Which MTB Hardtail: Canyon or Santa Cruz?

Equipment
22

What goes up must come down.

How I see it:

  • If the terrain warrants the use of a dropper post, you may benefit from full suspension both up and down.

  • If you can easily get away with a solid post, maybe not.

23

I’m just going to give you a third option.

BMC Teamelite 01. It’s not a pure hardtail but it’s great. I’ve ridden it for a whole year without any issues. Very light and stable bike.

24

I have a 2019 SC blur that I raced all last year and have the 2020 SC highball on order. Actually it showed up at the local shop late last week.

I plan to ride the HT locally to fix a handling skills deficiency that the FS Blur glosses over and also benefit from some improved efficiency at the same time.

The highball will also be my offseason long/ slow ride bike when I don’t feel like jumping on the gravel bike. The gearing limitations on the highball will actually serve as a governor on wattage/speed when I lack the discipline to self-govern.

I’ve got a set of Roval SLs that I plan to use on the highball and am hoping for near 20lbs.

Yes, I expect it’ll be harder on the body than the blur but I’m just turning 40 this year and realistically, should be able to handle it. There’s always the option of choosing a smoother line if you want a smoother ride.

I ride in S.E Michigan (Brighton, Potto, Pontiac, DTE, etc)

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25

When is the time Canyon (or every other MTB brand for that matter) usually updates their MTB offerings? Might be worth waiting af few months if you don’t need it right now.

Not that there will be huge technology changes but colour options might change as well as some smaller components.

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27

Hi JDB…

I have two SC Highballs and have had a great experience with them as well as the Santa Cruz brand. Some comments:

  • I broke a frame in a crash and Santa Cruz replaced it (even though it was 3 years old). I worked with my shop, and all we had to do was strip the bike down, cut out the bottom bracket area of the frame and send them a picture. Bam! New frame, and not only that, a newer model frame, with the high end carbon lay-up as well. How do you beat that???
  • The reserve wheels are terrific and will definitely liven up the bike’s handling and responsiveness. My guess is that this is a ~$1200 adder though. (The fact that the $3000 Canyon comes with carbon rims is pretty amazing, but otherwise the builds seem pretty similar). The SC Reserve wheels are definitely more robust than the Roval carbon rims I have on my other bike (in terms of broken spokes and need for rebuilds) and as one of the other commenters said, Santa Cruz will replace any wheel with an issue.
  • I can’t comment on how the Canyon rides, but the Highball along with a tubeless tire set-up running a reasonably low tire pressure, is very comfortable. I am putting in 10-20 hours a week in on these bikes and I am almost 53 years old. I took my old Specialized M4 (2001) out for a road ride recently on a lark, and relatively speaking, it was brutal…I don’t think I am going to get on that thing again unless I have no choice! The relaxed geometry and the compliance of the Highball frame makes all the difference.
  • As others mentioned, if you go with SC, you will likely have a shop that is selling you the bike, and Canyon is direct to customer with some minor assembly. Either way is fine, you just need to be comfortable with doing some of your own assembly on the Canyon once it shows up, or pay a shop to do it.

Good luck with your decision.