make decisions about what spoke configuration, etc. to run, and therefore won’t try to second-guess their own decisions. You also get the reliability and confidence of a wheel system that is designed to be tubeless and works perfectly with Specialized 2Bliss-Ready tires.

TNI: Let’s talk single speed wheels. Often an SS build is down and dirty and kept inexpensive….but nice wheels are important to SS riders. They seem to be looking for wider rims…28-30+mm for a wider tire footprint and stable sidewalls, a free hub with quick engagement (like the newer DT Swiss conversion), and a wide flange spacing for a strong wheel and room for cog alignment. That and easy tubeless conversions are a good combo that, quite frankly, is not that easy to walk into a bike shop and find on the shelf. I know we talked about this in person, so I am hitting you one more time in public!

Jeremy: This is a similar question to the previous one. Hardcore single-speeders will most likely know exactly what they want. To try and out-guess them isn’t possible, and it’s not what the sport is about. They want to make choices and to customize their product so they end up with something that is unique or at least very well-suited to their riding style. In our opinion, offering a pre-built, single speed wheel would be the equivalent of telling the rider that we know more than they do. That’s not our intention. If and when the single speed market expands to the point where we believe people are looking for pre-built wheels, you can rest assured that we will bring a great product to the table.

TNI: Anything more for the readers that we did not discuss?

Jeremy: We’re always looking to push limits and expand our product range. Keep your eyes open to what some of our sponsored riders are running this year…especially around Sea Otter time. You might see some interesting stuff!

I wanted to put a tangible feel to the OS-28 end caps, so I snapped some pics of the three hubs I had at hand that used a 5mm standard QR: A Hope Pro II, a White Industries M6 hub, and the Roval from the Marathon. In each pic I took a shot of the bare end cap (the edges called out by the pretty arrows) and then took a penny, which is pretty much 19mm in diameter, and centered on the end caps to show the scale of the OS28’s size. The Hope hub is a 19mm, the White Ind. is around 21mm-22mm and the OS28 at 28mm.