More evolution the revolution. Nice bike but nothing that would make me trade my two year old Tallboy.
New Hightower V3 released today.
Rev Bubba
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Had the v1, v2 and now the V3 at 5’10.
The v1 and v2 were L size… and when I tried the v3 in L, I found it was a big boat to move… even my Mt2 in L was/is more manœuvrable and fun to me. I test rode the M too and find the M much more nimble and bought a M At the end.
But now I find me liking more the Mt2 than the HT3 for almost everything I ride… a part from the XC side…(but I ordered a new ripley so…) even for big mountain ride with 1500m D+ to ride, I take the Mt2…
Not that I like not the HT3… but to me… the Mt2 is simply better done than the HT3… It’s perhaps why they change the bronson and next HT4 before the big bike??
And for the new Bronson, geo wise I think the move is right… but weight wise… where will we end with this kind of bike?
My HT3 in X0, RSV (i9 Hydra) wheels + Hayes dominion a4 weight 14.5kg without pedals…. If the Ht4 goes the bronson direction at 14.7kg for the x0 carbon wheels…. It’s a lot to move for big adventure… even in if the geo and suspension are more important…
At the moment, liking more my MT2 than my HT3… the new ripmo and the stumpy 15 are more appealing to me. Stumpy 15 pro is 14kg… geo adjustable, seems to pedals well, rear end very confortable, lot of review said it to be playful (shorter chainstay should help). I found the HT3 is not the best balanced bike (Seat tube angle / long chainstay (that I like in other bike but absolutely not in this one), etc…)…. I find it jack of all trades but master of none… And I repeat… I’m not saying it‘s a bad bike… it’s good, but he lack’s personality… (not the most playful, not the most confortable, not the best climber)…
My HT3 in X0, RSV (i9 Hydra) wheels + Hayes dominion a4 weight 14.5kg without pedals…. If the Ht4 goes the bronson direction at 14.7kg for the x0 carbon wheels…. It’s a lot to move for big adventure… even in if the geo and suspension are more important…
At the moment, liking more my MT2 than my HT3… the new ripmo and the stumpy 15 are more appealing to me. Stumpy 15 pro is 14kg… geo adjustable, seems to pedals well, rear end very confortable, lot of review said it to be playful (shorter chainstay should help). I found the HT3 is not the best balanced bike (Seat tube angle / long chainstay (that I like in other bike but absolutely not in this one), etc…)…. I find it jack of all trades but master of none… And I repeat… I’m not saying it‘s a bad bike… it’s good, but he lack’s personality… (not the most playful, not the most confortable, not the best climber)…
IMHO they should’ve stopped at the 65.5 deg hta the HT2 had and 140/145mm rear travel. That model bike with full carbon spec was around 13kg. Most importantly it suited the designed purpose.
Now people constantly rambling about how they want to have a more capable bike, that’s fine, just get an enduro bike or one with a more agressive geo. This comes with sacrifices though. Not everyone out there is an enduro racer or a park bro, so how about we keep a % of the bikes with a moderate geo for “moderate” rides? I do realize I sound like an old f&rt, but it’s hard to ride in my terrain with these new bikes, I’ve got to do a 1000m+ climb if I want to ride any trail…
I miss the old day when my specialized enduro (650b) was 12.8kg, 160front 165 rear…, playful, and capable and fun when things pointed down… I even did a XC marathon race (Grand Raid in Switzerland) with it, 70km and 3000mD+… (it was not the best bike for this…but If I had to do it again… I will take back the spe enduro and not the HT3 for this one).
That bad uh? I almost exclusively rode the HT2, even though it was obviously not as efficient as my XC bike on the way up, it was way more comfortable pedaling uphill, so it got to a point that I just refused to use the XC bike.
Bikes were really heavy in the mid 2000s. With the introduction of carbon frames, wheels and other parts, bikes got lighter and lighter in the 2010s, still plenty reliable, to the point that they had "so much weight to spare" that started to make them burlier and went up in weight again. Because why not? I feel like the tipping point was about 5 years ago.
Now we're back to 15-16 kg for a full carbon bike, that costs more than a 450, and rides pretty much the same as that 5 year old bike that costed $3000 or $4000 less. I'm all for progress but...
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397 Posts
Yeah. Shifter cable with all the electric stuff around… whatever. Delete.
But brake… if it is more expensive and 100g heavier… WHY in the world internal?! To make folks that buy by optics happy I guess. Else there are only disadvantages.. and the biggest one may hit you when you’re racing or just going away somewhere for the weekend or vacation and have a mechanical on your brake or you went OTB… and without that mechanical shifter cable barspin protection a ripped brake hose did not become more unlikely. That race/weekend or whatever trip is done. Been there.
