Juliana

Furtado 2.1 CC XX1 Eagle Mountain Bike - 2018 - Women's

The 2018 Juliana Furtado 2.1 Carbon CC XX1 Eagle Complete Mountain Bike features a longer, lower, and slacker profile than the original Furtado that pushes the boundaries of its trail bike categorization. This Furtado gets dressed up with SRAM's revolutionary XX1 Eagle one-by 12-speed drivetrain and huge accompanying gear range, a dropper post, and smooth-spinning Race Face ARC 27 wheels to take on almost any terrain.

SRAM’s XX1 Eagle drivetrain jumps ahead of industry tradition with its revolutionary 12-speed cassette. In a nutshell, Eagle lets you have the standard 10-42t 11-cog cassette you've grown to love in your old one-by 11-speed setup and introduces a massive 50t bailout cog that'll save your legs on steep, lung-crushing climbs that normally would have you pleading for an extra gear or two to magically fall from the sky.

The Furtado 2.1's geometry carries over the changes from 2017, with the most notable change apparent in the head and seat tubes. They're slacker and steeper, respectively, with the head tube coming in at 67 degrees for a similar feel to the previous Roubion model. As you can imagine, the change is noticeable when the tires hit dirt, completely blowing up our own expectations for how much terrain a "trail" bike is equipped to handle.

The steepened seat tube is equally impressive, though in a different way. The forward-oriented position of the saddle makes for better leverage on the pedals while slogging up climbs or cranking out speed on long stretches of singletrack. The Furtado 2.1 also has a longer reach, lower bottom bracket, 5mm more travel, increased dropper range, stubbier chainstays, and a wider rear axle. That pile of alterations means that it pedals harder, takes bigger bites out of terrain, and provides a wider dropper range for aggressively tackling double-digit grades on either side of zero. It should be noted that among these alterations, Juliana dropped the ability to add a front derailleur to this setup, but don’t worry—you probably won’t miss it, especially with XX1 Eagle’s huge gearing range.

The latest VPP suspension also sees some changes. The most immediately obvious is the extra 5mm of travel, but the tuning has also been revised. Where the old suspension curve described a deep "U," the new VPP's curve resembles a flattened check mark, with less dramatic ramping on either end of the travel arc. The results are that, during the initial stroke, VPP now boasts increased small bump compliance to keep the tires glued to the trail for more traction across lumpy trails and root lattices. It also maintains its predecessor's firm feel during accelerations while jockeying for position in a mass start or clearing a shelf at the crux of a climb. When paired with FOX's Evol air can, the ramp-up arc doesn't dramatically alter as the shock compresses, so the pedaling platform stays consistent across travel with less wallowing, bob, and bottoming out—even while the axle's path pushes rearward during big hits.

The Furtado 2.0 CC boasts the same top-end Carbon CC construction method and materials featured in sibling-company Santa Cruz's top-tier offerings. Beginning with superior materials allows the engineers to use less carbon in order to hit stiffness targets while claiming weight savings that hover just under the 300g mark. Both triangles are constructed as whole, monocoque pieces, which contributes to keeping weight low by allowing the carbon to wrap continuously through junctures and around joints. This eliminates the artificial weak points of bonded frames and actually requires less overall material in the process. While it's being cured, the frame is compacted from inside and out, a final step that virtually eliminates any excess material and resin pooling, resulting in more structural integrity and, of course, additional weight savings.