4/9/2023 0 Comments Santa cruz hightowerThis didn’t bother me, but I was a bit bummed on the 180mm front rotor as mentioned earlier. With SRAM’s Code RS, you get reach adjustment and Swinglink, but they do forgo the adjustable bite point. If I was keeping this bike long term, I’d probably slap a double down casing on out back, but I did find the slightly softer front and slightly firmer rear compound to boast plenty of traction while still wearing well. It does roll slightly slower than a DHF or an Assegai, but the all around traction was excellent. While the DHR2 is suggested as a rear tire, it actually works damn well up front. I initially found the Maxxis DHR2 tires spec’d front and rear to be a little bit of a head scratcher. The i9 hubs offer easy tool free maintenance and fast engagement. While they do lean on the stiff side of things they aren’t overly harsh. The carbon rims are tough, lifetime warranted and offer a great ride quality. No complaints about the latest Reserve HD rims in combination with Industry Nine 1/1 hubs. Props to Santa Cruz for leaving room for a good amount of spacers on the steerer tube, and lastly the in house grips just might go on my next dream bike – while they do take a little bit of time to break in they are simply amazing. I slapped a 50mm on out of curiosity and found it more appropriate. The Burgtec stem is excellent in terms of its bite and stiffness, but the 42.5mm length had me scratching my head given the slightly short 472mm reach. The 35mm rise in house carbon fiber handlebar had a nice ride quality and angles, plus as a lankier guy I welcome the additional rise. Touching on some cockpit parts, I loved everything up front. Lastly, in addition to a rubber downtube guard closer to the BB area, there is a second patch to protect against shuttle pads chaffing as well. The empty holes are nicely plugged with little rubber grommets. The cable/hose routings are fully sleeved and totally silent. A few other frame features – Clockwise from left: I’ve found the rubber protection on the chainstay is super quiet and does boast a bit more coverage than many other options on the market. While it’s great that the lower link features a zerk fitting for maintenance, unfortunately isn’t accessible without *some disassembly. Lastly, there is a sag window, which makes suspension setup much easier. The lower of the two settings provides a bit more bottom out resistance for the shreddier riders out there. Additionally, you have a standard flip chip in the lower link, which makes subtle geometry changes – 3mm BB height and reach, ~.3º head tube /seat tube angles. This makes it easier to pack the downtube. I like that Santa Cruz includes two bags – one for a tube and one for tools/flat tire paraphernalia. “Glovebox” internal storage is a huge bonus. Lastly, the 175mm travel RockShox Reverb was a warm welcome in terms of travel but its hydraulic operation can be more of a headache in terms of maintenance and use in colder temperatures compared to simple cable actuated posts. For a big wheeled bike that’s this capable, that just isn’t enough. *Note the 200mm front brake rotor – Santa Cruz spec’d 180mm rotors front and rear. It is truly an excellent performer that leaves nothing to complain about. Up front, the Fox 36 Performance Elite has 150mm of travel and four way damping adjustments. While I do think a bike that edges on the $10K USD mark should have a flagship rear shock, I wasn’t really missing the additional adjustments because the kinematics and tune were so good. This has been my first experience on the all new chassis, which hadn’t been updated in five or so years and I have to say that I’m beyond impressed. As far as suspension goes, out back this model features a 2023 RockShox Super Deluxe Select+. Maybe I’ve gotten soft over the years but on a 29″ bike this long legged, paired with a 10-50T as opposed to a 10-52T, I wanted a little more help on the big climbs. The keen eyed amongst you may notice that I swapped the 32T chainring for a 30T. Starting with drivetrain, this model features a full SRAM GX Eagle AXS drivetrain. 31.62lbs (claimed, medium) / 31.74lbs (large, as tested).Let’s dive in and see what all the fuss is about… With new kinematics, internal downtube storage and a slew of other updates the sum of those parts make it a much different machine than the last Hightower, even if it might not appear to be upon first glance.
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