Hot on the wheels of the Bronson update last month, the Santa Cruz Hightower 4 has arrived. The trail/all-mountain bike with 160/150mm of suspension travel front and rear adds travel and goes slacker at the head tube. Santa Cruz has tweaked the suspension layout a smidge as well, promising reduced anti-squat like the updated Bronson.
Longer and slacker
Clearly, we are not seeing the end of longer and slacker mountain bike geometry progression with the latest Santa Cruz bikes. The Hightower 4 adds 5mm of rear suspension travel and specs a 10mm longer fork for all builds. Also, the head tube angle on the Santa Cruz Hightower 4 is slacker than the previous version, sitting at 64°±, depending on whether the flip chip is in the high or low position.
In step with the slacker head angle, the seat angle gets steeper, sitting between 77° and 78° depending on the frame size and the flip chip configuration. Chainstays are longer this time around, and are proportional to the frame size, ranging from 434mm to 446mm. Bottom brackets are a few milimeters higher, so it’s not the full long-low-slack treatment, just two out of three.
Suspension tweaks
Santa Cruz moved the pivot points around a bit for the Hightower 4 as you can see in the diagram above. This is said to reduce anti-squat which should reduce pedal kickback for certain impacts and also allows the suspension to remain more active while pedaling and with less overall pedal efficiency.
Frame highlights
The Santa Cruz Hightower 4 is available in two exclusive colors: Gloss Day Green and Matte Deep Purple. There are two levels of carbon frames on offer, and both feature in-frame downtube storage. The higher-grade carbon frames do not include routing for a mechanical drivetrain.
Buyers can choose from frame sizes small through extra, extra large.
Santa Cruz Hightower 4 builds
All Hightower 4 builds features Maxxis Minion DHRII and DHF tires, SRAM drivetrains, and SRAM brakes. All but the lowest-cost R builds include a Fox 36 fork and OneUp V3 dropper post. All frames are coil-compatible, though none of the builds appear to come stock with a coil shock.
Pricing for complete bikes range from $4,799 to $10,899 at local Santa Cruz dealers and select online retailers.
What do you think: Is reduced anti-squat a good thing or a bad thing? Tell us in the comments below.
