Santa Cruz Hightower LT Staff Build

May 3, 2018

The Boss has a new bike.......Santa Cruz Hightower LT!

So with my entry confirmed for this years Trans Madeira a 5 day Enduro Race, 25 special stages, 6.5k of climbing, 14k of total decent, covering the whole of the Madeira Island I thought it was the perfect opportunity to build a new race bike!

The Hightower LT is the same 29'' wheeled machine as the tried and tested Hightower but with a small frame & link update takes it up to 150mm rear wheel travel and the option to run a 150/160mm front fork to balance it all out. One of my riding crew has been riding a Hightower for a while now and after borrowing that for a day at Bike park Wales I was hooked! The speed a 29er bike is something to believed along with plenty of grip and the ability to fill in those hollows on the trail makes it a thrilling ride. I needed a bike to get me up the mountain as well as down the other side and thats where the HTLT fits the bill with this full build coming in just shy of 30lb with Ohlns coil suspension and Maxxis 2.5 tyres. You can see the full spec below but one key component choice I wanted to talk about firstly and thats the Ohlns TTX M Coil Shock.

Coil shocks are popping up everywhere right now as you browse the web, it feels like we're going full circle and the big question is why? You can spend hours google searching for answers but I'm going to get to get to why I decided to go coil over the standard air shock the bike comes with. Two reasons really, simplicity and suppleness. Simplicity yes, you have to spend time swapping between different weight springs before you find the correct spring rate for your weight/riding style but once you have thats it, almost fit and forget. Air shocks are the best they have ever been but they still can't compare to a coil shock for suppleness at the beginning of the stroke and over all plush feel they give through its travel which means a faster bike! One thing I will say is that people are getting caught up by the weight gain a coil shock adds but with this Ohlins TTX Light Springs its about the same as me not eating that extra slice of pizza and not carrying a shock pump in my back pack!

I hope you like it, I bloody love it, hopefully I can do it justice in June! Huge thanks to Santa Cruz Bicycles, Jungle Products, Endura, Ohlins, Muc-off, Elliot Brown Watches and Burgtec for all there support.

Cheers