Santa Cruz Blur LTc

I’ve finally ridden it enough to make an educated judgement.  And my judgement is, I love this bike.

In the past, I’ve always tended toward heavier bikes.  More out of pride and budget constraints than anything else.  Figuring I didn’t need any high-falutin’  weight weenie bike to be happy.  I’d tell myself that I was too “aggressive” for those lightweight fragile things.  I have since realized, that everybody that rides mountain bikes thinks they ride “aggressively”.  From the leg-shavers, to the full-face helmet crowd.  Most people aren’t as hard core as they’d like to think they are.  Myself included.  I proved this last year, with the lightest bike I have ever owned weighing in at just around 26.5 pounds.  After a season of a fat guy bulldozing through the rough stuff, it emerged mostly unscathed but for a few scratches.  Proving to me that light(er) weight didn’t necessarily mean a loss in durability.

I did however long for a bit more travel to compensate for my lack of skill.  I had a couple of major tumbles that may or may not have been avoided with a little more boing.

Enter the LTc.  With 140mm of travel in the back, and a Rock Shox Revelation with 150mm travel in the front, it gives me the extra cush I need.  And at 27 lbs and a couple ounces, the weight is pretty manageable too.

With the bike sitting in the shop for a few weeks due to lousy weather, and a lousier chest cold.  I was pretty anxious to bust it out when we headed to St George last week.  The first dirt it saw  was the smooth climb of Barrel Roll.  This is a good test for any bikes out of the box  climbing ability.  Normally on a new bike, I fidget with the ProPedal or lockout in the back for the first few weeks until I get used to  how the bike climbs.  Since we were bringing up the rear of a group of faster riders, I didn’t have that luxury.  I had dialed in the sag  in the RP23 rear shock and that was about it.  The bike climbed well.  There is no wallowing in the travel,  and very little penalty for not pedaling smooth circles.  By the time we reached the top, I realized I had never reached for the ProPedal lever, and I left it alone for the rest of the weekend.  The fork also has a lockout, but I’ve never understood the point of making your fork rigid on a climb.  A travel adjust would be nice for long, steep, climbs, but I haven’t ridden anything with a travel adjust for more than two years. Most Santa Cruz bikes have a very cramped cockpit for me.  And tooling around the parking lot the Blur felt the same way.  I managed to settle into the geometry though, and sitting more upright has it’s advantages when you point it down.  I’m more comfortable stretching out a little, And may try a slightly longer stem for comfort’s sake.

The test of any bike for me is a technical descent.  And shortly after that first climb I got a chance to try it out on some rocks and small drops.  While Monte and Jake warned everybody to go “right down the center” I didn’t realize they meant three feet to the right of center and unintentionally rolled down a nasty rock garden with a big drop in the middle.  Thankfully, the Revelation soaked up my bad line choice and but for a short nose wheelie, it was smooth like buttah.  The bike didn’t bottom out harshly on any of the drops, or jumps I tried the rest of the weekend either.  The RP23 has become more or less the predictable standard for the bikes I ride, and it did it’s job as expected.  There is the small issue of that little hesitation in an air shock at the beginning of it’s stroke.  With a coil spring last year I had become spoiled for that smooth feel.   The Revelation does have that little hint of stick, but it does seem to be breaking in a little and smoothing out.  I don’t think it will ever feel as smooth as a coil but it’s as good as any air fork I’ve ridden in that regard.

I did get a chance to try out some more technical climbing on the Zen trail.  I was genuinely surprised at how well this bike cranked up and over techy obstacles, and short steep grunts.  Given the right gear choice, I found that my legs were the biggest limiting factor in what this bike could do. Credit for this goes to the super stiff carbon.  There is no flex in this bike.  A fact that made itself more evident when leaning into the corners with a little more speed than is prudent.  It was a strange sensation to not have the rear wheel slip a little sideways when over cooking a corner, but instead tracking perfectly behind the front wheel.  This may be more a sign of the flex that I have become used to in other bikes.  But I grinned a little each time I successfully rounded a corner especially in the looser sections.  Some credit goes to the Nevegals that came on the bike.  The grab hold really well, even if it did feel like I was wrestling with them from time to time.  I’ll definitely be experimenting with some lighter less aggressive tires before the season is out.

The rest of the components are a pretty middle of the line pick.  SLX cranks, and an X9 drivetrain.  Neither of which is very sexy, but frankly with my eyes closed I’d never have known they weren’t XT and X0 gear.  My covetous nature has me wishing for some upgrades, but my welfare budget is winning this battle for now.

I’m riding this bike almost entirely because of Parrish’s recommendation, and as much as I hate to give him credit.  I did send him a text from St George that said simply “Love this bike”(followed by a bunch of X’s and O’s)