Bike Check: Mark Scott’s Hightower V4

A well known face to anyone who’s followed the EWS or gravity racing over the years, Mark is one of the most experienced athletes ever to race enduro, with years at the top end of the sport behind him racing on the Santa Cruz factory team.

Lately he’s diversified, now also smashing out enormous training rides, racing Gravel, Marathon and XC events, and still finding time to take on some ridiculous personal challenges in between like his absurd ‘Golfie in a day’ mission. He hasn’t given up the big bikes however, with us now lucky enough to have him working for Dirt School on the BASE course as a performance coach, passing on his wealth of knowledge to the younger generation.

Needless to say, he’s ridden most of the bikes Santa Cruz have made at one time or another and for the last couple of seasons has picked the Nomad and Megatower as his enduro bikes, but this year it’s the turn of the new and more capable Hightower V4 to step in as his main longer travel bike (Mark is also currently riding a Blur TR and a Stigamata). 

This is his second Hightower, after riding a V2 a few years ago and Mark thinks the new bike at 150mm travel is almost perfectly suited to the UK riding that he’ll spend the majority of his time on this year, with just enough capability to survive a bigger European race (bear in mind that his race pace is dramatically more demanding on the bike than us mortals) should he find himself taking part in any later in the year.

 Back home, the balance of mid travel and geometry mapped from the enduro bikes produces an ideal do it all rig for Mark, and the matched wheel sizes makes managing spares a little simpler for him when it comes to tires and rims.   

“I'm not all out enduro racing right now, so I was looking for something I could ride hard but also something that would be a bit more agile on the home trails of the Tweed Valley which is where I'll spend most of my time on it. It's a great bike for coaching on too, it doesn't iron out everything completely, so it keeps me on my toes. It's got that plush feeling but it’s not quite as endless as the big Megatower.”

A long term Hope athlete, Mark's bike still heavily features their parts throughout. In his own words their kit is ‘incredibly robust and serviceable, which is the dream as a privateer’.

155mm cranks are still quite a new development, with Hope one of few major manufacturers to offer the shorter length. These are Mark’s first set and so far he’s really liking them, finding them extra helpful in steep and tight terrain both for clearance and the narrower stance. 

While he has sometimes picked the smaller Hope E4 caliper previously, on this bike Mark has fitted the larger Tech 4 V4 brake so that no matter where his year takes him he’ll have more than enough stopping power. Those are paired with Hope’s excellent floating rotors at 200mm front and rear to create a powerful but easy to ride combination.

Like many of the fast enduro racers, Mark’s cockpit is narrower than most amateurs. His bars are cut to just 750mm (including the extra width from the grips) and he rides a short 35mm stem to speed up the bike's handling and slightly reduce the reach. A set of Burgtec Josh Bryceland grips in super soft provide the touch points.

For wheels and tires, he’s using the super tough Reserve HD30 carbon rims paired to his familiar Maxxis Assegai and DHR II tires, both in DH casing. Tire pressures are lower than you might imagine at just 19 and 20 psi and he doesn’t ride inserts, preferring the simpler, lighter and more linear setup of just the DH tire on the rim. If you’ve watched him ride in person that setup starts to make more sense. He’s super smooth, floating and gapping down the trail over the impacts most other riders hit. Indeed, in all the many EWS races he competed in, he never had to retire from a single one due to tire or rim failure, which speaks volumes not just to his riding but to the toughness of the Maxxis / Reserve combination.

Pedals are Hope F22. While Mark clips in for XC rides and racing, he coaches and rides trails on flats much of the winter to keep his skills up to date (yes, even the pros need to practice the basics).

Suspension is Fox Factory throughout and new to Mark after a few years mainly riding RockShox. He’s already happy with his current setup, which is quite close to the recommended baseline but notes that he hasn’t really put the work into doing a proper race setup just yet. He thinks he could squeeze even more out of the bike with some dedicated suspension work so his settings are likely to evolve to a final set of numbers once he puts in that time. He’s currently riding the bike in the Low position on the flip chip (the higher progression setting) for the improved small bump performance and deeper ride it gives.  

A RockShox Reverb AXS in 175mm handles seat dropping duty and finally, the drivetrain is a full SRAM XO transmission affair. Again, this is his first transmission drivetrain and so far, so good.

It’s still too early for a proper review on the bike from Mark with only a few weeks of riding time logged on it, but we’ll check back in with come spring for some more detailed ride impressions.

Keen to try a Hightower out for yourself? We've a Large demo bike ready to go right now and a Medium in it's little MX wheeled brother, the Bronson.

Full Bike Spec

Frameset: Santa Cruz Hightower V4, Size Medium, 150mm travel, Fox Float X Factory shock. Low position on the flip chip.

Fork: Fox 36 Factory, 160mm travel, Grip X2 damper

Rims: Santa Cruz Reserve HD 30, 29’

Tires: Maxxis Assegai DH Maxxgrip 2.5 front, Maxxis DHR II 2.4 DH Maxxgrip 2.4 rear (19 and 20psi, no inserts)

Hubs: Hope Pro 5

Brakes: Hope Tech 4 V4

Rotors: Hope Floating Rotors, 200mm front and rear.

Stem: Hope TR 35mm clamp, 35mm length.

Crankset: Hope Evo alloy, 155mm

Bar: Hope Carbon 35mm, cut to 750mm (inc grips)

Drivetrain: Chain, Cassette and Derailleur all SRAM XO transmission

Pedals: Hope F22.

Grips: Burgtec Josh Bryceland, Super Soft

Seatpost: Rock Shox Reverb Stealth AXS 175mm

Chainguide: One Up