2017 Santa Cruze Bronson r1x

Last year I demoed the Bronson and the Hightower. Both were great, but the Hightower was more fun.* The HT was in fact the only SC bike that I have been really impressed with in many years. My only desire for it was for more travel and they did that with the Hightower LT.

*Fun for me is riding through chaotic terrain at high speed, leaning the bike over hard in corners and jumping off of whatever I can along the way. Being able to climb up terrain to get the aforementioned in a efficient manner is also a big plus. The Hightower does this exceptionally well. In the end, like I said I wanted all that plus more travel and got that in spades with an Evil Wreckoning. In the 27.5 wheel category, I’d take an Evil Calling (in the X-low setting) over a Bronson all day. I spent a solid month riding one prior to my new bike arriving. It rips like no other bike with only 130mm of travel.

I demoed the Bronson, the Giant Trance advance, and the Salsa Redpoint.. I liked the Trance best but all three were great bikes.

For me it was between the Pivot Mach 6, Ibis Mojo, and the Santa Cruz Bronson.  I ended up going with the Bronson and love it.  Most of my riding is the rocky terrain of Northern AZ and it eats up everything.