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Although Santa Cruz engineered the new Blur 3 as a lightweight full suspension XC race bike, the frame will actually accommodate up to a 120mm travel fork.
We got in a standalone Blur CC frameset and custom built it with a Fox 34 Step-Cast fork, chunky 2.3in tyres and a 150mm travel dropper post.
So, how did the Blur handle the bigger fork and burlier build kit?
Read the full review here to find out! https://singletrackworld.com/2018/12/review-120mm-fork-santa-cruz-blur-pocket-rocket-trail-bike
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[Music]
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everyone it's real here from single
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track magazine and single track WorldCom
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and today I want to chat to you about a
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bike that I've been testing for the past
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few months now firstly we're gonna chat
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a little bit about what that bike is and
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what makes it special then we're going
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to go into some detail about the build
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kit that I've got set up on the test
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bike here and finally and most
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importantly I'm going to tell you how it
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rides on the trail
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[Music]
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[Music]
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right so the bike next to me is of
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course the Santa Cruz blur there many of
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you will be familiar with the blur name
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it is a bike that's been in Santa Cruz
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lineup in the past this new model those
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shares very little in common with those
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previous models in terms of the broader
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Santa Cruz lineup it slots right in
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between highball hardtail and the tall
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boys short travel trail bike the blur
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has a little less travel than the
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tallboy we've got 100 millimeters of
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travel here courtesy of the VPP
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suspension design it's rolling on 29
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inch wheels and 29 inch wheels only you
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cannot fit plus tires on this bike and
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it's all built around a lightweight
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high-tech carbon fiber frame which santa
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cruz states is the lightest front
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suspension frame it has ever produced
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now earlier this year I traveled to
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California to test out the new blur on
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some of the trails local to Santa Cruz
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headquarters the bike that I tested was
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set up as a flat-out cross-country race
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bike so it had 100 millimeter travel Fox
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32 step pass Forks and very lightweight
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maxis Aspen race tires now I got along
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with the bike really well I thought it
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was a load of fun but it was really
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efficient and very direct to ride but
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for my intermediate riding level I did
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find that the 20 fork and the farce
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rolling tires were holding back the bike
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a little bit in the rough stuff now
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Santa Cruz do offer the blur in several
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complete bike options but they also
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offer it as a standalone frame set we've
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got the blur CC frame set here and we've
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built it up from scratch as a long-term
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test bike for those of you wondering the
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medium frame set I've got here came in
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at 2.25 kilograms and that's including
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the rear shop the rear axle c-collar and
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associated hardware so it is quite
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lightweight but it's not quite as light
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as something like a Scotts Park RC or a
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canyon luxe SLX still impressive though
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for a carbon fiber Julie that is using a
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multi pivot suspension design
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now although santa cruz has targeted the
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blur a cross-country racing the frame
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will actually accommodate up to a 120
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millimeter travel fork and that's
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exactly what we've done here i've
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plugged in a fox 34 step cast fork which
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has 120 millimeters of travel 34
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millimeter diameter stanchions
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but it's also got a very impressive
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weight it's just sixteen hundred and
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fifty
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it's a fantastic option for this kind of
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new-school aggressive cross-country bike
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so think get ESB 100 intense sniper and
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the Santa Cruz blur now with that longer
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fork on the front the geometry does
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change everything lifts up a little bit
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and the angles do slacken out of it so
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the head angle kicks back to sixty eight
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point one degrees the seat angle relaxes
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to seventy-three point one degrees and
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the bottom bracket lifts up by about 12
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millimeters measured here statically to
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the floor it measures at three hundred
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and forty millimeters to match the
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longer travel fork and the slacker
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geometry are built up the blur with a
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slightly burly apart spec - we've got
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wheels from santa cruz these are the
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reserved carbon 27 rims they have a 27
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millimeter internal rim width and
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they're set up to bliss with Bontrager
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XR 5 team issue tires these are listed
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at 2.3 inches wide and actually measure
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up a touch wider than that they have
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quite an aggressive tread pattern and
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I've been able to run those anywhere
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between 18 to 25 psi depending on the
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trail conditions the cockpit comes from
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rental we've got 760 millimeter wide
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rental carbon fat bars and that's paired
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to a 50 millimeter apex stem I've also
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got a GaN GE one Evo grips here I really
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like the feel of these grips and they're
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flared ends actually widens the
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effective bar with little as well so it
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gives it quite a trail bike feel on the
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front of the blur the other crucial
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component that I wanted to fit to this
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bike was a dropper post now Santa Cruz
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has built the blur frame with a 31-point
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six millimeter diameter seat tube it's
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quite compact as well and there's plenty
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of stand over clearance and that allows
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a load of flexibility to fit a
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reasonably long dropper post in my case
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I've got a 150 millimetre travel race
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face turbine R this is structurally
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identical to a Fox transfer dropper post
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so as a result it works really well it's
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been rock solid throughout testing and
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it's got a really nice fast return speed
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with an audible top out clunk so you
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always know when it's at full height I
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am running the race based turbine
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dropper post lever and I must say it is
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much nicer to use than the Fox transfer
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remote the rest of the build kit comes
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from SRAM we've got an XO one Eagle
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drivetrain on here and level ultimate
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brakes which are absolute
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superb as its set up here without pedals
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this bike weighs in at 11.6 4 kilos so
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pretty poor key for a cross-country bike
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and definitely heavier than the blur
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that I tested back in California right
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so I guess you're wondering how does
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this bike ride and I will admit
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initially I was somewhat skeptical
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because not every cross-country bike
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takes well to having a longer travel
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fork plugged in the front of it in the
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case of the blur though this fox 34 does
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wonders to this bike it is a much
