Juliana

Roubion 2.0 Carbon CC Mountain Bike Frame - 2017 - Women's

If your appetite for trail riding isn't satiated by covering miles of smooth and rolling singletrack, but instead by adrenaline pumping drops and rock gardens, the 2017 Juliana Roubion 2.0 Carbon CC Mountain Bike Frame is right up your alley. Built for rough terrain and big air, the Roubion captures the perfect balance between slack head tube and steep seat tube angles for geometry that tackles the descents with power but doesn't pout in the corner when it's time to pedal back up again.

It's not hard to see why we have an affinity for the Roubion. With responsive handling, 27.5 wheels, and plush suspension, this hard-hitting beast is a default choice for riders who like to push it on descents, and with the women's specific touch to the suspension, we're happy with the way its suspension works, too. The Roubion's 150mm of VPP suspension has a knack for smoothing out the harshest of trails, and is optimized to operate best with a lighter weight rider, since we weigh an average of 30lb less than the guys we see on the trail. VPP suspension lends itself to efficient pedaling, and the Roubion has a knack for kicking its way up climbs without feeling like a 6in travel bike.

Last year, Juliana updated the Roubion with some big changes that were carried through to the 2017 model. Suspension for the 2016 model year was modified, which changes the suspension links to mount the top link directly on the top tube and tuck the lower link neatly out of the way. This helped to increase stiffness and durability on the frame while smoothing out the ride. The head tube angle was slacked out a touch, from 67 to 66 degrees, providing more stability at high speeds than the 2015 model year. The bike was also adapted for boost spacing in 2016, stretching out the hub to 148mm, allowing for a shorter chainstay that enables a snappier rear end that's ideal for popping off of rollers or maneuvering through tight switchbacks.

Perhaps one of our favorite touches on Juliana and Santa Cruz bikes is their carbon layup. On the CC level carbon found in this model Roubion, the triangles are constructed as a whole, with meticulous layups, and a hollow-core construction thanks to an internal bladder that presses against the frame to reduce resin pooling, and liquefies during curing. The result is a bike made from less material, thus saving weight, but with such a precise construction that it manages to hit exceptional bars for strength and stiffness.