There are a few types of favorite bikes at Bible. There’s the obvious one: The bike that speaks to a tester regardless of price or purpose and takes root like an earworm melody. Then there’s the pragmatic favorite, which impresses with its ride quality and its reasonable price. Finally, you have the ‘one bike’ favorite, which is the bike that you’d pick if you could only own one bike. The Hightower—also called the Maverick under the Juliana Bicycles’ moniker—was in the running as the ‘one bike’ favorite for at least a couple testers.

Now in its second generation, the Hightower has evolved from a mid-travel trail bike to something that edges up to the long-travel line in both design and character. It’s been updated with Santa Cruz’s V10-inspired low-link VPP suspension, which, on this bike, yields 140 millimeters of travel and is preempted by a 150-millimeter-travel fork. The Hightower’s geometry brings those numbers to life in a very balanced way, with a 65.2-degree head angle in its low setting, a reasonable 1,232-millimeter wheelbase and a 470-millimeter reach on our size large (1,208-millimeter on the medium Maverick with a 450 reach).

Remember how we used to complain about how every Santa Cruz would hang up on square-edges, especially under pedaling forces? Not only is that sensation gone, Santa Cruz managed to maintain the taut-feeling pedaling characteristics that testers have always appreciated. That may be thanks to the lower-link VPP’s straighter progressive leverage curve and its ability to be supportive through the entire range of travel. Whatever the cause, the result is a quick and comfortable climber that wastes little energy.

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