Pro Bike Check: Mark Scott’s Santa Cruz Megatower CC at EWS Zermatt 2020

We caught up with Mark Scott of the Santa Cruz X SRAM race team at the opening round of the 2020 Enduro World Series in Zermatt, Switzerland. Hailing from Scotland, this man would’ve relished the winter-like alpine conditions that rolled in on race day.

We sought him out in the pits to get the low down on his 2021 Santa Cruz Megatower CC. Here’s how Mark set up his bike for riding the tape at EWS Zermatt. For context, Mark stands at 175cm tall with a racing weight of 71kg.

Mark Scott’s Santa Cruz Megatower CC

The 2021 Santa Cruz Megatower remains unchanged in every way compared to its 2019 iteration, save for some new colorways. Mark Scott rides the marigold frame.

OK, it might be called something else but it did match his practice day rubber gloves rather well. In fact, many riders chose to don a set of rubber gloves for race day in an attempt to stop their fingers freezing onto the brake levers no doubt.

Mark runs Maxxis tires. For the sharp rocks of Zermatt, he opted for a DH casing Minion DHF on the front and Minion DHR II on the rear. Those are seated on Santa Cruz’s Reserve wheels with a 30mm internal rim width. The carbon rims are laced to Industry Nine Hydra Hubs with an 0.37° engagement angle. Burgtec thru-axles pin everything together.

Sandwiched between the rim and tire is a CushCore XC tire insert on the rear.

Mark Scott runs a 44mm offset RockShox ZEB fork at 170mm travel with 63 PSI and two tokens. On the damper side, Mark prefers the settings almost entirely open. He runs just 3 clicks of low speed compression damping while the high speed is fully open. At the low speed rebound end, Mark runs the ZEB 6 clicks from closed.

His RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate shock is set to 163 PSI with two volume spacers.

Like many SRAM supported racers, Mark Scott runs their top end gravity brake, the Code RSC. SRAM sintered pads clamp onto a 200mm rotor on the front and rear.

A SRAM AXS drivetrain propels the bike, with a 10-50T cassette and a 34T chainring. Mark runs a top guide and bash guard to keep things tracking smoothly over rough terrain.

In the cockpit, Mark’s bike had a Burgtec finishing kit at EWS Zermatt. A 35mm reach stem clamps onto a 35mm bar cut to 750mm, though the actual width ends up at 760mm with the grips. For his AXS shifter, Mark has a custom one-piece lever, designed and made by an ex mechanic of his. Mark prefers its shape which is a little different to the standard AXS shifter.

Mark Scott runs a 175mm RockShox Reverb dropper seat post. He has to run the hydraulic version as he’s “too short for the AXS”. We guess he means that the receiving unit/battery of the AXS gets in the way of the rear wheel at full travel, for the specified standover clearance he wants on the bike.

As for the rest of the contact points, Mark rides on a Fizik Vento Argo R3 150mm saddle and Crankbrothers Mallet-E clipless pedals.  

SantaCruzBicycles.com