Shorten it. Otherwise it’ll rattle.

I reckon knee pads are a good idea. I never came off when I was there last year for first time but my mate who is a relatively off-road noob came off twice on his bossnut leaving a nice indent in his cheap knee pads. I wear knees and elbows whenever I think there’s a chance I’ll tumble after taking a month to heal from a spill that would have been nothing with a pair of elbow pads.

I thought much of red was surprisingly rocky and rooty. Lots of things to smash kneecaps on.

Nobeerinthefridge I was all set to buy the Bronson until deciding wanted a 29er and figured the HT was pretty much a 29 Bronson. Both great. I wanted a raspberry Bronson for the sheer different-ness of it.

Just dropped my stem 5mm so I could get my Elemnt to fit over the top of my renthal stem – the Garmin was fine, but the Elemnt on a top cap mount clashed. Wonder if I’ll notice a 5mm drop. Assuming it will be an improvement given I’m at the lower end of the size guide for XL frame.

I will say that on slightly bumpy fireroad or Singletrack the rear of my HT with the Monarch isn’t as small bump plush as some bikes (with. 30% sag) and maybe the Pike isn’t as plush as the Lefty on my last bike (I’m running the Pike 25% sag). However it feels really agile and responsive and when the going gets a bit more rough and technical it’s a joy and feels super plush. Maybe a Fox in the rear would improve things and a Luftkappe up front but thats an expense for another year, I’m very happy with it as is. I never use the pedal platform lever on my Monarch because it doesn’t work (does nothing at all), but the bike doesn’t feel like it needs it.

My only issue is that as I am right at the bottom of the XL sizing it feels like it wants to wander a bit on steep techy climbs, though I suspect if I get out the saddle more on that type of climb my weight transfer would be better.

What I love is that with the saddle up it feels like a big mile munching cross country machine, but as soon as you drop it out the way, you seem to drop into the bike and it feels so agile and playful. It’s like two different bikes.

I never even asked for 150s but was happy it came with them. I don’t know if it was a mix up at the shop or if SC pushed out the last few 17s that way.

Can’t speak on the LT model but I love my 17 Hightower. Best bike I’ve ridden. Mine came with 150mm up front despite being a 29er. It’s great. It’s an XL which puts me at lower end of the size guide but it’s fine. Rather that than be on the he upper limit of the L.

Never ridden the 5 but my XL Hightower is the most manoeuvrable and capable bike I’ve owned so a 29er isn’t necessarily less manoeuvrable than a 27.5.

Walowitz

Don’t think the Dales really hold value too well. They are a niche bike and folk are put off by both the Lefty and the Dyad, and are never really fashionable so difficult to move. I bought my Trigger Carbon 2 new from Pauls for half price at £2k down from £4k. I upgraded the wheels with some custom DT EX471, sold it for £1300. Can’t get £2k for a used £4k bike when they are always on blow out for £2k new. I accepted the loss because I got a killer deal on a new ’17 Hightower. The Trigger was a really great bike – I like the Hightower better, but my Trigger was really great too.

Lefty is the only thing I miss since switching from my Trigger to Hightower. It was plusher than my Pike. I loved it.

It does need some more maintenance than the Pike, but nothing too troublesome. The needle bearings drift a little over the course of a few rides, unless you run it overly firm. With mine, it would result in shorter travel and steeper head angle as the fork gets sucked down with the bearings. However you can totally negate that by just resetting the bearings every few rides (once per month was about right for me). To do so requires nothing more than releasing all the air out, then bouncing down on the bars to compress the fork really firmly a few times until it compresses to within about an inch of the end of the stantion, the putting the air back in again. Takes about 1 minute. That’s all it needs.

It’s an awesome fork. Nicely plush and sensitive at the start of travel.

I had the Sunrace too. It was awesome. I’m back to 42t as my new bike has SRAM GX11 but with a tiny 30t up front.

I’m running Hope E4s on my Hightower (non LT) with the stock SRAM rotors. Needed to buy the Hope adapters. Fit just fine. Rear wouldn’t work with the SRAM adapter.

