Fresh from Santa Cruz is their all-new, full carbon fiber Blur mountain bike. A full pound lighter in the frame, the bike continues to use their patented VPP (Virtual Pivot Point) technology to produce a stable pedaling platform without resorting to lockout mechanisms.  The new Blur also gets upgraded with features already proven on their longer-travel LT and Nomad models, all of which are shown after the break.
Why go carbon? Santa Cruz claims this bike is one of their stiffest, most flex-resistant frames ever. Oh, and the frame weighs about a full pound less than the outgoing model…4.2 lbs (down from 5.3)
Click “more” for lots and lots of glorious pics, tech specs, geometry and more…
The Blur will be available in the black with orange shown at the beginning of the post along with a “Silver” (shown above) and “Black” (shown below).  Click on the images in this post to enlarge them.
There are two spec builds available, the XTR-XC ($6,281 USD), which is all XTR (including disc brakes), Easton bar and stem, Thomson Masterpiece seat post, Fizik seat, Crank Bros headset, DT Swiss wheels, SID Team Dual Air fork, Monarch 3.3 shock and Kenda tubes and tires. Full bike weight is 23.17 lbs.
The SPX-XC ($4,699 USD) uses parts from all the same manufacturers, just down-spec a little with full XT drivetrain, Fox F100 RLC fork, RockShox Monarch 3.3 shock, and Avid Juicy 7 disc brakes.  Full bike weight is 25.42 lbs.
Travel is down slightly from the old Aluminum model, from 115mm to 105mm rear travel, and the new bikes both come with 100mm travel forks.  Santa Cruz claims the bike is strong enough to accommodate a 120mm fork with no rider weight limit (The Chris King headset shown is not spec’d on the complete bike).
The downtube has two water bottle mounts, top and bottom.
This is a cool feature:  In-molded carbon chainstay protector…though it needs something on the sides to keep heel strikers like myself from rubbing through the carbon (trust me, this is a problem).
Full carbon upper link uses angular contact bearings, a carry over from their longer travel bikes.  Pivot axles are also larger diameter.
Little details like replaceable carbon fiber derailleur hangers (above) and carbon fiber brake mounts (below) help shed grams.
So, how does it compare to the old Blur?  Click on the image below for a full size comparison chart:
And here’s how it fits.  I’m happy to see a shortish 16.6″ chainstay…keeps the rear wheel under you for traction on climbs! (click to enlarge)
While this bike is billed as an aggressive XC bike, with racing in mind, it’s head angle is a little slacker than competing models from Giant (Anthem: 72°) and Trek (Top Fuel: 70°), meaning it won’t feel quite as quick, but it’ll probably feel a little more stable over the rough stuff.
Check it out on Santa Cruz’s website, or download the PDF catalog.  Here’s hoping they have demo bikes at Sea Otter!
