Santa Cruz Hightower vs Yeti SB130 - Trail Bike Showdown

Biker's Edge trail bike shootout. 2020 has been an amazing year for new bikes. this time we have the 2020 Yeti SB130 vs Santa Cruz Hightower.

[wc]

Just found your channel, great content! I was just comparing these two bikes trying to figure out which one I wanted to get. I demo’ed both bikes and they performed very well... both gave me a ton of confidence on the trail but to me personally the Yeti was easily the better bike mainly because it was noticeably faster with a better pedaling platform than the Santa Cruz... but the Yeti was also more expensive. So I made up my mind that the Santa Cruz was the bike to get due to price, my experience with the brand and the fact that overall it was a solid bike. ...then a few days before I was set to purchase the Santa Cruz I got an email from my local bike shop that they were having a 20% off sale on all 2019 Yeti’s and the rest is history. I purchased the SB 130 the same day. I live in Texas and have ridden all over the state plus places in Arkansas, Colorado and Utah. I did all that on a 100mm Santa Cruz Blur so I’m sure the added slack geometry and travel of either bike would be more than enough for anything I was comfortable with... plus most of Texas; where I’d be riding most, is flat to hilly so I need something that provides a good pedaling platform so the SB130 was my 1st choice. Great review!

[stankacey]

Perhaps a showdown 'tween Pivot & Ibis, Pivot & Yeti or Pivot & Santa Cruz may make for a worthwhile showing.

[SLAMTRON]

11:16 - They were no doubt amazed by someone riding a bicycle on rocks they probably had a challenge *hiking* over - lol

[johnnnewmex]

As a former HT LT owner and current owner of a sb130 and sb150, I think you characterized these bikes really well. The sb130 feels very trail bike-ish descending and I'm sure that 140mm of vpp feels much better. I wouldn't want the 130 to be my only bike but the HT or sb150 I would be ok with as my one bike.

[Sonikot]

Great review, i was stuck between those two bikes for a while. The deciding factor for me was the warranty, Santa Cruz warranty was far superior to Yeti's.

[johnnnewmex]

As a former sb130 owner, I'd take the Hightower. Like you said a little less efficient but better traction and dh performance.

[willcotter]

Great review, you really wrung the necks of both of them. I got a good sense of what they were like from your footage. Cheers

[sangwon]

Great review...the two bikes I'm looking to get if I don't get an emtb... Great job!!!

[carlsbadmountainbiker]

Nice video. I have the Yeti SB130 Lunch Ride with the 160 fork. Love it. Corners great like you said and with the 160 fork it is fearless DH. I would say it is a fairly active suspension when climbing, but you don’t feel it. That’s the beauty of Switch Infiniti.

[DylanEiler]

Great, well-rounded review. Thank you.

[whattheheckwelch]

Do you have any uploads testing or comparing various MTB components on the same frame?

Your videos have been beyond helpful in my decision on a new bike, THANK YOU!
More information about various components and how they perform on the same platforms would be immensely helpful in deciding which "build" is best for me. Thanks a whole bunch Conner!

[TrailBreaker]

Nice review. That piece of exposed trail with the drop on the right looked scary!

[SLAMTRON]

So now what would be cool is to pit a great DW Link bike with similar travel *like the Pivot Switchblade* against these two, and with the SC HT in High setting for all around *trail* riding, since these aren't 150mm or more.

[steveh]

The hightower certainly looked less jarring and smoother.

[SoGoMTB]

Super track/trail. love to go and experience the view too. SUBSCRIBED!

[EdBraunbeck]

Great comparison. Stop the dinging noise for the screen callouts.

[ronklepzig]

Another great video Conor. Keep up the good work. I like the summary.

[Jeroensurf]

Great video and watched them a couple of times!
Question:
I, m exactly the same length as you are and in the market for a HT (Carbon S build), but not able to test them here.
In the review you wrote the XL feels rather big for your length. If you buy one would you downsize or still go for the XL?
The other option would be an Orbea Occam that might be suit my local riding even better, but i, m a bit afraid that the Occam holds back too much when doing bikeparks in the holidays (asny thoughts about that).

[Stickybutton]

Sorry, I have watched this video a few times. However, I cannot conclude on which is the more playful bike with a little bit of a pop or agility to it based on your views. So what do you think? Thank you.

[dcouture]

Great video man! Where are you riding? That landscape is amazing!