On a bike with exterior brake routing you’ll need 3 minutes, a knife, a handful of zip ties, a buddy or some kind of other donor bike that borrows you a brake and you’re golden.
But brake… if it is more expensive and 100g heavier… WHY in the world internal?! To make folks that buy by optics happy I guess. Else there are only disadvantages.. and the biggest one may hit you when you’re racing or just going away somewhere for the weekend or vacation and have a mechanical on your brake or you went OTB… and without that mechanical shifter cable barspin protection a ripped brake hose did not become more unlikely. That race/weekend or whatever trip is done. Been there.
On a bike with exterior brake routing you’ll need 3 minutes, a knife, a handful of zip ties, a buddy or some kind of other donor bike that borrows you a brake and you’re golden.
Been there too, such underrated comment! External routing just makes everything so much easier and I never had a rock hit my downtube so hard that it pierced the brake hose.
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134 Posts
Anyone know exactly how much weight the Bronson frame gained? Part of these added weights I would guess is in the spec — the most powerful brakes, 200 mm front rotor, proper exo+ tires. The bike is ready to rumble in big mountains and steeps which is more Bronson dna than HT. I think the HT3 is an absolutely phenomenal bike, suspension improved and longer chain stays were improvement and myself have only porked it up with heavier tires, wheels that have been near indestructible(and warrantied when they weren’t, ha, HD30 AL), Alu bar. (toyed with adding the 200mm front rotor too but couldn’t bring myself to do it yet —I do wish it was lighter—however my reality is that my regularly encountered trails have big drops, rolls, jumps and chunk. I thought it lost next to nothing with a 160 fork and gained so much as well. NW US rider here.
you can go the other direction with HT as well with tire and wheel choice and all the carbon bits and I would love to it in my mind-I do love going up too- but then my day to day reality just doesn’t make it feel right. Tallboy is a more than capable trail bike if you terrain is more climbing and natural or flowier descents. HT3 still climbs beautifully, calmer, ime
all that said, if rumors are true, HT and Mega gap will seem much smaller — more akin to the current Tallboy / HT gap. However I’d guess Mega will get some extra travel next time around.
you can go the other direction with HT as well with tire and wheel choice and all the carbon bits and I would love to it in my mind-I do love going up too- but then my day to day reality just doesn’t make it feel right. Tallboy is a more than capable trail bike if you terrain is more climbing and natural or flowier descents. HT3 still climbs beautifully, calmer, ime
all that said, if rumors are true, HT and Mega gap will seem much smaller — more akin to the current Tallboy / HT gap. However I’d guess Mega will get some extra travel next time around.
I don't usually post pictures of my bikes but what the heck, it's a "new" build after all. All parts are swapped over except for the bb and steering bearings, it just made sense to install new ones. I kinda like how the Ocean Blue pairs with the black suspension and shock. Man that front rotor looks tiny...
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20 Posts
Re: frame weight: according to the SC site; the frame weight remains the same from V4.1 to V5. SO it being spec changes could be the case; or perhaps the weights on SC site are not yet corrected. I compared the archive section for V4 to the V5. FYI - I have both a HTv2 and a Bronson V4.. Love the Bronson, and will demo a V5 when I'm able - to compare the two. Although the V4 does move a tad more (when staring at the shock if one chooses too), it's by no means a bad climber. Yes; HT will 'roll over' better and contribute to better 'all day efficiency' (as 29ers do), but the additional 'fun factor' of the Bronnie more than makes up for it in my experience.
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336 Posts
Well you are left with no bike right now. What was the warranty issue you had?
I agree on the demo. A few months ago they had both a medium and large, and a buddy and I had planned to get one of each for the day and swap back and forth to get a good feel for both. Unfortunately, they now just have the medium, so other than parking lot rides, I don't know how to get a real ride in on a large.
The weight is a tough one for me too. I'm amazed at how quickly weight increases when you move away from XC. I'm currently on a Blur 4 that is just under 10 kg, with tools cages and pedals, so moving to a bike that is essentially 50% more is mentally challenging for me. Certainly the bulk of the difference is the burlier parts, but more than a kg is due to frame weight.
I keep coming back to the desire for companies to make trail-travel bikes for non-Clyde riders. I'm looking for an HT CCC, where the extra "C" means they removed a bunch of material, and added a rider weight cap on the frame. Pretty sure it's not going to happen though. On my Blur I have a bunch of parts that are weight limited, like the pedals, bar, and stem. I suppose this still wont make a significant difference unless their are lighter fork and shock options as well, but we can dream.
