Last month Santa Cruz Bicycles took the wrappers off the all-new, third generation Blur. This was a big deal for Santa Cruz, given that it’s been quite a few years since we last saw the Blur – a bike that has been well loved by many riders for well over a decade since its inception. And so for the new one, Santa Cruz pulled out all the stops to create the lightest full suspension bike it has ever made, returning the Blur to its roots as a purpose-built XC bike.
During the same launch Santa Cruz revealed the third generation Highball too – a superlight hardtail that represents the lightest hardtail frame that the Californian company has ever made. Wanna know how they ride? Then make sure you read all about the new Blur here, and the Highball here.
For the Blurball launch, Santa Cruz invited a bunch of us journo types out to its Californian headquarters to get some hands-on experience with the new bikes, along with a tour of the factory to see exactly how the frames are prepped and assembled. As part of the tour, each journo got to build their own set of Reserve carbon wheels with the help of some crazy expensive semi-automated spoke lacing and truing machines. If you like wheel building, then make sure you check out the separate article – it is fascinating stuff!
As you can imagine, my arm was heavily twisted into going to the launch in the first place. It was a particularly difficult decision given the amazing British winter we’d been having in the lead up to travelling to California…
To document the launch and my travels, I took along a couple of cameras to film the trip to give you a bit of a look at what goes on behind the scenes at a Santa Cruz press launch. Join me in Part 1 and Part 2 as we go along on a test ride on the new Blur and Highball, and check out some of the action that goes on in the Santa Cruz factory.
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Nice one Will, really enjoyed that!
That was pretty boring to be honest , how are they any different to any other bike firm? There seems to be an awful lot of F*ck all going on ! No wonder they have to charge so much for their bikes.
@boco – Thank you for the kind words, and really glad you enjoyed watching!
Nicely done, really enjoyable that…thanks!
I enjoyed that too. Now we need some sunshine.