New Santa Cruz Hightower
As a brand, Santa Cruz generally doesn’t just jump on the bandwagon with new trends — they’re still using threaded bottom brackets on all of their models for example and it took them a long time to bring a 29er to the market. Where they have jumped in, it’s been because they genuinely see merit in a new idea.
This seems to apply to ‘plus’ wheel sizing as they’ve just released one with their all new Hightower — a 135mm travel carbon dual suspension bike.
A key feature with this new model is its ability to take both 27.5 ‘plus’ wheels (up to 3.0) and 29-inch wheels. It also has adjustable frame geometry with a reversible chip in the rear shock mount. This allows you to maintain similar geometry when swapping between regular 29-inch wheels and 27.5 plus. While both wheels are similar in size, the 27.5 plus wheels are still a bit smaller in diameter, so the ‘low’ geometry setting is designed for 29er use and the high position is for 27.5 plus.
As with many new bikes (the 2016 Bronson and 5010 included), the Hightower employs ‘boost’ spacing on the wheels (110mm front and 148mm for the rear), so you’re old 29-inch wheels won’t easily swap across. It’s also a 1X only bike as there’s no provision for a front derailleur. It can fit a water bottle within the main frame however and there’s room for a piggyback style shock too. Like the Nomad and other new-generation Santa Cruz models, the lower VPP link is an improved design that’s tucked up out of the way — a tidy looking setup.
For a big wheeled bike it certainly runs short chainstays; they’re only 335mm long. This is combines with a rather long front centre and reach; the reach is 430mm on a medium and 450mm on a large for example. Aside from this it has a steep 74 degree seat angle and a moderately slack 67 head angle. All on all the geometry is thoroughly modern; the short back end should assist agility, the longer front enhances stability whilst allowing for a short stem to provide a direct feel to the steering — they’re all numbers that we’ve found to work well on a trail bike.
Santa Cruz will be offering the Hightower frame in two versions, and both are carbon; the top end CC and a more attainable ‘C’ version. Both share the same geometry and features but the CC is around 230g lighter thanks to the use of higher grade carbon. The claimed weight for the CC is 2,670g while the C frames should start from 2,900g.
Complete builds will start from $7,999 in the Hightower C and from $10,499 in the CC. Some early stock is scheduled to land in the next few weeks and broader availability is expected in April for the Aussie market.
https://www.lustyindustries.com/brands/santa-cruz
