The New and Improved Roubion Is Ready to Rumble

Photo credit: Brian Vernor
Photo credit: Brian Vernor

From Bicycling

Price: $8,199 (CC, X01 Reserve, as tested)
Weight: 29.19 lb. (claimed)
Style: Women’s mountain enduro
Drivetrain: SRAM X01 Eagle, 12-speed
Material: Carbon
Wheel size: 27.5-in., frame clearance for up to 2.8-inch tires
Travel: 160mm front, 150mm rear
The right bike for: A rowdy rider who wants a bike that won’t buck her when stuff gets gnarly rough

Women’s mountain biking has gotten sendy, with hundreds of riders dropping in at women’s-only enduros like Enduro Maiden and Sturdy Dirty Women’s Enduro. And Juliana, a brand that has always prided itself in building bikes for women who ride hard, is right there sending these fierce females off all the gnarly black-diamond drops their hearts desire with built-to-be-burly bikes like the new and improved Roubion, what the company is hailing as its “capable of anything” bike.

The Roubion, named for brand ambassador Anka Martin’s favorite stage of the Trans-Provence, a notoriously rowdy Alpine enduro, has always been more than “capable.” Our in-house hucker Gloria Liu spent the better part of a year rallying it through every East Coast minefield she could find and came away wishing for more thumbs so she could recommend it more highly. So what did Juliana do? It went back to the drawing board and made radical changes with the hopes of making the bike even better.

For this iteration, the company pulled some tricks from the spellbook of the Strega, the 170mm badass witch of the bike park that Juliana introduced last summer, to turn the Roubion into a little sister witch, which is this close to downhill, but also more fun to ride on tamer trails as well. The Roubion has a bigger-travel fork, a slacker front and steeper rear, a longer dropper post, longer reach (close to the Strega’s 440mm), and more standover clearance. And it’s equipped with a Flip Chip that allows the geometry to ride high or low depending on your preference and also gives you the option to run up to 2.8-inch rubber without changing the relative bottom bracket position. Like the Strega, the Roubion’s shock is now driven by the lower rather than the upper link, dropping the bike’s center of gravity and creating a linearly progressive leverage ratio.

Photo credit: Brian Vernor
Photo credit: Brian Vernor

The ultimate goal was to refine the Roubion into an all-mountain-oriented bike with crisper seated climbing performance than previous models and one that would still soak up big hits at speed and track like a charm over thundery terrain, but also would have better slower-speed and small-bump sensitivity-all the fine-tuning that Roubion racers have been requesting.

The Roubion is now open to smaller riders in a size XS, and for the first time ever you can get an aluminum Roubion, as Juliana wants to offer more bikes at more price points from entry level on up.

Roubion CC X01 Reserve Bike Family

The Roubion comes in six material and component packages, including carbon (C), high-end carbon (CC), and aluminum (AL) complete models, as well as AL and CC frame-only options, for a total of eight choices. The Roubion CC X01 Reserve (made from high-end carbon and spec’d with SRAM X01 Eagle 12-speed and Santa Cruz’s high-end carbon wheels) is the second most expensive option. Above it, the CC XTR Reserve costs $9,899. The one AL option costs $3,499, C bikes are $4,399 and $5,199, and three CC bikes range from $6,999 to $9,899. AL or CC frame-only cost $1,999 and $3,299, respectively.

Fresh Suspension for Bigger (and Smaller) Bumps

This year’s Roubion gets more travel up front in the form of a Fox 36 Float Performance Elite 160mm fork and now incorporates a piggyback-style 150mm RockShox Super Deluxe RCT shock, which is currently one of the most popular shocks for enduro-specific bikes. Juliana also repositioned the shock this year, dropping it to be a lower link–driven shock like that of the Strega. The goal, according to product manager Josh Kissner, is to give the bike a different leverage curve than other VPP bikes in the family. “It makes for a more supportive feel, which is important on a longer-travel bike,” Kissner says. “This is all about keeping the bike responsive and the front end planted through turns. We also get a high leverage ratio at the top of the travel, which is great for traction and small-bump compliance.” The low-slung shock passes through the seat tube via a shock tunnel and is protected from rear tire spray by a small shock guard. The Roubion would also fit a coil shock, if you prefer.

Roubion’s Bike Geometry

As you might predict, based on current trends, the new Roubion is longer, lower, and slacker. Specifically, its reach grows by 15mm, standover drops 30mm on the small and 15mm on the medium, the seat tube is shorter to accommodate a longer dropper post, and the seat angle is steeper by a full degree (now 75 degrees) with the intent to bring the rider into a more forward, better-seated climbing position. A Flip Chip lets you fine-tune the geometry to your liking. In the high setting, the bottom bracket has 10mm of drop and sits 344mm off the ground. The low setting drops the bottom bracket by 4mm. The front end is also slacker with a 65.1-degree head angle in the low setting and a 65.4-degree angle in the high setting. As a bonus, the Flip Chip lets you outfit the bike with massive 2.8-inch tires without changing the bottom bracket position.

