After riding a ton of different linkage systems with enough shock rate, pivot point and wheel-path cleverness to make your brain ache, the single-pivot Juno is a blessed relief. Helping keep everything controlled, predictable and intuitively interactive is the simple swingarm suspension. You may also be surprised how long the Ardent tyres stay hooked up in slippery conditions compared to the same tread in 26in. If your drifts were previously dodgy, waving-foot embarrassments featuring locked-up back brakes, you’re in luck this bike seems happy to slide round with a big roost tail spraying out behind and both feet still clipped in. The more we ride 650b wheels the more we’re learning you can push them significantly harder, and trust them to stay straight longer under high side-loads than 26in wheels. It’s as happy railing through dusty desert turns as trail centre berms and slippery, rooty woods terrain back home. Add that superlative stiffness to usefully broad and stable wheels – complete with Juliana-branded WTB rims – and this is one sweet chariot when it comes to swinging low and hard. This puts both rider and bike weight a lot lower to the ground (especially if you slam the Reverb seatpost down). The bottom bracket is dropped half an inch lower than most bikes and the standover clearance of Santa Cruz’s small is significantly lower than the extra small in most other companies’ women’s bikes. The payback is less wander and flop than slacker bikes when you’re grunting it back uphill or trying to hook it round a tight hairpin, and the Juno gets a big dose of stability when it comes to weight positioning. There’s a decent amount of authority added by the 68-degree head angle, which is neither very steep nor slack, although it’s not as self-straightening as some when things get sketchy. Our test bike came with fox fork upgrade – production bikes will see a rockshox sektor: Russell Burton While the size-specific Juliana bars are narrow and relatively low on leverage, the steering responds with an outstanding accuracy through the Fox 32 fork fitted – standard bikes have a RockShox Sektor, which is a good, stiff chassis too. It’s an exceptionally stiff frame, particularly in the compact small size. The advantage of the Juno comes when the trail lets you start to throw that weight around. This puts it at odds with other similar-travel bikes such as the Scott Spark Contessa 700 and Giant Lust 27.5, which are more cross-country oriented. So the Juno is more solid suffragette than kitchen-tethered kitten fusser, with a 6.5lb frame for the size small we tested – with XT rather than Deore kit – putting complete bike weight near 30lb with pedals.Įven with a smooth-rolling Maxxis Ardent tyre out back, that’s going to get your calves working hard to get Juno jiving, particularly if you’re heading uphill. We want the Juliana range to have just as much capability as any Santa Cruz.” But it allows Juliana to go off on completely its own path, with female riders having the main voice and choice on what kit, positioning and overall attitude the Juno has. “We fully accept the argument that some of this is down to subjective preference, and not necessarily gender-specific (we’ve even had guys asking about non-Juliana branded narrow grips). The women’s-specific part of it comes down to the finishing – saddle, grips, bars, alternative paintjob… “But our experience from demos and speaking to women riders is that they’ve never had a problem setting up a Santa Cruz bike in the past, so long as they’ve been steered in the right direction with the air pressure, rebound settings and so on. Sure, perhaps a slightly-tweaked shock tune or slightly lighter tubeset on the Juno might bring some benefits for the very lightest of riders. Will Ockleton from Santa Cruz says: “Any alteration to the geometry, tubing or shock tune of the Bantam to become a Juno would be tantamount to dumbing down the design. The juliana juno: the juliana juno Russell Burton
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