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Juliana Joplin Carbon Mountain Bike Frame-2014
The Joplin's maternal roots lie in Juli Furtado's 1999 collaboration with Santa Cruz to create a line of race-ready bikes targeted at women cyclists. On the paternal side, it shares a lineage with the carbon Santa Cruz Tallboy, which features the same materials and 29er geometry as the Joplin. But don't fret about the shared geometry; one ride on the Joplin will convince you that the shorter torso/longer legs assumptions that have traditionally informed women's-specific design philosophies are oversimplified prejudices.
The Joplin's Santa Cruz 29er pedigree means that it boasts a larger contact patch to gobble up trail furniture with the same legendary aggression with which its namesake attacked vocals during her live performances.
The astute reader will no doubt have noticed that this is a 2014 frame, which seems like an odd choice to be considering given that the 2015 models are already available. We agree that the new frames are looking sharp, but they do make one sacrifice compared to the 2014s. To put the ride quality of Juliana frames in more cyclists' hands for the new year, Juliana opted for a slightly heavier carbon fiber. This brings the price down, but it also adds a bit of weight " about 250 more grams. The 2014 frames don't suffer from this penalty, so if you're a cyclist looking to maximize every possible advantage, it's definitely the vintage for you.
The front triangle is laid up and cured as a single piece, decreasing the amount of carbon by eliminating the need for overlapping joints and extra layers of reinforcing material. It also allows for fibers to extend across joints and into multiple tubes. This effectively distributes load more efficiently while also absorbing impact better. For those keeping score at home, that's a lighter, more durable frame that also offers a more comfortable ride with no rider weight limit. The mounting points on the Joplin are also integrated during the process, so the brake tabs, pivot mounts, and shock mounts all enjoy increased impact resistance.
The Joplin uses Juliana's Virtual Pivot Point (VPP) suspension. VPP is a dual-link suspension model whose links move independently of each other for a suspension that basically moves the rear axle in different ways during different stages of travel. (We write "basically" because this is an over-simplification of how VPP works, but it conveys the general idea well enough.) During the first stages of travel, the top link sees the lion's share of rotation; as you move beyond the sag point into later stages of travel, the lower link sees the most movement. This effectively adjusts the pedaling platform over the course of travel to stay as close as possible to the sweet spot between pedal-stalling, anti-squat feedback and the loss of chain tension that results from too much pro-squat.
The short links used in VPP are made of carbon (upper) and aluminum (lower). The lower link features a grease port for ease of maintenance, and all frame bearings enjoy a lifetime warranty, so they're equal to the abuse of a cyclist as demanding as Furtado herself.
The Joplin is spec'd with FOX's FLOAT CTD adjust, which marries 125 millimeters of travel to FOX's Climb Trail Descend system so you can adjust travel on the fly for efficient climbing, plush descending, and everything in between.
The 2014 Juliana Joplin Carbon Mountain Bike Frame is available in two sizes, Small and Large, in the color Blue/grey.
Price: $1299.99 (55% Off!)
Regularly: $2899.00
Buy Now
The Joplin's maternal roots lie in Juli Furtado's 1999 collaboration with Santa Cruz to create a line of race-ready bikes targeted at women cyclists. On the paternal side, it shares a lineage with the carbon Santa Cruz Tallboy, which features the same materials and 29er geometry as the Joplin. But don't fret about the shared geometry; one ride on the Joplin will convince you that the shorter torso/longer legs assumptions that have traditionally informed women's-specific design philosophies are oversimplified prejudices.
The Joplin's Santa Cruz 29er pedigree means that it boasts a larger contact patch to gobble up trail furniture with the same legendary aggression with which its namesake attacked vocals during her live performances.
The astute reader will no doubt have noticed that this is a 2014 frame, which seems like an odd choice to be considering given that the 2015 models are already available. We agree that the new frames are looking sharp, but they do make one sacrifice compared to the 2014s. To put the ride quality of Juliana frames in more cyclists' hands for the new year, Juliana opted for a slightly heavier carbon fiber. This brings the price down, but it also adds a bit of weight " about 250 more grams. The 2014 frames don't suffer from this penalty, so if you're a cyclist looking to maximize every possible advantage, it's definitely the vintage for you.
The front triangle is laid up and cured as a single piece, decreasing the amount of carbon by eliminating the need for overlapping joints and extra layers of reinforcing material. It also allows for fibers to extend across joints and into multiple tubes. This effectively distributes load more efficiently while also absorbing impact better. For those keeping score at home, that's a lighter, more durable frame that also offers a more comfortable ride with no rider weight limit. The mounting points on the Joplin are also integrated during the process, so the brake tabs, pivot mounts, and shock mounts all enjoy increased impact resistance.
The Joplin uses Juliana's Virtual Pivot Point (VPP) suspension. VPP is a dual-link suspension model whose links move independently of each other for a suspension that basically moves the rear axle in different ways during different stages of travel. (We write "basically" because this is an over-simplification of how VPP works, but it conveys the general idea well enough.) During the first stages of travel, the top link sees the lion's share of rotation; as you move beyond the sag point into later stages of travel, the lower link sees the most movement. This effectively adjusts the pedaling platform over the course of travel to stay as close as possible to the sweet spot between pedal-stalling, anti-squat feedback and the loss of chain tension that results from too much pro-squat.
The short links used in VPP are made of carbon (upper) and aluminum (lower). The lower link features a grease port for ease of maintenance, and all frame bearings enjoy a lifetime warranty, so they're equal to the abuse of a cyclist as demanding as Furtado herself.
The Joplin is spec'd with FOX's FLOAT CTD adjust, which marries 125 millimeters of travel to FOX's Climb Trail Descend system so you can adjust travel on the fly for efficient climbing, plush descending, and everything in between.
The 2014 Juliana Joplin Carbon Mountain Bike Frame is available in two sizes, Small and Large, in the color Blue/grey.
Price: $1299.99 (55% Off!)
Regularly: $2899.00
Buy Now
