SANTA CRUZ HIGHTOWER CC X01 RESERVE

£7,799 Can the new Hightower live up to high expectations?

The Hightower has been a popular staple within the Santa Cruz range since 2016. Just as we’ve seen the American brand do with a number of their other bikes, they’ve given the new version a serious makeover, altering everything from its suspension layout through to its geometry, in a bid to create the ultimate trail bike.

The frame

Santa Cruz are offering the Hightower in everything from their top-tier ‘CC’ carbon to more affordable aluminium, with five sizes to choose from. There’s also a frameonly option in CC or alloy. The bike uses Santa Cruz’s latest suspension layout, which is still a VPP design, with the lower of the two counterrotating links driving the shock.

This helps keep the weight low and as close to the bottom bracket as possible. A RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate shock controls the 140mm of rear wheel travel, upped by 5mm from the previous Hightower. Santa Cruz have designed the bike around an air shock only, unlike the Nomad and Megatower, which can use an airor coil-sprung damper.

In the rear shock mount is a flipchip for accessing the Hightower’s ‘high’ and ‘low’ modes. Adjusting this alters the head angle by 0.3 degrees and shifts the BB up or down by 4mm. The reach is longer than on its predecessor (450mm on the medium), the head angle is much slacker (65.2 degrees, low setting) and the seat angle is far steeper for better climbing (76.7 degrees).

Santa Cruz have incorporated plenty of rubber frame protection on the chainstay, to silence chain slap, and on the belly of the down tube, to reduce damage from rock strikes.

They also include lifetime frame and pivot-bearing warranties, for the original owner.

The kit

Our test bike came with own-brand Reserve carbon wheels, which have a 30mm internal width to help support the 2.4in Wide Trail Maxxis Minion DHR II tyres – some of our favourite all-rounders. The wheels bump up the price of the otherwiseidentical CC X01 by £1,200, which is something to consider if you’re not sold on carbon hoops. We’re big fans of RockShox’s Lyrik Ultimate fork and its buttery-smooth control, and SRAM’s Code RSC brakes too, which make stopping in almost any conditions easy.

The ride

Getting the Hightower set up is quick and easy, but you’ll need to get off it to check your sag, because the shock shaft and O-ring are well-hidden in

the shock ‘tunnel’. Our tester settled on 30 per cent sag with one volume spacer in the shock. This delivered enough ramp-up when the going got heavy without feeling harsh on really big hits. We needed to run a little more rebound damping than usual to help control things a little better on really big, high-speed impacts.

Once dialled in, the Hightower feels well-balanced, and the decent reach on our medium frame helped to create a relatively neutral and natural-feeling position. Spin up a climb and the combination of the steep seat angle, relatively calm back end and low 13.7kg weight mean it’s keen to scamper up just about any incline. We did flick the shock’s low-speed compression lever on for fireroad drags though, just to keep things bob-free and efficient.

Out of the saddle, there’s a decent level of rear support, letting you pump through undulations and maintain speed. Despite the stretched-out geometry and amount of travel, the Hightower retains a lively, dynamic feel. It carves a mean turn too and handles tight, nadgery sections with composure. The dependable Maxxis rubber helps, and traction is impressive.

Open things up and you’ll find enough comfort to soak up the hits without feeling disconnected. On descents it’s impressive, but it’s the Hightower’s all-rounder prowess and how easy it is to ride that really stand out, with it consistently proving itself, no matter what lies ahead of it. ROB www.santacruzbikes.co.uk

THE HIGH TOWER RETAIN SA LIVELY, DYNAMIC FEEL, CARVE SAME AN TURN AND HANDLES TIGHT, NADGERY SECTIONS WITH COMPOSURE