Santa Cruz has revamped its Blur cross-country bike, increasing the travel to 120mm front and rear, updating the geometry and slimming down the tubing in order to reduce weight.
There are both XC 'Race' and trail-style 'Standard' build options available, both using the same CC (Santa Cruz’s top-spec carbon) frame. The suspension kinematics have been updated, too, with more mid-stroke support and ‘significantly’ increased reach numbers.
Santa Cruz emphasises that this isn’t just a race bike, though, saying the Blur takes XC racing and adds “Oh hell, yeah”. We're not entirely sure what that means.
Updated geometry and kinematics
Santa Cruz has evolved the geometry dramatically for the latest version of the Blur, with the reach increasing significantly and the head angle much slacker.
The new Blur is around 15mm longer in each size, with the old bike spanning 412-483mm from Small to XL and the new bike ranging from 425-500mm in 25mm increments.
The head angle is now a more relaxed 66 degrees compared to the 67.1 degrees of the outgoing model. The bottom-bracket height has been dropped 6mm to 334mm.
The rear-centre measurement remains similar to the previous Blur and keeps the proportional chainstay length, with the Small measuring 433mm and growing across the sizes to 439mm on the XL.
Suspension kinematics have been tweaked, too, with the latest Blur receiving an update to the shock-actuation ratio through the travel, which Santa Cruz says will increase the support in the mid-stroke.
More travel and more progressive
Travel is now 120mm front and rear on all Blur Mk5 models, whereas the outgoing Mk4 Blur offered 115mm on the 'Trail' builds and only 107mm of rear suspension on the XC race-oriented builds.
The new Blur therefore sits squarely in the downcountry bikes camp with an emphasis on light weight, but also promising customers strength and longevity.
Santa Cruz hopes the new Tallboy, which has redesigned rear suspension and travel boosted to 130mm will fill the trail bike niche, with the Blur covering downcountry duties – spanning the gap between XC race bike and those who want a lightweight, short-travel bike for trail riding.
Santa Cruz says the new frame has slimmer tube profiles to reduce the weight of the frame. It’s versatile, too, with space for two bike bottle cages and internal frame storage.
The newest Blur frame is claimed to weigh 1.98kg, which is heavier than the claimed 1.85kg of Canyon’s new 125mm-travel Lux Trail.
Santa Cruz has chosen to drop the budget 'C' carbon Blur frame from the range with the new version, and the only option is now the more expensive 'CC' carbon frame.
Santa Cruz Blur spec and pricing
There are seven specs on offer when buying a new Blur, with two distinct build styles on the table from Santa Cruz: one is more trail-focused with a 50mm stem, riser bar and Maxxis Aspen AT tyres.
The more race-focused builds have a longer 60mm stem, flat bar, remote-actuated shock lockout and Maxxis Recon Race tyres.
All the options have a dropper post and a chain guide.
The Blur CC 90 will be the only build option available in the UK, along with the frame-only.
All builds are available in Gloss Tart Cherry or Matte Charcoal.
Blur CC Deore
- Frame: Blur CC
- Fork: RockShox SID Base
- Shock: Fox Float Rhythm
- Cockpit: 50mm Santa Cruz stem, Race Face Ride riser
- Drivetrain: Deore 12-spd
- Brakes: SRAM DB8
- Wheels: Race Face AR Offset rims on Shimano hubs
- Tyres: Maxxis Aspen AT MaxxSpeed
- Extras: SDG dropper
- Weight: 13.21kg
- Price: £N/A / $4,899 / €4,999
Blur CC 90
- Frame: Blur CC
- Fork: Fox 34 SL Performance
- Shock: Fox Float Performance
- Cockpit: 50mm Santa Cruz stem, Race Face Ride riser
- Drivetrain: SRAM 90 Eagle T-Type Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM DB8
- Wheels: Race Face AR Offset rims on DT Swiss 370 hubs
- Tyres: Maxxis Aspen AT MaxxSpeed
- Extras: OneUp dropper
- Weight: 12.50kg
- Price: £5,299 / $5,799 / €5,999
Blur CC GX AXS
- Frame: Blur CC
- Fork: Fox 34 SL Performance Elite
- Shock: Fox Float Performance Elite
- Cockpit: 50mm Santa Cruz stem, Carbon OneUP riser
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX AXS Eagle T-Type Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Motive Bronze
- Wheels: Race Face AR Offset rims on DT Swiss 370 hubs
- Tyres: Maxxis Aspen AT MaxxSpeed
- Extras: OneUp dropper
- Weight: 11.96kg
- Price: £N/A / $6,999 / €6,999
Blur CC X0 AXS RSV
- Frame: Blur CC
- Fork: Fox 34 SL Float Factory
- Shock: Fox Float Float Factory
- Cockpit: 50mm Race Face Turbine SL stem, Carbon OneUP riser
- Drivetrain: SRAM X0 Eagle T-Type Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Motive Silver
- Wheels: DT Swiss 350 hubs and Reserve 28IXC carbon rim
- Tyres: Maxxis Aspen AT MaxxSpeed
- Extras: OneUp dropper
- Weight: 11.68kg
- Price: £N/A / $9,199 / €9,499
Blur CC XTR RSV
- Frame: Blur CC
- Fork: Fox 34 SL Float Factory
- Shock: Fox Float Float Factory
- Cockpit: 50mm Race Face Turbine SL stem, Carbon OneUP riser
- Drivetrain: Shimano XTR Di2
- Brakes: SRAM Motive Ultimate
- Wheels: DT Swiss 180 hubs and Reserve 28IXC carbon rim
- Tyres: Maxxis Aspen AT MaxxSpeed
- Extras: OneUp dropper, Chris King headset
- Weight: 11.43kg
- Price: £N/A / $10,299 / €10,999
Blur CC GX AXS Race RSV
- Frame: Blur CC
- Fork: RockShox SID Select+
- Shock: RockShox SIDluxe Select+
- Cockpit: 60mm SRAM Atmos 7k stem, Santa Cruz Carbon flat bar
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX Eagle AXS T-Type
- Brakes: SRAM Motive Bronze
- Wheels: DT Swiss 350 hubs and Reserve 28IXC carbon rim
- Tyres: Maxxis Rekon Race MaxxSpeed
- Extras: OneUp dropper, SRAM Twistloc remote
- Weight: 12.06kg
- Price: £N/A | $7,999 | €7,999
Blur CC XX AXS FA Race RSV
- Frame: Blur CC
- Fork: RockShox SID Ultimate Flight Attendant
- Shock: RockShox SID Ultimate Flight Attendant
- Cockpit: 60mm Cane Creek GXC stem, Santa Cruz Carbon flat bar
- Drivetrain: SRAM XX SL Eagle T-Type
- Brakes: SRAM Motive Ultimate
- Wheels: DT Swiss 180 hubs and Reserve 28IXC SL carbon rim
- Tyres: Maxxis Rekon Race MaxxSpeed
- Extras: Reverb AXS dropper, SRAM XX SL Eagle Power Meter crank
- Weight: 11.44kg
- Price: £N/A / $13,399 / €12,499
Blur CC frame only
- Price: £3,299 / $3,799 / €3,899
