Forum menu
Oh and the Bird looks sooooooo much nicer
It's not only the rear end that's stiffer on the V3 AM9s, the front triangle was also considerably reinforced
No large birds in stock until November!
Have you considered an ebike as well Renton? Similar money...
They’re the same bike just rebadged
That's what I thought. And that Hightower reminds me a lot of the Boardman if I'm honest..
There's large AM9s in V2 but only if you like lime green or blue! To be honest, the spec was so good on the bird that if I ride it through the summer and decide to change the frame at a later date it would still be cheaper than a lot of the other options and I'd get a bike to ride without waiting months.
I get some people don’t like the look of the Birds - I suspect mainly because of the big welds and the external cable routing. It’s a solid and decent quality frame and the external cables make maintenance easy - but there are prettier frames that hide the cable and either have smooth welds or carbon.
What was important to me was that the pivot hardware is decent - I had a Boardman Pro FS before and it rode ok but the pivot bolts were quite small and not the best quality. The Bird has locking collets and they’ve not given me any trouble. There are also frame sheets with torque values per bolt, bearings specs and even locktite specifications. All aimed at being easy to work on.
I don’t have an AM9 as I’m not into 29ers - but if I was I’d look at the AM9 v3 when available. Although the weight is quite chunky - if I had the budget I’d probably look at carbon frames if it meant I could lop off a couple of lbs (not sure if that’s possible or not).
FYI I’ve had an Aeris 145LT and currently own an Aether 7 and been impressed with both and the backup from Bird.
That spanish place that did the cheap Santa Cruz frames still going? worth a look, you could build yourself a very nice alloy one up to a better spec than NX if you take your time, and you still end up with the incredibly good SC warranty and free bearings.
Awful?
To me yes. Looks like catalogue tubing & a nasty logo/branding.
But, it's not my bike - so that doesn't really matter 🙂
The welding does look better than the Ripmo's tbf
That spanish place that did the cheap Santa Cruz frames still going? worth a look, you could build yourself a very nice alloy one up to a better spec than NX if you take your time, and you still end up with the incredibly good SC warranty and free bearings
Where was this mate ?
Was on here a while back, worth putting a thread up to ask, I can't recall the name of the place.
Are you thinking of Granary Bikes which became The Online Cycle Shop?
https://www.theonlinecycleshop.com/
They are British but I think the owner also had a shop in Spain.
i bought the hightower v2 despite it being a santa cruz and all the bell end jibes are worth it as its a great bike. i couldn't get over how bad the ripmo looks and never fancied a bird myself.
That name doesn't ring a bell Yetiman.
Edit - thread here - https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/anyone-bought-a-santa-cruz-frame-from-ltm-racing/
Cant find any Ripmos or Hightowers in stock anywhere.
If anyone knows of some please let me know.
Frames in stock in XL here, and bike listed as 2-7 days
https://www.bike-components.de/en/s/?filterSize=XL&keywords=hightower
Frame only is £1933 from there. is that a good price?
Or get another S-150, but get a Large not an XL, as the XL you had was too big for you… Absolutely awesome bike for the money, but riding the wrong size isn’t going to help! 🤷🏻♂️
all 150's are sold out, and discontinued for next year
Discontinued because it'll be replaced with an S-160 or something
I was trying to help pre-empt your next bike change, with the chainstays comment.
I was trying to help pre-empt your next bike change, with the chainstays comment.
Haha fair one.
Ive still got the bfe max, waiting on the pike Ive ordered for it.
Frame only is £1933 from there. is that a good price?
AL frame only is / was £1899 RRP in the UK. Demand is outstripping supply at the moment so 'good price' is the one you can actually get the item you want for..
Do you think it's possible to build a decent hightower frame up with decent kit for £3400??
With frame only at £1900?
That still leaves £1500 for the rest of the build. Say £600 for a decent fork new if you look around, £400 for a full XT 12 speed groupset - leaves £500 for wheels and the other bits. If you build your own wheels it’s still going to be tight.
Depends what you class as decent I suppose - if you could drop to a deore 12 speed groupset that gets you back about another £160 which covers your brakes if you go for 4 pot deores or maybe guide re.
I think you’d need to go secondhand on the fork or find a proper bargain to make it work. Maybe specialised might have some half price tyres etc etc
Do you think it’s possible to build a decent hightower frame up with decent kit for £3400??
