Trevor_S
01-10-2008, 10:05 PM
Well
After much shaggin' about on my part, I finally had my Santa Cru z BLUR LT finished, I went in and grabbed it this afternoon, did a rushed adjustment on the bar controls, took a guess at the air pressure in the forks and shock, pumped the tyres up, adjusted the seat height, mounted the lights and headed out for a night ride with Haydn... but to take a step back.
I have wanted to replace my GT i-drive 5.0 with something a little lighter but not too light, settled on a Blur LT. Jeff at Toys 'R Us did me a great deal on a frame/shock from the Santa Cruz importer, so I ponied up for a XL black anodised frame version of the brand new LT 2 model. Anodised come in two colours, skidmark brown and black. and cost $400 (erk !) dollars more then powder coating. I am not a big fan of powder coating, it chips to easily for my liking not that I am a big fan of paying $400 more either... the frame comes with a Fox RP23 rear shock, that is apparently tweaked by Santa Cruz before you get it, not sure how much tweaking they do ?
anyhoo, where were we..
So the bike arrives, I decided that I will strip all the parts off my KHS and sell the frame and rear shock as a set and sell the GT later as a complete bike.. Steve wanted the Rockshox REBA front fork to replace the ancient elastomer ones he had on his Merida hard tail, so he snapped them up.. I needed a new front fork to suit the LT (Long Travel) of the new Blur, so a quick chat with some suspension guru's in the UK and ordered what they said was the best choice fork for me, a 2009 Rockshox Revelation with the PUSH Industries kit in it, set up for my weight and style of riding.
The fork arrived 5 days later from the UK (outstanding, how do they do it !) all the bits are ready
http://trevors.smugmug.com/photos/378663015_wmHcv-L-1.jpg
so Justin gets to work
http://trevors.smugmug.com/photos/378663017_99XPC-L-1.jpg
http://trevors.smugmug.com/photos/378663030_TcKVg-L-1.jpg
http://trevors.smugmug.com/photos/378663817_Tm2Nu-L-1.jpg
http://trevors.smugmug.com/photos/378663813_igwsf-L-1.jpg
He kept saying it was "bad ju ju" my taking pics of him assembling the bike, I kept telling him he was just upset cause he had to actually do some work for a change, instead of sitting back and crakin' the whip ! but I digress...
So with only a little more complaining about the "bad ju ju" he finishes it off
http://trevors.smugmug.com/photos/378662582_Z7rTV-L-1.jpg
but as he suspected, the front brake cable from my 100mm travel bike was too short... DOH! They had none, so had to order one in.. no bike for me today
F.FWD a few days and I collect the bike, Justine shows me how to grease the suspension pivot point. A great idea, the Blur comes with two grease nipples and Santa Cruz Bikes supplies you with a grease gun and grease to use... great idea I think.
Haydn sends same a txt, ride tonight ? Sure why not, I had only just got home with the bike, had no intention of looking at it until I had some free time but there you go, whipped it into shape, put some knicks on and headed out..
Haydn comments "New bike Trev, ridden it much yet ? " Me: "Nope, from my place to here" (bottom of Red Tail) Okay, lets go...
Climbs nicely, nearly as good as the KHS, doesn't like the tight turns quite as much, climbs much better then the GT. I had thought the longer travel on the front might make it a bitch to climb, not really, though there is a knob to allow you to dial it down to 110mm of travel from the 140mm it's set at if it got really nasty with the climbing but nothing on the Douglas trails made it bat an eyelid.
Jeff from Toy 'R Us had given me a set of Hutchinson Python tyres to trial and give him some feedback on. What can I say, initial impressions, they are great tyre, gripped where my crappy Maxxis Crossmarks were sliding and even the better Maxxis Ignitors would let go from time to time, these did well, especially on the corners. Of course I have to see how long they last and whether the rocks on the trails rip the hell out of the sidewalls. Yes I am looking at you Maxxis and your shitty Crossmark tyres with the paper thin sidewalls. and the second corner on Wobbegong shredding them... :) but then I only had the cheaper Crossmarks. The "Pythons" are very light, very little rolling resistance and had the bike leaping forward when I pedalled. Climbing was probably better with the WTB Werwolves, by a tad but the Ptyhons held on better into the corners. So in summary, great tyre for our hardpacked dry trails, low rolling resistance, no "humming" as you ride on the road to get to the trails, great cornering and very good climbing. 8)
http://www.extrauk.co.uk/uploadedimages/01998
Ride went really well, Haydn commented how well the bike seed to go on it;s first outing only thing of note was the really tight cornering was a little more difficult but that could just be because of minor changes I need in the "cock pit", i will reserve judgement until I so some minor tweaking. The front forks performed superbly, better then I had expected, I need about 10 PSI less in them I would think, but other than that... the rear shock was about right (Fox RP23)
http://trevors.smugmug.com/photos/384337396_rgALo-L.jpg
After much shaggin' about on my part, I finally had my Santa Cru z BLUR LT finished, I went in and grabbed it this afternoon, did a rushed adjustment on the bar controls, took a guess at the air pressure in the forks and shock, pumped the tyres up, adjusted the seat height, mounted the lights and headed out for a night ride with Haydn... but to take a step back.