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stiffer fork torsionally than say Fox 32
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and especially compared to a Fox 32 step
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cast now the blur frame is already quite
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stiff and stout it's built with
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oversized carbon fiber tubes and we've
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got alloy linkages and angular contact
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bearings which minimize the amount of
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wiggle and flex through the back end
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speaking of Santa Cruz has built this
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frame to be one by specific without any
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need to factor in a front derailleur
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they've been able to beefing up the
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bottom bracket area they've also been
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able to put in this extra vertical
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upright on the drive side as well as the
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non-drive side now aside from giving it
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a really nice symmetrical look it also
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helps to strengthen the rear swingarm
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gives it a load of stiffness all the way
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to the rear axle and as a result the
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blur has a really purposeful really
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precise feeling through tight single
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track even with the perlier build kit
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despite maintains its snappy demeanor
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which has made the blur such a great
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cross-country bike Santa Cruz has built
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the blur with just the right amount of
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anti-squat so when you are mashing on
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the pedals the suspension does stiffen
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up a little bit lifts the whole bike up
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and propels you forward with fantastic
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acceleration but there's not so much
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anti-squat as to stifle the suspension
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deeper into the travel in fact I would
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say that the blur has quite an open and
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active feeling to its suspension it has
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great traction the rear tire follows the
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terrain really well I typically run the
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rear shop in full open because I think
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it pedals well enough as it is but by
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leaving the rear shock full open and
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allows a really nice active feel the
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whole bike is quite comfortable to ride
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especially for 100-millimeter travel
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bike that already pedals quite well the
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big tubeless tires definitely help here
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I'm a big fan of these XR fives and also
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the low pressures you can run them
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at speaking in the rear tire there is
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plenty of clearance in the back end here
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now santa cruz states you can fit up to
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a 2.35 maybe even a 2.4 inch wide tire
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in the back of the blur that's somewhat
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dependent on the width of the rim and
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also the tire model because they do vary
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somewhat but there is still clearance in
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the backend to run some proper tires in
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the back of this bike combined with the
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active suspension this bike climbs
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really really well I was a little
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worried at first that the slacker seat
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angle might put too much of my weight
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behind the bottom bracket but that
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proved to be completely unfounded in
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fact within the first couple of rides
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I actually shifted the saddle a little
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bit further backwards on the rails to
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get my knees in the right spot over the
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pedals since then it's been really
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comfortable and I've had no issues with
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climbing whatsoever the front end does
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take a little bit more waiting on the
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front tire to keep it from wandering on
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steep climbs but it's not as much as
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you'd think because the cockpit is
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already fairly low on this bike with
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that very short integrated head tube one
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other thing I was worried about with the
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bigger fork on this bike was the tall
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bottom bracket hive and whether that
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would affect cornering and handling on
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the trail now that concern proved to be
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completely unfounded mostly because the
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bottom bracket isn't actually that high
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when I'm sitting on the bike and the
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suspension is it sag the Beebe measures
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304 millimeters off the ground still
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there is a little more clearance there
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and I've actually found that really
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beneficial I can't really recall any
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moment where I smack the pedals on a
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rock and that means I've been able to
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ride some pretty technical
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rocky slabby climbs without fear of
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smashing the pedal and stalling on that
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climb particularly with wide open
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corners as well I've been able to keep
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our down more consistently which for a
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lightweight trail bike or cross country
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bike is exactly what you want combined
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with that wider handlebar that short
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stem and that torsionally stiff frame
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this bike corners so well it's really
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rigid really precise particularly when
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you're loading up the pedals through the
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turns and I had no problems with agility
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on this bike whatsoever now on the note
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of handling and front-end steering I've
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actually been doing some offset testing
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on the front of the blur now if you're
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looking at a complete bike Santacruz
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builds the blur frame around a 44
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millimeter offset fork with the Fox 34
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step cast on the front here I've
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actually got one in a 44 millimeter
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offset
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in a 51 millimetre offset - and it does
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change the handling now I've got some
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more back to back testing to be done and
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there will be a full feature coming on
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the offset test on the front of the blur
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so make sure you stay tuned to
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singletrack WorldCom and their YouTube
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and Facebook channels for the full
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feature on that offset test as you can
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probably tell I've had a load of fun
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testing this bike with the 120
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millimeter fork and that burly apart
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spec I think the blur is such a capable
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and versatile bike and you can get a
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whole lot more out of it by just
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changing a few other components in fact
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you could get the one bike with two sets
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of forks and potentially a few pairs of
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tires and change it up depending on the
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writing that you're doing you could have
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this nice fun capable pocket-sized trail
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bike for ninety percent of the time and
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then with the swap - 100 millimeter
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travel for some faster rolling tires
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you've got a cross country race bike so
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there's a load of versatility in this
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chassis to be taken advantage of now if
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you want to read the full in-depth
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feature on my experience with the blur
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setup as it is here then make sure you
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jump on singletrack WorldCom to read the
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full review and if you liked this video
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make sure you subscribe to our YouTube
10:33
channel sign up to our Facebook page
10:35
and we'll have plenty more videos coming
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for you in the near future hope you've
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enjoyed watching and I'll see you guys
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next time
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- room
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