2014 Juliana Furtado Primeiro

Juliana uses branding and parts spec to distinguish itself from the Santa Cruz brand.

These symbols represent Power, Beauty, and Nature.

The Furtado Premeiro’s orange paint stands out.

The script style font is unlike anything else out there, and it grew on me in the time it lived in our house.

Bottle cage mounts on all sizes (S, M, L), and a nod to the people at Santa Cruz.

Internal dropper post routing is standard.

The bike is named for Juli Furtado, whose history in mountain biking runs deep.

The rear end implements an easy to use DT Swiss 142×12 axle.

Santa Cruz’s VPP designs carry over to the Juliana line. The Furtado is a 125mm 27.5″ platform.

The rear shock is a Kashima-coated Fox CTD with trail adjust.

Up front you’ll find the top shelf Fox 32 with FIT damper.

130mm of travel up front.

The Juliana bar is not simply branded; it’s actually been specially designed for smaller hands.

Juliana calls this a “Compact Bar/Grip System”. What does that mean? A normal bar is 22mm in diameter all the way to the end; the Juliana bar tapers to 19mm between the brake/shifter clamps and the grip. The result is a grip with a slightly smaller diameter than a standard “thin” grip, but with more cushioning. Of course, this system is easily retrofitted for a standard bar if you prefer thicker grips.

Shimano XT brakes provide reliable stopping power.

The crankset is a triple ring Shimano XT with 42-32-24 chainrings.

And out back the XT flavour is continued with a 10-speed Shadow Plus clutch derailleur.

The Furtado Primeiro comes with a RockShox Reverb Stealth dropper post, mounted on the top right. In practice, having the dropper post on the same side as your rear shifter is not so convenient – but if you went to a 1x drivetrain that lever would swap nicely to the bottom left.

I’ve spoken with a number of ladies about the stock Juliana saddle and they seem to like it. Your mileage may vary.

DT 350 hubs front and rear.

The 27.5″ rims are midweight, tubeless-compatible WTB i23s.

The Maxxis High Roller II EXO tires do well at lower pressures and are confidence inspiring if on the slow side.

The 2014 Juliana Furtado Primeiro. At $5999 USD this is not a cheap build, but the carbon frame is beautiful and every part has been chosen without compromise. The aluminum-framed Furtado Segundo comes in at $3299 if you’re looking to get into the Juliana brand for less investment.