If you’ve been following Santa Cruz recently, you’ve probably noticed several of their trail bikes have been updated with their newest VPP suspension design. For the 2020 model year, the Hightower 29er joins the lower-link mounted shock party. It also gets a little extra travel, making this a very versatile bike for all kinds of trails.
This article provides a quick overview of all the new Hightower and Maverick models. I did get a few chances to ride a well-equipped carbon Hightower recently, so watch Bikerumor for my three ride review of the Hightower CC X01 RSV.
Frame details:
The 2020 Hightower now offers 140mm of rear travel, and all models come with 150mm forks. This range of travel with a set of 29” wheels makes for a pretty well-rounded trail bike, and Santa Cruz describes the Hightower’s intended use as “Anywhere, anytime!” The second generation 2020 Hightower will be offered in several carbon models (in Santa Cruz’s CC or C grade carbon), plus three aluminum builds. Aluminum or CC carbon framesets are also available, with frame sizes ranging from S-XXL.
The Hightower’s suspension is designed to produce an almost perfectly linear shock rate. I’ll get into more details about the ride in my ‘three ride review’ article, but in short the linkage provides a very sensitive ride that does an equally good job of smoothing out small bumps and eating up big hits. It’s also one of the best pedalling linkages I’ve tried, climbing singletrack trails very efficiently regardless of whether the shock was left wide open or not.
Santa Cruz builds their frames with a balance of stiffness, ride qualities and weight in mind. The Hightower’s beefy tubing, solid junctions at the head tube and BB area, one-piece rear triangle and short suspension links definitely make for a stiff riding frame.
All Hightower models come on 29” wheels, but are also compatible with 27.5+. This is part of the reason Santa Cruz included a flip-chip in the shock mount, which slightly alters the bike’s geo and rear shock rate.