Juliana

Furtado Carbon S Complete Mountain Bike - 2015

The Juliana Furtado Carbon S Complete 2015 Women’s Mountain Bike is chomping at the bit to get out on the trail. With proven geometry, and a highly versatile five-inch travel frame, this carbon workhorse wants nothing more than to eat up miles of your favorite singletrack. And it’s matched with a reliable build kit that highlights its best characteristics.

There are a few reasons that women the world over have been falling for the Furtado. First, 27.5-inch wheels are the sweet spot between the rolling speed of 29ers and the responsiveness of 26ers. Second, 127mm of rear wheel travel lands right between short-travel race rockets and more aggressive gravity-oriented machines. Third, the perfectly neutral geometry will climb, descend, and handle with the best of them. The head angle sits at 68 degrees, which is slack enough for high-speed stability, but aggressive enough for responsive climbing. At 17.1 inches, the chainstays are long enough to provide plenty of climbing grip, but short enough to keep the Furtado carving turns with ease. And finally, the light, stiff carbon fiber chassis is ready for just about anything.

Juliana’s industry-leading carbon fiber construction makes its way into the Furtado, although this version uses a slightly lower grade of carbon fiber than the higher end “C” frame. This requires more material be used to achieve the same strength, so it’s about a pound heavier for a medium frame, but in every other aspect, it’s held to the same astoundingly high standards as Juliana’s “C” level frames. And the upshot is that you get a frame that’s every bit as stiff and strong, with a much more palatable price tag.

Both the front and rear triangles are constructed as a whole, rather than bonding them together from sub-assemblies. In addition to saving weight, it ensures that the Furtado is as strong as possible. That's because the fibers are uninterrupted by seams, which happens with other construction methods. If you were to cut it in half, you'd find that the inside of the tubes have the same perfectly smooth finish as the outside. That's a result of construction techniques that maximize the compaction of the layers. The benefit is that it's lighter, because any excess epoxy is squeezed from the frame prior to curing, and this ideal degree of compaction optimizes the strength. And the strength and stiffness are further enhanced with the mechanic-friendly, oversized 15mm collet-style hardware and a 12x142mm thru-axle out back.

For the S build, RockShox provides the 130mm Pike RC fork, which balances out the Evolution series FOX FLOAT CTD rear shock perfectly. The 2x10 drivetrain is a carefully selected blend of Shimano’s XT and SLX groupsets, with a few SRAM bits sprinkled throughout. Juliana’s own handlebar, grip, and saddle are at the controls, all having been optimized for a woman’s physiology. RockShox offers up its stellar Reverb Stealth seatpost. It rolls on WTB rims, laced by hand with DT Swiss spokes to SRAM hubs. They’re wrapped in Maxxis tires.

The Juliana Furtado Carbon S Complete Mountain Bike is available in three sizes, from Small to Large, and in the color Hella Yella.