There's already been a lot of buzz in the shop since the introduction of the Santa Cruz Bicycles range, particularly around the well-priced build kits available that make getting onto a Santa Cruz bike a lot more accessible than some folk previously anticipated. With new 29er bikes joining the lineup, the introduction of the V-10 Carbon DH bike and a range of demo bikes on the way, there's a lot to get excited about with Santa Cruz.
This week, we've had the pleasure of hooking up a rider with a brand new Santa Cruz Blur XC Carbon frame, which has been custom built with a collection of new parts and exisiting components from his Giant Trance.
The Blur XC carbon frame is Santa Cruz' flagship 26" XC weapon, with 105mm of rear travel controlled via the incredibly efficient Virtual Pivot Suspension design (VPP) that is characteristic to high-end Santa Cruz dual suspension bikes. With a full carbon fibre frame, the Blur XC comes in at a mind-boggling 2050 grams (4.5lbs), including the Fox Float RP23 rear shock!
Unlike some other crazy light carbon bikes out there, the Blur XC has no rider weight limit, and retains that classic Santa Cruz geometry that makes them a blast out on the trail. This is a mountain bike first and foremost, and is designed to shred singletrack at warp speeds.
Brad, the lucky owner of this gorgeous bike, went with a fork upgrade by the way of a Fox F120 RLC unit that has the gold "Kashima" coated stanchions and the QR15 thru-axle for improved steering response and torsional stiffness. A mostly XT groupset, Mavic wheelset, Easton Carbon EC90 cockpit and the jewellery-like Thomson Masterpiece seatpost grace the carbon Blur and has allowed the complete bike to drop down to 10.9kg - and that's with pedals!
Compared to the Giant Trance, Brad has dropped a full kilo going with the carbon Blur. After test riding the Blur to run our final mechanical checks, we're impressed with our much faster and efficient the VPP Blur is compared to the old bike, and despite being a lot lighter, it's actually noticeably stiffer laterally too.
We're looking forward to hearing the first ride report from Brad, after having the bike fitted and suspension setup just in time for the long weekend. If it's anything like our experience with the carbon Blur, we're expecting a very big smile on his face when he comes back in!
If you want to know more about the Blur or the rest of the Santa Cruz range, come by the shop or drop us a line with any questions you've got.
Otherwise, check out the Santa Cruz Blur XC Carbon Frame here.
Or the Santa Cruz Full Suspension range here.
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