My new 2011 Santa Cruz Blur xc Carbon had it’s first proper ride at Woburn sands yesterday, felt very, very capable on initial impressions. :-))

Build of:
-Fox F120RLC forks
-XO shifters & mechs
-XTR M970 chainset & BB
-PC991 chain, XT 32-11 cassette
-Roval Controle SL wheels, Schwalbe Rocket Ron 2.1 tyres
-Magura Marta SL brakes
-S-Works Carbon riser bars, Syntace F109 stem, Chris King headset
-Thomson Elite seatpost, Specialized Phenom SL saddle

Full build comes in at 23lbs.

N.B. tyre logos/valves not aligned, seat high coz I’m lanky, and any complaints about the weeds / green paint give Network Rail a buzz! 😉

Did you sell your soul (& decent camera) to buy it?

Get a better picture up FFS! 😈

That’s really very nice – tastefully done (well, almost, not quite sure about the brakes 😉 ).

Nice, but you’d better tie it down in this weather or it’ll blow away Ben! I’m going to strap 9lbs of lead on it next time to even things up!

Why the layback post and the saddle all the way forward on the rails? Inline would look nicer imo

was it capable of going round corners? The wheelbase looks huge

Cranks should be parallel to seat-tube.

Looks like a teeny tiny tallboy 🙂

Is it as stiff as it looks?

Very nice indeed, except for the brake lever angle. And why do you need 203mm rotors on a lightweight XC bike?

Bah! We’ve got even less chance of catching you now 😉

Lovely!

‘Looks like a teeny tiny tallboy’

😀

Yes it does, here’s one! (inXXL)

203mm on a Blur XC? Gotta ask why? Esp with Marta SL – powerful brake as it is..

Good you like the bike – it is super capable.

was it capable of going round corners? The wheelbase looks huge

Its a very flickable bike or at least mine is in a medium.

Repack – agreed, having 203mm/185mm Marta’s on certainly gives awesome braking performance but will be overkill for xc racing. The brakes were off a previous bike I’ve now sold so for the immediate term it was just a matter of a straight swap over, will probably get a pair of 160mm rotors in the new year.

Captainmainwaring – am still fettling with final set up adjustments, certainly one of the things I was going to alter though following yesterdays ride is the brake lever angle, they were too steep.

Kato – the layback post works pretty nicely and the saddle rails are slap bang in the middle of the clamp, I’m also one those weirdos who likes the look of bendy Thompson posts on bikes! 🙂

davidtaylforth – felt pretty nippy in the turns really, the Syntace stem is 90mm so not too long.

Another black bike to fool the missus? Hidden under the stairs again?

ref disc size; ive got 203mm disced Saints on a hardtail. Brakes are like pizza and money, you can never have too much.

V nice. 23lbs is about right and makes a bit of a liar/optimist of many on here.

I started with a 90mm stem, but I feel it works much better with 70mm.

Do you have any problems keeping the front wheel down when climbing? Mine is bad enough, but your like it would be worse with the layback post and the amount of post you have sticking out (perish the thought but – is it too small for you?)

benny I run 180/160 & I have loads of power & v little fade.. I ran the bike with this setup for the BC Bike Race & had no problems whatsoever. For UK XC 160/160 would probably be more than enough with the SL’s, best brake Ive ever had. It depends on what riding you fancy doing.

Enjoy the bike, its the best I have ever owned!

Fantastic – mind you I bet that’s a ‘before’ (riding in Woburn mud) picture, not an ‘after’. Really gloopy up there yesterday.

Should be in the big ring 🙄 😉