I have wanted to replace my GT i-drive 5.0 with something a little lighter but not too light, settled on a Blur LT. Jeff at Toys 'R Us did me a great deal on a frame/shock from the Santa Cruz importer, so I ponied up for a XL black anodised frame version of the brand new LT 2 model. Anodised come in two colours, skidmark brown and black. and cost $400 (erk !) dollars more then powder coating. I am not a big fan of powder coating, it chips to easily for my liking not that I am a big fan of paying $400 more either... the frame comes with a Fox RP23 rear shock, that is apparently tweaked by Santa Cruz before you get it, not sure how much tweaking they do ?
anyhoo, where were we..
So the bike arrives, I decided that I will strip all the parts off my KHS and sell the frame and rear shock as a set and sell the GT later as a complete bike.. Steve wanted the Rockshox REBA front fork to replace the ancient elastomer ones he had on his Merida hard tail, so he snapped them up.. I needed a new front fork to suit the LT (Long Travel) of the new Blur, so a quick chat with some suspension guru's in the UK and ordered what they said was the best choice fork for me, a 2009 Rockshox Revelation with the PUSH Industries kit in it, set up for my weight and style of riding.
The fork arrived 5 days later from the UK (outstanding, how do they do it !) all the bits are ready
http://trevors.smugmug.com/photos/378663015_wmHcv-L-1.jpg
so Justin gets to work
http://trevors.smugmug.com/photos/378663017_99XPC-L-1.jpg
http://trevors.smugmug.com/photos/378663030_TcKVg-L-1.jpg
http://trevors.smugmug.com/photos/378663817_Tm2Nu-L-1.jpg
http://trevors.smugmug.com/photos/378663813_igwsf-L-1.jpg
He kept saying it was "bad ju ju" my taking pics of him assembling the bike, I kept telling him he was just upset cause he had to actually do some work for a change, instead of sitting back and crakin' the whip ! but I digress...
So with only a little more complaining about the "bad ju ju" he finishes it off
http://trevors.smugmug.com/photos/378662582_Z7rTV-L-1.jpg
but as he suspected, the front brake cable from my 100mm travel bike was too short... DOH! They had none, so had to order one in.. no bike for me today
F.FWD a few days and I collect the bike, Justine shows me how to grease the suspension pivot point. A great idea, the Blur comes with two grease nipples and Santa Cruz Bikes supplies you with a grease gun and grease to use... great idea I think.
Haydn sends same a txt, ride tonight ? Sure why not, I had only just got home with the bike, had no intention of looking at it until I had some free time but there you go, whipped it into shape, put some knicks on and headed out..
Haydn comments "New bike Trev, ridden it much yet ? " Me: "Nope, from my place to here" (bottom of Red Tail) Okay, lets go...
Climbs nicely, nearly as good as the KHS, doesn't like the tight turns quite as much, climbs much better then the GT. I had thought the longer travel on the front might make it a bitch to climb, not really, though there is a knob to allow you to dial it down to 110mm of travel from the 140mm it's set at if it got really nasty with the climbing but nothing on the Douglas trails made it bat an eyelid.
Jeff from Toy 'R Us had given me a set of Hutchinson Python tyres to trial and give him some feedback on. What can I say, initial impressions, they are great tyre, gripped where my crappy Maxxis Crossmarks were sliding and even the better Maxxis Ignitors would let go from time to time, these did well, especially on the corners. Of course I have to see how long they last and whether the rocks on the trails rip the hell out of the sidewalls. Yes I am looking at you Maxxis and your shitty Crossmark tyres with the paper thin sidewalls. and the second corner on Wobbegong shredding them... :) but then I only had the cheaper Crossmarks. The "Pythons" are very light, very little rolling resistance and had the bike leaping forward when I pedalled. Climbing was probably better with the WTB Werwolves, by a tad but the Ptyhons held on better into the corners. So in summary, great tyre for our hardpacked dry trails, low rolling resistance, no "humming" as you ride on the road to get to the trails, great cornering and very good climbing. 8)
http://www.extrauk.co.uk/uploadedimages/01998
Ride went really well, Haydn commented how well the bike seed to go on it;s first outing only thing of note was the really tight cornering was a little more difficult but that could just be because of minor changes I need in the "cock pit", i will reserve judgement until I so some minor tweaking. The front forks performed superbly, better then I had expected, I need about 10 PSI less in them I would think, but other than that... the rear shock was about right (Fox RP23)
http://trevors.smugmug.com/photos/384337396_rgALo-L.jpg