Santa Cruz Bicycles Blur Carbon CC X01 Eagle Trail Complete Mountain Bike

When Santa Cruz relaunched its Blur as a 29-inch cross-country race wunderbike, we have to admit, it was pretty cool. It actually made us want to don some lycra, toe the start line at a race, and look forward to that metallic taste of blood at the back of our throats as we throttle away from the start and push ourselves to redline on the climbs. However, unlike most Santa Cruz builds that leave very little to be desired, we knew right away if it was our bike, two things would get swapped that we can't live without, a dropper post and some meatier rubber. And while we're at it, opt to over fork it a touch so it's still a fun bike after you clip off the number plate. We know this is getting terribly close to Tallboy territory but we feel these minor changes wouldn't change the competitive spirit of the Blur' while making it an easier bike to live with day-in and day-out. It's almost as if Santa Cruz read our minds with the Blur Carbon CC X01 Eagle Trail Complete Mountain Bike, and built it up almost exactly piece by piece how we would if we were starting with just the frame. Steep but not too steep angles and aggressive race-ready geometry makes this Blur a demon on the race course and still a blast on epic rolling singletrack without another cyclist in sight. The non-trail version of the Blur is an unapologetic racer thataTMs brutally efficient with its sole intent of getting you from point a to point b the quickest. The trail version still has this in its DNA as it shares the exact same frame but with obvious trail-enhancing features. The rear end utilizes the one-piece carbon VPP rear triangle that shares similarities with Santa Cruz's burly DH rigs. Its twin upright architecture gets inspiration from the Nomad and V10, providing a laterally stiff ride without excessive bulk. Keeping a good thing going, Santa Cruz carefully constructs a one-piece carbon front triangle that further adds to the impressive stiffness for tracking confidence through blown out brakin...