Ah. Didn’t read post properly. I have the stock SRAM discs.

Love my E4s. Moved them onto my Hightower before I even rode it. They’ve been totally reliable for a year now. Feel great. Less grabby than my XTs which were also less reliable – leaked twice before they were replaced under warranty.

I’ve never ridden a Mojo so I have nothing useful to say in comparison with the Hightower.

I do however love my Hightower. I read comments regarding pedal feedback, but I don’t feel it. I’ve never felt it getting caught up on anything, in fact it’s often described as one of the best bikes for traction over technical climbs. There are a few YouTube vids of guys claiming to have finally made it up techy climbs easily on the Hightower that they’d failed on other bikes. Not to say the Mojo wouldn’t be as good. I will say I’m never left wanting more from my bike, it’s super confidence inspiring. It is maybe over-forked: mine came with a 150 despite being a 29er which should have had a 140, but I reckon that means I can easily try 27+ sometime.

On the other hand, YouTuber mtbyumyum sold his Hightower for an HD4 – he does like a bit of air and a lot of fast DH though, with mostly fireroad climbs. He’s also now considering the Hightower LT.

I imagine both are awesome, Ibis or Mojo. I wanted a VPP bike for so long, and most recently the Hightower, so when the 17 CS build was on sale I snagged one. Couldn’t be happier.

I don’t baby my Hightower or Defy. My road and mountain bikes are year round. I have no winter bike or summer bike. Never had a bike that needed care through the winter. Light hose down after every ride.

Looks nice. I loved my Trigger whilst I had it, Cannondale make nice bikes. YT have a sale on right now, if you can get another £600 together you could get a Jeffsy 2 CF somewhere in between the Cannondale and the S150 pricing.

I tried one on in Evans earlier in the year. No way I could wear that out. Looks so nice on the shelf, and so huge on my head. Ended up with a Bell Super 3 instead.

Get a Bronson? I love my Hightower but you dont want a 29er. Bronson was my second choice as all round trail bike.

I’d keep the trance.

Woo. Lots of fellow Hightower owners. Mines in 29er spec too despite the 150mm plus spec fork. There might still be some 2017 models going for a good price. Mine was 20-25% off last month.

I love my Hightower. Not quite 130mm. It’s 135mm at the rear and 140 up front (though mine came with a 150mm). Best bike I’ve owned thus far and the first bike that doesn’t feel too short. I did go XL which puts me at the bottom end of the size guide.

I bought from ptcycles.co.uk earlier this year and was really happy with the service and the result.

Good news. I didn’t know Eddy’s bike was missing, but heavily modded Jekyll – he was first I thought of!

I’ve been running E4 brakes for almost a year now. Love them. More power, more control, more comfort, than my XTs. Moved them to the new bike the day it arrived. Awesome. Got them from rush cycles. More power than I need, feel great.

I think it’s genuinely function. In the past 2 years I’ve jumped up the geometry ladder a bit. I owned a Santa Cruz Superlight for quite a long time and enjoyed it but was never really confident at speeds over techy stuff. My mate still road an Orange P7 that I bought in 93 and sold him. A quick ride on that after many years and I felt uncomfortable and unstable. So certainly something in the geometry changes over 18 years made a difference between those two bikes.

I sold the Superlight for a Cannondale Trigger 18 months ago and my riding improved significantly overnight. Maybe it was placebo but I don’t think so. I felt much more confident, comfortable, and stable over the techy Singletrack. I started riding things I’d walked before.

This month I sold that for a Hightower. That bike seems to make rocks smaller and I feel much more stable at speed. I’m riding off small drops now, where before I took the chicken route. But I’m no less capable on the climbs, and arguably faster on the flat. It’s even more capable on tight and techy too.

Just because it’s longer and slacker than before doesn’t mean it’s going to make flats and climbs tough or bimbly. Unless you pick the wrong bike. Pretty sure a V10 wont work so well as a trail bike. Right tool for the job etc.

I’m not necessarily any faster on the Hightower than the Trigger, but I feel less on the edge, more in control.

