Santa Cruz launches new 650b and 29er Highball plus Stigmata cyclocross bike

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Santa Cruz' revised Hardball hardtails and Stigmata cyclocross bike(Image credit: Sven Martin)

This article originally appeared on BikeRadar

The Highball is Santa Cruz’s first entirely internally cable routed frame – the design team spent a good while putting different ideas through the grinder, with the result effectively moulding a separate pipe into the down tube of the frame to house the rear brake hose. This means routing the hose is easy, with no clattering in the frame while riding. The shift cables run through the down tube to the bottom bracket, where a specially moulded piece of plastic sits as a cable guide, with a bolt on cover to keep the elements out (time will tell how it holds up to the kind of wet and grit our test machines get subjected to).

The frames are available in both Santa Cruz’s top level CC carbon and the one-step-down C level carbon, although the C level is only available on the two full build options below XT spec. The alloy Highball is still in production too, and takes the geometry of the new Highball as a running change, although cable routing is external and the brake is seatstay mounted. This keeps the option open to run the optional singlespeed dropouts that the carbon frame misses out on.

Swing a leg over the Highball 29 and the bike’s capabilities are obvious. Its svelte form is a breeze to accelerate and climb on. The medium size bike’s 600mm top tube does feel a tad on the short side, though the 90mm stem on the test machine we rode made up some of that lost length. Santa Cruz’s own 720mm wide carbon XC bars looked to have a slightly odd shape, but on the trail were as comfortable as we could have wished for in shape, and had enough flex to keep any vibration from dampening our spirit, even riding scarily fast on rumbly hardpack descents.

Handling is snappy thanks to the 70.5 degree head angle, but means that winding through tight trees on singletrack descents at pace can be done with ease and confidence once you’re in tune with the feel. The 430mm chainstays give some stability too, without hindering front wheel lifting ease in technical sections. The Highball 29 has a remarkably central, stable riding position considering its XC pedigree.

The thru-axles have also been specially made for the Stigmata – they’re modified Rockshox Maxles – using the 15mm front and 12x142mm rear wheel standards. In a first for Santa Cruz, the Stigmata uses a press-fit BB in the shape of the PF30 standard. The design team made the decision thanks to the industry’s adoption of the PF30 standard in cyclocross and the availability of high-end SRAM CX1 cranksets.