Yep. There is one for sale on Pinkbike at the moment. it's a new XL CC Carbon frame for £2k.
Could easily build up a nice spec bike for that amount with some considered purchases.
In stock here for 1800
https://www.bike-components.de/en/Santa-Cruz/Hightower-2-0-AL-29-Frame-Kit-2020-Model-p73371/
leaves you 1600, if you shopped around I reckon you could, but mibbe used for some stuff?
1933 Frame
£500 ish for a Pike from R2-Bike
£300 Hunt Wheels
500 SLX 12sp groupset with 4-pot brakes from R2Bike
100 Brand X Dropper
77 for whatever's left from saddle bars, stem, tyres that you don't have in the shed.
Appreciating that I'm bound to say this but:
Don’t mean to be a buzz killer, but can’t really find the appeal of the Hightower AL. I look at it, IMHO, as an overpriced, overweight aluminium mock-up of a carbon frame that seems to get generally lukewarm reviews.
All the reviews I've sen for the V2 Hightower have been that its a really good all round trail bike - I bought one as soon as it was released so had it a while.
The alloy frame is £1899 - whic is less than a Stage 5, less than a Transition, less than many of the other alloy options. I actually didnt WANT a Santa Cruz, but it turned out to be the best bike for me when I ignored my preconceptions (no Audi here).
As for spec though - the Santa Cruz off the peg builds are dump. I build mine for less than the figures quoted and its miles better specced. I absolutely love it.
[URL= https://thumbsnap.com/t/NHvV7gYG.jp g" target="_blank">https://thumbsnap.com/t/NHvV7gYG.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
Buy a frame and build your own!
Swap your bits from your existing bike.
In stock here for 1800
https://www.bike-components.de/en/Santa-Cruz/Hightower-2-0-AL-29-Frame-Kit-2020-Model-p73371/
leaves you 1600, if you shopped around I reckon you could, but mibbe used for some stuff?
How are you getting it for £1800
Posted for me by PayPal is £1933
Haven't got another bike mate so can't use the bits off it.
I only looked at the headline cost, not searching your postage etc, you want me to make your dinner as well? I'll not bother next time, ****.
I only looked at the headline cost, not searching your postage etc, you want me to make your dinner as well? I’ll not bother next time, ****.
I think you've misunderstood what I meant.
I was just wondering if you had done something different like a different payment method as opposed to PayPal. That was all. Apologies if you thought I meant something else.
Comes out at 2,096.14 including shipping to Ireland for me, that's 1,877.17 sterling.
It's a fiver more to ship to UK than it is to Ireland, but that's what you lot voted for, I guess.
Comes out at 2,096.14 including shipping to Ireland for me, that’s 1,877.17 sterling.
It’s a fiver more to ship to UK than it is to Ireland, but that’s what you lot voted for, I guess.
How's that paying mate. I went through PayPal and it came out at £1933?
If you've got a Bfe Max why do you fancy a long travel 29er as well?
That was just converting via Google, PayPal exchange rate might be different for you
My input is only to say I had a ripmo af and hated it, bought it feb sold it April.
An all round trail bike it definitely isn’t. It’s a bike for descending. It pedals ok on the uphills but id say most 160mm bikes go uphill better than it.
I’ll add that I’m a big ibis fanboy, I’ve had every mojo dating back to 2009, 2 x ripleys and currently own a Hakka and mojo hd4.
How’s that paying mate. I went through PayPal and it came out at £1933?
PayPal is expensive. If you have a foreign currency fee-free MasterCard (and many are now) it comes to £1889 on https://www.mastercard.co.uk/en-gb/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html.
Did you rule out the sentinel?
It's a looker for sure! Cheapish too @ £1259 but no XL only large
Clearly Renton isn’t checking his messages as I messaged him yesterday about my xl reactor frame I’ve for sale!
I’d have done a deal on🤷♂️ Must defo want that Cruz bad lol.
Batman: Just seen and replied to your message.
The seat tube is too. Long on the XL reactor for me.
Got a very good deal on a full bike now so sorted.
Orbea Rallon M20 with Nealy £600 off. Should compliment my BFe hardtail quite well.
Not tried the SC but had a short blast on the Ripmo AF and really liked it. A lot.
I've been considering the Ripmo as well very good reviews all round.
I did test ride a Bird AM9 and hated it, felt like a dead weight rear suspension would hang up all the time didn't enjoy it at all. They are very easy to book a test ride to make your own mind up though