Like all Juliana bikes, the Roubion uses the same frames as models from Santa Cruz Bicycles counterparts (in this case, the Bronson); the things that make them “women specific” are touch points (grips and saddle), paint schemes, and smaller sizing options, as well as shocks that are tuned for smaller riders.

Roubion CC X01 Reserve Component Highlights

The Roubion CC X01 27.5 Reserve is smartly outfitted with components that help you pilot and control this rollicking ride. The SRAM XG1295 Eagle 12-speed, 10-50t drivetrain makes it easy to spin your way back up the mountain for another run. The RockShox Reverb Stealth 31.6mm dropper post is a snap to activate when you need to get your weight back in a hurry. And I really appreciated the amped-up stopping power thanks to SRAM Code RSC brakes paired with big Avid Centerline rotors, which remain 180mm in the rear, but bump up to 200mm in the front. It really improves finesse-ability on a bike that wants to go as fast as the Roubion does. A bolt-on shuttle guard under the down tube is designed to protect the frame when you’re driving around with the bike hanging off a tailgate. There is also room for a single water bottle cage inside the main triangle.

Roubion CC X01 Reserve Ride Impressions

I rode the Roubion as part of a Juliana press event held in East Burke, Vermont, where we were treated to a trip to the relatively new and quite remote Victory Hill trail system, a 1,000-acre privately owned parcel that is host to the Vittoria Eastern States Cup enduro series. The system includes everything from intermediate flow trails to big black-diamond runs with giant jumps and steep, jumbled rock gardens. You also have to earn your turns by climbing back to the top between runs, so it made a perfect well-rounded testing ground for the Roubion. We capped off the day with a shuttle run to the top of Burke Mountain’s double black-diamond Upper J-Bar trail, which features steep, hectic, boulder-strewn descents where we could see just how far the Roubion could go.

When you want to compliment a mountain bike, you usually say that it rides bigger than it is, implying that it can soak up larger gnar than the suspension numbers would lead you to believe. That’s true of the new Roubion, which most certainly earned its mini-Strega nickname. But I’d like to start with a flipside compliment and say I was pleasantly surprised that this big bike also rides smaller than it is, which I think is something that’s harder to pull off.

When I’ve ridden the Roubion in the past, I didn’t love it on much of my home-turf terrain, where you often can’t go fast enough to let the suspension really shine and instead end up stuttering and chattering over baby heads, random rock gardens, splayed roots, and other small stuff on the flatter, pedally trails we have a lot of here. The new Roubion was noticeably more compliant and hence more fun just riding around. As we churned up the main access road and then banged a right onto “Stairway to Heaven” en route to our downhill runs, I appreciated that it climbed efficiently in the saddle, even with the suspension wide open, where I ran it all day, and that the front end, through pretty far in front of me, didn’t unduly wander around as I picked my way up some steep, technical pitches on the trail.

All that said, the Roubion undoubtedly gets better the faster you go. Any chatter you do feel all but vanishes as you pick up speed and then the bike is amazingly quiet and composed when you let it fly as fast as you dare-and because it is so quiet and composed I found myself daring to go faster than I otherwise would have as we rallied down about a mile and a half of boisterous choppy terrain on a double black-diamond trail called Middle Finger. It also has the playful pop that I like in a bike, which is sometimes a little dulled when the travel gets longer. I appreciated how the Roubion’s relatively short chainstays (430mm in low and 429 in high settings) and manageable wheelbase made it easy to sweep in and hammer out of corners and berms without missing a beat. The Maxxis Minions (DHF, 27.5x2.5-inch 3C EXO TR in the front and DHR II, 27.5x2.4-inch EXO TR in the rear) bit through and found traction everywhere, including on a few of the drier, sketchier trails we freight trained down.

I would love to see the Roubion offered in a bolder color. The company departed from their classic bright, matte-finish colorways and painted the bike a minty, sea foamy, glossy green, which is pretty, but I think belied what a badass this bike is. And this bike is most definitely a badass. I’m not necessarily enduro-oriented as a rider. But the Roubion gave me the nerve to send it straight down through some vertical scattered boulder beds and to keep my composure even when my heart rate was pinned to “you’re gonna die” high. And when a couple of the Juliana racers aired it out over a huge rock gap, I didn’t follow their line, but it looked more tempting than I ever thought it would, which makes the Roubion a great bike for your ability now, and one that will sit confidently with you as you send it into the future.

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