- In this Pro Bike Check we're gonna take a look at
Cédric Gracia's Santa Cruz Hightower.
(upbeat jazzy music)
So the Hightower is Santa Cruz's long travel twenty niner,
it's a really big bike it's an XL,
Cedric's a really tall guy.
And you've got this DVO Suspension front and rear
so it's the Topaz T3 air shock on the rear
and the Diamond Boost Fork on the front.
The bike's covered in these really shiny
protective graphics made by Production Privee.
We've got Cedric's sponsors on here
so we've got Magura, Kenny, CreditAndorra,
and also these rad stickers down here.
So the suspension is provided by DVO,
it's not something we see a lot of, actually, on pro bikes,
we see an awful lot of Rockshox and FOX
in our Pro Bike Checks,
so it's pretty cool to take a look.
The fork has got this really neat
sort of built in mud guard on the rear,
and it's an air fork with loads of adjustability.
You've got high and low speed compression on the top there,
Rebang down here,
but you can also adjust the negative spring rate down here.
Paired with that Topaz T3 Airshock,
there's definitely a lot of black and green on this bike.
So up to the cockpit,
we've got a few custom bits on here,
We've got these limited edition Magura MT trail brakes,
with CG limited edition graphics on there,
pretty cool,
I've got the four part calliper up front
and a two part on the back,
203 rotor, really big one on the front
so, a lot of stuff in front,
power in front of this bike
and a 180 mm rotor on the rear.
The bars and stem are both Production Privee,
that's a 50 mm stem,
780 mm wide bars.
Got these pretty cool Cedric Gracia Sun Cruz grips,
take a good look at these
and also a Lezyne computer up on the handlebars.
Down to the drivetrain,
we've got some more really nice touches,
we've got these custom pedals,
they're green Crankbrothers Mallet E pedals
and it's got CG 007 engraved on there
so pretty cool.
These Rotor Hawk cranks
with these sort of covers on there
to protect them,
you can those in all different colours as well
but also green to match the rest of the bike here.
Cedric is using this Q ring,
so that's the 32 tooth, oval chainring
that I'll have to ask him about.
On the rear we've got this Shimano XTR rear mech
and we've got the cassette,
which is 11 speed and it's 11-42.
The bike is finished with this fi'zi:k Monte saddle
and Crankbrothers Highline Dropper Seatpost
and this is the brand new 150 mm drop version.
So let's ask Cedric a few questions
about his bike set up.
- Did it look good?
(laughs)
- Well, Cedric,
you've got some really cool custom bits
on your bike,
tell me about these grips.
- Well, they're mine.
(laughs)
- It says on there 'what doesn't kill you
makes you ...
What?
Stronger?
- Ya, well, I guess,
all the accident I been through
and yeah, developed those grips,
this obviously from my background of BMX.
- Oh yeah. yeah.
Well, we have to cut it here,
like to make sure it comes stuck like this
for the shifter.
- Yeah.
- And that's my first promoter grips with Santa Cruz.
- Nice.
29er now, you ride pretty much all the time now?
- Ya, because 29 is cool.
(laughs)
- [Host] Do you think there sort of truth in it,
they weren't built for taller riders?
- For me I always felt comfortable with it
from the first tall boy we had in Santa Cruz
and I had a Hightower.
Obviously a bigger beast and just better angles
and just more for Enduro
and I felt comfortable with it.
I don't know if it's the height but
usually I'm pretty aggressive rider in the 27
and this make me a lot more clean and
I think it's a little bit more forgiving,
as well, for mistakes and
I make a lot of mistakes and
this help me a lot.
And a lot of people saying 'ya, but
'this is really complicated for really tight corners,'
but no, this is a really long time ago,
I mean we have short wheel base now and ah ...
- True.
So you don't find there's any disadvantage,
really, to run the big wheels.
- I think it's only been positive,
I mean I'm a lot faster with this bike
than I used to be with another bike.
- What about the Q ring,
you run the oval ring,
how does that feel?
- Well, now if you tell me
to go back on something else
it would be a lot difficult for me,
I find it really,
really interesting for the climbs.
Like I feel like I suffer less,
I'm always engage
and that's what I think is
the strongest point and
with those new cranks now,
super stiff
and been really stoked to work with Rotor.
- Ya sure.
So you've loads of cool stickers all over your bike,
we've got the Rad sticker,
what's the Pro bike shop?
- Pro bike shop is a online store,
we've been working together for a while now
and I'm basically the consultant for the guys,
they follow me with the sponsor I use
and they want to
have those product available for the clients
because I develop a lot of products
with like Production Privee
and we work on the Highline here with Crankbrother
and the seats and everything
and they want to be part of it.
Like to offer, okay we have those products
and Cedric is riding and racing and develop as well,
then
it's a good fit.
- Click just here on the JM Brand logo to subscribe,
and if you click down there
I'll take you through some Enduro tips Martin Maes
and click over there for how to train for Enduro.
Give us a thumbs up if you like Cedric Gracias bike.
- And if you're not fast like me
just try to look good.
(giggles)
- Hello.