Santa Cruz Megatower

It’s a lot of bike for the average trails.

Yes, the Santa Cruz Megatower seems like a silly name – at least to me (it sounds like it’s going to convert into a robot at any moment) – but it seems like the sort of bike that might be able to transform itself to suit a whopping range of mountain biking. Time will tell.

The bike is very confidence-inspiring. It can handle almost anything I’ve thrown at it.

For a big bike, it plowed. This is the mega-plower, is what this thing is. And I was really impressed with it.

The key word I would use is here is stable, that’s what the Megatower felt like, Very stable platform. I attribute a lot of that to that longer wheelbase.

It’s extremely capable and it likes to go really fast.

I really enjoy it. I was a bit dubious as to if I should be going to a 29er. I was quite keen on the 27.5”.

The stability of these new long, slack and low bikes is just unbelievable.

It definitely felt much more of a trail bike than I would consider a 160mm bike to feel.

I couldn’t get it to hit the line that I wanted several times on this trail.

It could be the best bike I’ve ever ridden.

If the brakes were better, I honestly think this build would be an amazing value.

I definitely felt like the ride on the Megatower was a little more engaging. I’m hesitant to say it was funner. It was just different. It took me a little bit to get used to, but it definitely was a very engaging and fun ride.

It feels really comfortable. You can definitely feel you’re on a big bike though.

The Megatower…it can do it all.

It is made to go downhill and I think it climbs just a touch better than the Hightower LT.

On small bumps there’s a decent, if not class-leading, level of sensitivity and while square-edge performance is significantly improved with the new lower link design, it isn’t perfect and we still hung up hard enough on one particular rock to almost drag us over the bars.

This feels like a bike that can take a beating and be ridden hard for years to come.

The handling of the Santa Cruz Megatower is very balanced and a lot of fun to ride on every kind of trail.

It takes a lot of speed to get this bike to truly come alive. If you enjoy riding fast, steep, long descents, spend a lot of time riding lift-served terrain, and / or race Enduro, you might enjoy the stability and speed this bike has to offer.

The Megatower steamrolled its way onto the scene a few months ago, taking its place as Santa Cruz’s burliest 29er (except for the V10 29, of course), with 160mm of front and rear travel.

I like it. It looks great. Modern geometry without any extremes. Light and stiff it seems. The two adjusting chips are a fantastic option to fine tune the ride. No flaws, great finishing… any Santa Cruz fan will want to own one. A dark liquorice off- black for the bogans and a fruity sea foam green for the metro folk.

The Megatower is a bully. It demands that you ride it hard. If you’re not regular riding double blacks, hucking features, riding steep slabs and loose fall line with baby head rocks, then maybe the Megatower is not your bike. You simple won’t enjoy it.