Santa Cruz: Full Suspension Done Right

I purchased up the Blur frame the day before Thanksgiving 2002. Bike shops would be closed the next day, so I knew if I didn't get everything I needed to build it that night, it would be two days before I could ride. Most of the parts were being stripped from my Yeti, but there were a few things to buy. I picked up a new seat post when I bought the frame, and I bought a new front derailleur, cables, housing, and fork oil for the front shock. Otherwise everything would be moved over.

As luck would have it, I did manage to remember everything and built the bike that night. The Yeti had a 2000 Rock Shox Judy Race on it, and I had to rearrange the spacers to change the fork from 63mm of travel to 100mm. I test rode it sometime after 11:00 p.m. that night, and it was ready to ride the next day.

My first ride was in the Soquel Demonstration Forest and the bike performed better than I'd hoped for. I'd jumped into the world of full-suspension mountain biking a year earlier, but without success. After a few short months of riding a modified-URT bike, I'd decided that hardtails were the bikes for me. The Blur changed that quickly. I went from preaching the virtues of hardtails (while riding in Moab in October) to asking myself if I'd ever ride a hardtail again (less than two months later).

Well enough of the silly stuff... How does it ride? It rides great! The magazines are heralding it as the best suspension design to date. I agree with them - if it's not "the" best, it certainly one of the best. It's based on a Virtual Pivot Point (VPP) design that Santa Cruz purchased from a company called "Outland." I'm not sure if the engineers at Outland or at Santa Cruz deserve the credit, but in any case they did a great job.

The bike climbs very well. There is some suspension movement, but it's from the rider's weight transitioning during the pedal stroke, and does not effect the ability to deliver power to the rear wheel. Climbing is as efficient as on a hardtail. I paid extra to have a lockout added to the Fox Float AVA rear shock, but the bike does not need it.

Going downhill is where this bike excels. Bumps mean nothing to the bike. I've been in situations where I look at the trail ahead of me, and say, "I'm in trouble." I brace for the impact, and expect to endo any moment, but the bike cruises through as if I were on a bike path. I immediately found that instead of looking for smooth lines, I aim at the bike at rocks. I'm not sure what long term effect this will have on my riding style.

In February I competed in my first race aboard the Blur (and only my second race ever). The 2003 Cool Mountain Bike Classic was a mud-fest (the picture of the mud covered bike on this page shows the bike the day after), but was a blast to ride. I finished a dismal 27th of 34 in my category (sport men 30-39), but had a great time doing it.

Since building the bike the only major change that it's undertaken was replacing the Judy Race with a 2002 Marzocchi Marathon S. As it's built right now the bike weights in at just under 26 pounds - the frame, rear shock, and seat clamp is 5.8 pounds.

Update (11/03): So much for no major upgrades. I switched the bike over to Avid mechanical disk brakes, which necessitated a new wheelset. At the same time I replaced the Fox rear shock with a Progressive 5th Element Air shock. Soon afterwards I swapped out various parts from other bikes (levers, shifter, etc.). The pictures do not reflect the latest components, but the listing to the left does.

- el