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Drawing inspiration from its race rocket predecessor and learning from the Santa Cruz Tallboy, its genre defining sibling, the 2017 Juliana Joplin 2. 0 Carbon 27. 5 S Complete Mountain Bike gets updated with plus compatibility and some modern touches like Boost spacing, enduro inspired suspension links, and Santa Cruz's versatile flip chip. The key difference that sets the Joplin apart from the Tallboy is in the shock tune, with the former lightening up a bit for lighter riders. Juliana calculates that typical women cyclists are around 30lb lighter on average than men, so the Joplin's lighter shock tune allows lighter riders to take full advantage of the bike's 4. 5in of VPP travel. In the end, it's a tale of suspension and geometry that's dramatic enough to rival the biography of fast living, hard rocking musicians however, like any good story, it has a twist. In this case, that surprise ending is the flip chip. The flip chip sits in the upper link and can be rotated to allow the shock mount to migrate. Repositioning the shock attachment point effectively accounts for the 9mm difference in radii between 27. 5 and 29in wheeltire systems, keeping the geometry as static as possible across wheel sizes. The latest Joplin is Juliana's first use of Santa Cruz's flip chip, which originally debuted on SC's Hightower. If that model was its testing ground, then the flip chip has moved one step closer to perfection with the Joplin because hanging the Hightower results in a slight change in head tube angle however, the Joplin's head tube stays the same for 27. 5 and 29in wheels. Compared to the previous Joplin, the newest model takes just a bit off the top of the head tube, dropping 2. 2 degrees to fall from the standard 70. 2 to a moderately slack 68 degrees. Courtesy of the Flip Chip's slight geometry alteration, that number stays the same whether you're running a 29in wheels with a 120mm fork or 27. 5 with 130mm. The frame's chainstays and reach also join the mo...
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