When I was fitting Maxxis DHR2 and DHF to my bike the other week I got the DHR2 on in seconds with my Joe Blow pump. The DHF was a proper pain and I almost gave up. It was a much looser fit over the rim tape.

In the end the trick I came up with was to push the tire up towards the rim edge away from the valley the rim tape runs over. Pushing from the opposite side through the tire. Then carefully repeated same from the other side taking care not to let the first side push back to the middle. Took a couple of minutes, then the Joe Blow inflated it no problem. Just need to push it enough that it bites and takes up the gap to get a seal.

Might also be worth checking out the close out deals on other brands too, unless you are set on the Bird? YT have £400 off their bikes right now – good deals on the 27 and 29 Jeffsy Carbon in your price range. I just bought a Hightower C S new within your budget which I totally love. Otherwise Joe and George have spec’d nice Birds.

edit: I’d add the Hope E4 brakes. I totally love mine and moved them over to my new bike day one.

@thebrowndog that’s a pretty bike. Enjoy.

I’m 46 next month, bought this new bike last week.

It was leaning on a bit of wood. :D

New bike arrived yesterday!

I put an 11-32 on mine and enjoy riding it much more since. It’s got a 50/34 up front too. I needed a new chain with a couple more links.

Selling my Trigger Carbon 2 as I’ve just ordered a Hightower. What do you think, should I break it down and sell as parts or as a complete bike?

It’s upgraded with DT Swiss EX471 wheels with Hope and Cannondale hubs, XT 1×11 with sunrace cassette, and Hope E4s on Renthal carbon bars (though I will probably keep the bars and brakes and fit the Guide Rs from the Hightower to it. Also running new and not yet ridden DHF and DHRII tyres. The fork was serviced last year with the 2spring upgrade and the rear shock was replaced yesterday under warranty.

vt612 is there a wheels mfg threaded BB that fits the trigger? I’ve just put one on my road bike and planned to put one on my Trigger when the current one wears out.

Gah – Mojo just called. The good news is my DYAD will get repaired or replaced under warranty. The bad news is that they have no DYAD parts in stock (or at least not the ones I need). It’s gonna be 6 weeks or so. :(

I’ll have to look longingly at the recently fitted but as yet un-ridden DHF TR and DHR II TR tyres for now.

At least I have my road bike.

Looks like the shaft is protruding unweighted.

Eddie I see you have a rock guard on your Jekyll. Do they make one for the trigger?

Seems to disappear inside the shock when no weight. I’m hoping it’s still under warranty since it’s not 2 years old until March next year. Fox seem to do a 2 year warranty in EU.

Parksie, you know that the cranks on the trigger carbon 2 can take a direct mount chain ring? Looks cleaner. I’m running a 1×11 setup with a direct mount 32t oval and a sunrace 11-46 out back.

My Trigger is misbehaving a bit. Been getting a lot of pedal strikes, finding it softer than usual, blows through travel easily. I’ve reset the Dyad to my usual PSI a couple of times and it’s made no difference. Today I put in a fair bit more pressure than normal and it still felt soft. Short travel mode even feels kinda soft. I’ve been noticing a clicking sound when climbing a steep tough long gradient too.

When topping up the +ve air chamber I get a small amount of oil coming out which I don’t think happened before. Do I need to send it to Mojo for an expensive service? Thoughts?

I am running offset bushings but they been fine for months. Not the best time to need a service as I just bought a wheelsmfg BB and tools to install for my road bike, and a pair of new tyres for the Trigger.

Guys

I need some new tyres, the Wild GripR2s are wearing down especially on the rear. I do a lot of general natural trail riding in Scotland, mostly along the West Highland Way from Milngavie to Dumgoyne. Also a trip to Glentress from time to time.

Was considering DHF pairing or DHF/R2 pairing for a bit more grip. Will they be too draggy for general trail riding? I felt like the Wild GripR2s were slightly sketchy at Glentress but that’s not my main trail location.

I’m 203 front and back. No fouling. Not even close. Mandatory to fit my Hope E4s as the bulky calliper wouldn’t fit on the stock mount.