I keep coming back to the desire for companies to make trail-travel bikes for non-Clyde riders. I'm looking for an HT CCC, where the extra "C" means they removed a bunch of material, and added a rider weight cap on the frame. Pretty sure it's not going to happen though. On my Blur I have a bunch of parts that are weight limited, like the pedals, bar, and stem. I suppose this still wont make a significant difference unless their are lighter fork and shock options as well, but we can dream.
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232 Posts
That would be nice. The HT3 was on my short list of three bikes to buy this summer (others were the new Stumpy 15 and new Ripmo). I came from a V3 (2019) 5010 that is super playful and poppy, but gets overwhelmed easy. If I was getting rid of the 5010, I would have gotten the HT3, no contest. The HT3 was the best all-rounder and all mountain bike I could do my XC all day rides, enduro or the rare park trip. At the current discounts, the HT3 is a steal (IMHO). All three of the bikes I short listed are heavy - 32-33 lbs (w/o pedals) with carbon frames in my size on mid to upper build kits.
FWIW, I ended up with the Ripmo, being slightly more enduro capable. It extends my two bike quiver the best.
On every bike I own or demo, I struggle to use close to full suspension travel. I weigh 168 lbs with gear. I am 47 yrs old and typically ride only up to medium-moderate drops and jumps. Like the frames, I feel companies tune the suspension for 220+ lbs folks to not bottom out on huge @ass features. I'd love a suspension tuned for my weight out of the box, without needed to remove a ton of volume spacers
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1,061 Posts
What are your thoughts on HT3 vs v3 Ripmo as an aggressive trail bike? Ripmo ticks a couple more boxes for me on paper, but right now there's a ~$3-4k price difference and the Ripmo is very hard to find (and zero available locally to ride).That would be nice. The HT3 was on my short list of three bikes to buy this summer (others were the new Stumpy 15 and new Ripmo). I came from a V3 (2019) 5010 that is super playful and poppy, but gets overwhelmed easy. If I was getting rid of the 5010, I would have gotten the HT3, no contest. The HT3 was the best all-rounder and all mountain bike I could do my XC all day rides, enduro or the rare park trip. At the current discounts, the HT3 is a steal (IMHO). All three of the bikes I short listed are heavy - 32-33 lbs (w/o pedals) with carbon frames in my size on mid to upper build kits.
FWIW, I ended up with the Ripmo, being slightly more enduro capable. It extends my two bike quiver the best.
On every bike I own or demo, I struggle to use close to full suspension travel. I weigh 168 lbs with gear. I am 47 yrs old and typically ride only up to medium-moderate drops and jumps. Like the frames, I feel companies tune the suspension for 220+ lbs folks to not bottom out on huge @ass features. I'd love a suspension tuned for my weight out of the box, without needed to remove a ton of volume spacers
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232 Posts
Well I bought the Ripmo, that should tell you all you need to know
Ripmo is slightly more aggressive than the HT3, that's why I got it. I'm not a huge fan of the Ripmo as a single quiver bike. It isn't as fun to me on the slower tech as my 5010. Probably less of a difference between the HT3 and V3 Ripmo. For a single bike quiver, IMHO I'd still go HT3.
You can get a XO RSV HT3 for less than I paid for my GX alloy Ripmo
If you go for the Ripmo, contact Shaun at N+1 bikes. He's legit and has bikes in stock.
I think demo'ing a V3 Ripmo may be tough for a while. Ibis did not produce a ton of frames. Ibis also changed up frame sizing by adding a XM that fits more like the previous L.
PM me for any more specifics.
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1,061 Posts
I did email N+1 asking for a price on a custom build. Haven't heard back yet and frankly not that comfortable doing a custom build of a bike that I've never tried riding. IMHO, Ibis's higher end OEM builds are just an unacceptably bad deal. I like the coil shock compatibility and mullet compatibility on the Ripmo, which is what I'd be giving up with the HT3. Both are more bike than I need for >70% of my riding but I do have a 120/120 bike for more pedal-y days.Well I bought the Ripmo, that should tell you all you need to know
Ripmo is slightly more aggressive than the HT3, that's why I got it. I'm not a huge fan of the Ripmo as a single quiver bike. It isn't as fun to me on the slower tech as my 5010. Probably less of a difference between the HT3 and V3 Ripmo. For a single bike quiver, IMHO I'd still go HT3.
You can get a XO RSV HT3 for less than I paid for my GX alloy Ripmo
If you go for the Ripmo, contact Shaun at N+1 bikes. He's legit and has bikes in stock.
I think demo'ing a V3 Ripmo may be tough for a while. Ibis did not produce a ton of frames. Ibis also changed up frame sizing by adding a XM that fits more like the previous L.
PM me for any more specifics.
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3,257 Posts
Nice! same color as mine!
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