Santa Cruz go Mega!
Santa Cruz have got a new beast for the trails - the Megatower!
What's hot in mountain biking right now? For a new bike, it's probably 150mm plus travel, needs to fit a shock with a piggy back reservoir, 1x specific design, carbon, has 29" wheels, a head angle around 65 degrees, reach of 460mm or more in large, and a seat angle beyond 75.5 degrees.
Well Santa Cruz have been working through their whole range to redevelop bikes, and here is the Mega Tower. It's a 160mm travel 29" wheeled bike that can fit a water bottle and a piggy back shock, has 470mm reach in large, and chainstays as short as 435mm. The seat angle is 76.6 degrees on a large which should keep your front wheel on the ground if you need to turn a corner uphill – but that's not really where this bike is designed to shine.
But there's more – with a Hi and Lo setting, the 'Lo' setting moves the head angle to 64.7 degrees, shortens the reach a little and drops the BB.
The bike is designed around a 160mm fork with 42mm or 44mm offset, but can take up to a 180mm fork.
If you spotted that the chainstays can be as short as 435mm, that's because they have a flip chip for 10mm adjustment. It's one way or the other, not infinite adjust. You can slide a 2.6" tyre in when in the long setting. Otherwise 2.5" is the max. Suspension is VPP and the suspension curve is designed to work with coil or air shocks. The frame has ISCG-05 mounts and can take a 36t chainring as a maximum.
There's a solid shuttle guard and just about all the inclusions you would expect from a bike like this, including options in C and CC carbon and plenty of build kits. Just see your Santa Cruz dealer for full details.
How does it ride? We have no idea, but the numbers add up to be a fast and stable gravity sled for riders who want a 29" wheeled-VPP platform with travel to ride big terrain – or just showboat at your local trails. And hey, it's a bike, it's a toy – there's nothing wrong with that.
But bear in mind this bike is designed around the trails that really only exist in a few places in Australia. If you frequent Maydena Bike Park, or Boomerang Bike Farm, or like racing downhill on a single crown and storming gravity enduro events – then yes, this could be a dream bike really suited to you. If that doesn't sound like you – then look at something else in the range.
