Q: Hi, I'm currently looking at buying a full suspension bicycle (Upgrade from my 29' hard tail). I'm a small female (156cm), ride mostly cross country. I have narrowed my search down to two bicycles been the Trek Top Fuel 9.8 or the Santa Cruz Blur. If I decide on Trek I need to ride a 27.5 wheel bicycle where as if I choose Santa Cruz I'm able to fit on the small frame 29'er. The specs are fairly similar and the price is not very different. Does anyone have any advice on which might be a better bicycle for me.
A: I can only speak for the BlurCC. I have the X01 and it is an amazingly fast and great handling bike. It climbs and tracks very well on all terrains I have ridden in. I have also noticed that it is an excellent downhill bike as well (makes sense coming from Santa Cruz Bikes).... I personally still like 29'rs.
I was persuaded to try my husband's, after he set it up for me. I loved it and ended up buying a brand new one. This is such a fun bike that my style of riding has grown into.
Pros
Thank |peppy
handles nice
light
great geometry
XC race to AM this bike can do it all
Pros
Thank |extremely light and stiff, handles well and climbs like a machine.
My husband has been looking for one of these for some time and while watching PinkBike one came up. He is thrilled with the bike.
Pros
Handling
Clearance
Weight
Cons
Thank |not riding it
Buildt this up over winter. Absolutely love this thing. Replaced an 06 superlight, no regrets.
Pros
Enough travel
Cons
Thank |None
This is a dream ride for me. Good luck finding a better complete xc package. Santa Cruz is a premium quality mountain bike. You pay more, but it is so worth it. When you hit the trail with this baby, it feels like you're floating. With the VPP, climbing is a breeze all of you pedal power feels like it goes directly to the wheel with no bob.
Pros
Lots
Cons
Thank |None so far
i love it. It replaced my superlight.
Pros
Fast, light, firm.
Cons
Thank |haven't found on yet
It is the best all-around bike I have used thus far. However, I would like more adjustability to tweak it to my liking.
Pros
Excellent suspension design. Definitely made for downhill but still can pedal up. It has a 2.5 inch shock stroke to 140mm so the leverage ratio is very low and is plusher than any other frame I have used. Seems to not feel like it bottoms out even when you do. Doesn't ramp up too much and is not bucky. However, it is not bad pedaling. Frame weight is fairly light for a aluminum frame and my small weighs about 6 lbs. I got the bike to a very acceptable weight of 27lbs without using lots of super ultralight cross country-ish parts and making it pretty stout.
Cons
Thank |No thru axle 12mm x142mm.
VPP design sometime can be too close to drivetrain and chainline spacing is tight. No removable dropouts for changing geometry and/or wheel size. No adjustability for wheel travel length.
My friend and I are the same size and swapped rides for a bit on the Mt Falcon trail.
In the geometry dept, the blur feels exactly like my Giant trance. And I mean truly identical.
The difference is in the suspension. Santa Cruz's VPP implementation is sportier, for lack of a better description. Where my Giant has a low center of gravity, the Blur feels a little higher, with the rider still positioned rearward. This is offset by the slacker head angle. Where my Giant likes to float through rough stuff, the Blur likes to be pedaled through it.
Overall it is a very pleasant bike to ride, whether for an all day epic, technical singletrack, or even some racing with the right components.
Pros
Thank |Comfortable geometry.
Point and shoot on technical terrain.
this bike is incredible if you ride big hills/ cross country and want plenty of travel.
Pros
light weight comfortable frame feels solid on big drops, and once the suspension is tuned, it turns and climbs like a Blur, fast and smooth. I love this bike.
Cons
Thank |too much travel for many of the trails I ride. this bike is made for fast cross country downhill riding.
A great do it all bike that will surely have you grinning form ear to ear every time you hit the trail. As an all-mountain bike this is the closest thing to perfection I have ridden to date.
Pros
Very solid and stable. Climbs decent but that all depends on your setup. One of the best features of this bike is that it can be set up as an XC bike or as a burly trail bike.
Cons
Thank |None that I can think of.
Other bikes: Kona the King, Tomac Buckshotm Kona Haloe.
The BLur LT is a great bike, but there is remains considerable room for improvement and the praise gushed over this bike is not comepletely deserved. If you ride rocky technical areas, beware of the lower link and tendency to catch on obstacles. Of course if you ride relatively smooth trails, why would you want thsi bike at all????
Pros
Bike is great when it works, but Santa Cruz and the magazine reviewers missed the ball on some features whcih quite frankly are very poorly designed.
Cons
Thank |The lower linkage with its pressen in grease fittngs are the lowest point on the bike, considerably lower than the bottom bracket. Thsi leads to this linkage hitting rocks and logs often. I'm on my third bottom link in 1 year. Fortunately each time it has been replaced it has been free, but when spending this amount of money, this should not have been desinged in this way. Sure lots of you will write back saying it is the best bike ever, however after 1 year of riding it, and being stuck with this bike for a good few years to come, I sometimes wish I had spent the money elsewhere.
A great bike that handles great, it still can do many tight technical stuff as well as get gnarly..
Pros
Solid performing bike climbs decently enough and can take some jumps..Some bigger ones that others depending on the fork you decide to use.
Cons
Thank |Pivots tend to make noise early on and need to be serviced.
This may be the best of the best. You point the bike and it goes. A complete upgrade/update from the old Blur LT/XC and a new VPP format. It has a few LBS on a pure XC (can be easily built to get under 28LBS), but it climbs great, and descends even better. It has a compact cockpit and a more upright position, but was easy to get over and adjust to. The Talas 140RLC mated to the RP23 is like a hand in glove..pure delight to have the shocks in harmony.
My build has Easton Havoc AM wheels, Juicy Carb @203fr 185r, X.0 shifters/RD, Ritchey WCS carbon bars and stem + WCS pedals, Joplin remote post under a WTB Stealth V, RF Deus crank and Nevegals for rubber.
AWESOME bike, try it you'll like it. Any obstacles that previously forced you off your bike will now be fading memories.
Pros
Can go anywhere and do anything. Combines both the XC and AM duty. RP23 with ProPedal makes climbing a cinch. The zerx grease ports for lubing the bottom linkage, grease gun supplied.
Cons
Thank |Only limitation is the rider ;-)
I use it as a downhill bike, mostly, 2.4 moto raptors, big brakes
Pros
Stong, light, feels like a hard tail out of the saddle
Cons
Thank |No worrys at all
This is a great bike for the all around trail rider that wants to have a lot of fun. It is a little pricey when you start picking the higher end forks, shock, and build kit. Overall I love my bike.
Pros
This bike is setup for some fun downhill technical trails. It will eat up bumps, roots, rocks, and drops of five four feet like they are not there. I believe it will do bigger drops but I have yet to attempt any because the trails I mainly ride do not offer them. As soon as I encounter a drop upto seven feet I will try it without hesitation. The climbs are a little more dificult than on my cannondale but that was to be expected. They were actually better than what I had expected. There was no bobbing what so ever when I was seated and actually less when standing than on my Jeykle.
Cons
Thank |None Yet. Only had the bike for 5 days.
Im a gear junky and always looking for better. Nothing yet. Im sticking with Santa Cruz
Pros
The geometry takes the bob out of going up hills. I noticed this the first 100 yards of riding. I have owned one for 18 monthes now with no complaints,
Cons
Thank |rear tire width is limited but in xc you dont want a big tire anyway.