SANTA CRUZ HIGH TOWER FREE

Santa Cruz says that 3.0” tires are the maximum that will fit and I confirmed this by mounting up a wheel with a 45mm-wide rim and 3.0” Specialized Ground Control-it fit, but just barely.

Santa Cruz chose to outfit its plus-size Hightower models with 2.8-inch-wide tires in testing, almost all of its riders found them to be more responsive, with the 3.0” size being a bit floaty and bouncy.

SANTA CRUZ HIGH TOWER FREE

A bottle cage mount offers pack free hydration on shorter rides. The Boost-width rear end has room for plus-sized tires or 29ers.

As is, there is a small change in shock rate, making it less progressive-roughly the equivalent of removing a single volume spacer to the shock, which Santa Cruz says is a factor most riders won’t even notice. Santa Cruz could have made it exact or much closer, but doing so would have changed the shock rate more than its engineers were comfortable with. The angles are 0.2 degrees more relaxed and the bottom bracket is 2mm lower. Although close, the adjustment does not make the geometry exactly the same. Since plus-sized tires and wheels effectively drop a 29er’s bottom-bracket height, raising it back up with an adjustable linkage and longer fork makes perfect sense. RELATED: First Ride: 2016 Santa Cruz Bronson A size large CC frame weighs in at 5.88 pounds with rear shock and hardware. Colors are either Sriracha Red or Matte Carbon & Mint. The Hightower frame will be offered in carbon only, using Santa Cruz’s C and higher-grade CC builds. The Hightower is only 1x-compatible and has no front derailleur mount. Another significant change is the bike’s 15mm shorter chainstays that now measure at 435mm. The standout geometry change is that the head angle now comes in at 67 degrees-that’s a whopping 2.5 degrees more relaxed than the Tallboy LT. Although suspension travel is the same at 135mm, the Hightower essentially received all the updates that the Nomad, Bronson, and 5010 got, such as third-generation VPP suspension, an internal dropper post line, internal shift cable tunnels, and updated geometry. Ron Kochīeyond the wheel size, the Hightower is a modernized version of the Tallboy LT-a bike that quietly disappeared from Santa Cruz’s line in July. This flip chip in the linkage is simply removed and flipped around to change ride height in about a minute. In the future, the modern trail 29er will be compatible with both wheel sizes and go either way without compromise-and the Hightower is that bike. The Hightower avoids this pitfall by including a flip chip in its upper suspension linkage that, along with a 10mm-longer-travel fork, effectively gives the Hightower an almost identical geometry.

On some bikes that’s a big deal, or at the very least a compromise. That’s pretty unusual-the problem with fitting a 27.5+ tire and wheel combo in a 29er is that the 27.5+ versions are slightly smaller in diameter, which lowers the bottom bracket by roughly a half inch depending on what tires are used. This new forward-thinking, 135mm-travel 29er with boost spacing front and rear is not only compatible with 29” wheels, but will also work with 27.5+ versions.

Remember how quickly 26” wheels were replaced by 27.5” versions? Well, it seems a similarly fast change is about to happen to the trail 29er, and Santa Cruz’s all-new Hightower is an excellent example of why it’s destined to happen.

Santa cruz high tower