SomeBikeGuy profile

I can think of a few companies (and a lot of individual employees) in and out of the cycling industry that should be taking a lot out of this article. It's nice to get insight into the Crankbrothers resurgence.

Aesthetically, this bike looks great. The geo numbers seem to make sense for a bike w/ 140mm of travel, so that's cool. As for the shock, let's look at the whole thing reasonably. Are current options from Fox, RS, and others really so good as to make "something better" impossible? No. Some current options from established manufacturers range can be good, a lot are mediocre, some are complete garbage. So long as this thing works and the parts are readily available, seems like a win to me. And if it's easy to service as well, what's left to complain about? Really? Nothing.

Also, just look at the bike. LOOK AT IT. It's so pretty.

That climb switch will cost you $200+ on top of the price of a Bomber Air shock if you choose to go with a Float X Factory series, for a shock that really isn't that different other than the gold coating and a climb switch. For that money, you have your choice of shocks with climb switches that don't require paying Fox's Kashima Tax and will likely perform better. Up to you though, it's your money.

Fox Float X Performance Elite, 210 X 50-55 (they're internally adjustable for stroke) MSRP is $699 CAD. Marzocchi Bomber Air MSRP is $619 CAD. But you'll have trouble finding a Float X PE in sizes other than 210 X 50-55, whereas the Bomber Air is available after-market in all a large variety of sizes. If you can find a Float X PE in the length/stroke you need, it's likely a take-off and cheaper than $699. At which point you shouldn't even look at the Bomber Air. If you can't, or can't be bothered to wait, the Bomber Air will do the trick. I've ridden both, pretty sure I couldn't tell the difference in a blind test. The Float X is easier to dial in though, which feels like it's worth an extra $80 to me. YMMV.

If you're really worried about having the "perfect" shock tune for your bike, have it tuned. Spend the money, do it right. Will you notice a difference? Unlikely, but then it probably depends on how large the difference in tunes is.

The real take away from this review? There's zero point in going with the Float X Factory shock other than to show other riders that you have more disposable income than they do and that you spend it on shocks painted gold, like an idiot.

Not that I'm in the market for a $10k+ bike at the moment, but in as-tested spec this Hightower costs $13,999.00 CAD. In an incredibly similar and extremely comparable spec, the made-in-Canada AKA made-in-a-significantly-higher-cost-jurisdiction and made-by-a-significantly-smaller-company-with-less-negotiating-power-with-OEM-suppliers WeAreOne Arrival 152 costs $11,499.00 CAD. And they're both bikes that are more or less aimed at the same rider riding similar terrain.This highly inflated pricing is seen across the board with Santa Cruz bikes.

Please explain in detail how the Santa Cruz Hightower is worth the extra $2500. If you're unable to, which is totally OK as it's not your job as a bike reviewer, send Santa Cruz the question and post their answer.

I'm not looking forward to figuring out how to vote for 27 out of 137 candidates in Vancouver's municipal election. Seems... like not a good way to set up a city council. Wards, a mixed system of wards and at-large, literally anything other than this would probably be better. Still, research will be done and I'll vote for what I think is the best possible compromise. Democracy was never meant to be cheap, easy, or great, but it beats all the other options we've got.

Unless you think I should become the benevolent dictator of the world. That's obviously the perfect solution. Better transit, bike infrastructure, and living conditions for all worldwide!

Scott Bikes could solve 1/2 of their cable routing issues by simply getting rid of that idiotic TwinLoc system...

All other cable and housing routing issues are nearly as easily solved. Make it all wireless. 

You want stupid suspension lock outs and riding modes? Wireless. SRAM did it with Flight Attendant and it works well, no reason why other suspension brands can't do something similar. Shifting? Wireless. Shift cables are stupid. Dropper posts? When has a cabled dropper ever consistently worked well without regular issues? Never. Time to go wireless. Brakes? If Brake By Wire is good enough for Formula 1, and it is, it's good enough for cycling. Take that, make it wireless, problem solved. Big Bike is too lazy to make wireless braking happen, or they're going to use the "it's too expensive" excuse even though top-end disc brakes currently run $450+/end? If you can't make wireless braking happen safely for $450+/end, A- you suck at your job and B- fine, just give me a quick & lossless disconnect that fits through frame ports at either end and I can work out the rest. Or be like Transition and give me external routing for the rear brake. It's not as pretty but at least it makes some sense. Wireless stuff saves brands quite a bit in terms of assembly costs, it's cleaner for consumers, it should even result in lower pricing. Win/win/win.

Enough's enough. This idiocy of routing cables and hydraulic hoses through headset bearings and other junk that makes regular service next to impossible is yet another example of Big Bike's love of abusing its customers.

Why this isn't a thing on all hydraulic disc brakes is beyond me.

But which T47?!?

The "standard" T47 with a BB shell width of 86.5mm, or Trek's adaptation of T47 with a BB shell width of 85.5mm that makes mass production a lot easier at no cost to performance? BB cups for T47 86.5mm work fine with T47 85.5mm but it doesn't work the other way around. If only more stakeholders could have thought through and talked about T47 before this mess happened, right? 

I'd be surprised if T47 didn't have an impact on frame design, particularly full suspension frames, so I'm thinking that it mostly keeps to the road & hardtail side of things. But I'm not a frame designer, so what do I know???

Mountain bike manufacturers: "We heard you want threaded BB shells and for the first time ever, we listened to our customers and made it happen! And if we didn't, we're using BB89/92."

Raceface: "Here's our new workhorse crankset that 99% of Raceface crank purchasers should be buying. Check out the 30mm spindle, which saves you 37 or so grams in exchange for what is genuinely terrible BB bearing life in both threaded and BB89/92 BB shells, using bearings that no legitimate bearing manufacturer would at all recommend for this application."

It looks pretty but way to not read the room Raceface.