Been riding my new blur tr S build for the last week. Wow I am absolutely blown away by this bike. Just incredibly responsive and impressively capable. Climbs like an absolute mountain goat, really just can’t believe how hard I can charge uphill on it. Surprisingly capable descender, in some ways more so than my 160mm enduro bike. I find it particularly lively, and really fast accelerating out of corners. There are some sections of trail where I struggle to get speed for jumps on the enduro bike, but the blur just takes a few pedals strokes and it’s up to speed again. And with how efficient and quick it is, I can just munch miles of trails without working too hard.
The downsides: where I live (the PNW) I definitely hit the limits on steeper and chunkier trails. Squamish or whistler blacks are a bit beyond this bikes comfort zone, which is no surprise at all. Definitely glad I still have the big bike for steep gnarlier trails.
Oh and FYI if anyone is wondering: the XL blur tr S weighs in at 28 lbs.
The only one available on the website to me is the SE2, which is a great looking bike. Notably no lockout which is promising. I wonder if it’s supportive enough for that?
Definitely getting rid of AI and proprietary wheels and cranks etc would be a positive for parts availability. Then, if you’re going Lefty then you’re committing to having a bike that not all the shops can deal with anyway.
I just noticed the 2023 Trek Top Fuel is spec’d with a 130mm Pike, a 200mm dropper, and under “class” it says Enduro.
Interesting. I wonder if it’s because of the impending new bike, or if they felt it was a miss as initially presented.
I’ve become more in favour of it’s design (2022) and from reading the MTBR forum thread about it it seems like a really fantastic bike. A bit like a Transition Spur but with more antisquat.
Standard epic frame but decently high spec. I thought most DC bikes would be in the 25-26 range for low spec. 28lbs is around what id expect a trail bike to be at
ah, come on. Show me a trail bike that is 28lbs that isn’t high-end (whatever that means). I don’t think those exist anymore. Maybe in 27.5" wheel land, but with everything 29er these days, I don’t think that bike exists, unless it’s a very costly build.
You could buy a 120mm lefty spec’d Scalpel SE for a minute back in 2022 but I haven’t seen it available online for a while now. Cannondale had a rough couple years from a business organization perspective, magnified by COVID supply chain issues. This has all led to a really sporadic offering and inventory.
Sounds like that is behind them now (new ownership with deeper pockets) and they are once again full steam ahead in regard to new bike design and product availability.
That’s a great point. What 28lbs gets you today is alot more bike than 28lbs even 5 years ago.
FWIW, since you were asking about Carbonda. I have the Carbonda FM936 and was able to build it up to <26lbs with Shimano XT and some Fox Factory suspension I got a good deal with. It’s a rippin’ bike. Not as good in straight line chundery stuff, but pretty much everywhere else its on par with my 130/150 trail bike. I know you’re looking at their newer frame, which looks pretty sweet. I’ve got two seasons on mine and no reliability issues with the frame.
I didn’t, but I really debated it during my build. I have been doing some bike racing on it (BCBR and similar) and I think if I was doing it again, I’d probably put a lock-out on. If I wasn’t racing, then I probably wouldn’t. It pedals pretty good fully open. The way the shock mounts (inverted, Scott Spark style) it’s hard to reach down and flip the switch while still pedalling.
Yes, I ordered directly from Carbonda back in August 2020. Here is the cost breakdown. If doing again, I’d pay the extra $150 or whatever for the SL frameset option. Shipping was to Canada.
Just catching up on the discussion. That weight for my blur is with rally pedals, two bottles, and a one up pump tool combo. So prob an extra kg of weight (pump and rally’s are heavy). Also the blur XL is quite big, larger frame than my XL enduro. This bike isn’t intended as an XCO bike; I live in the PNW and a bike like a standard epic would explode on the typical descent here. I don’t even want a fox 34 sc, i went with a fox 34 performance. Also i weigh 190 lbs, so I need something tougher than other lighter riders.
I’m hoping to get down another kg with upgraded wheels and bars, but the top priority is maintaining the ridability in my backyard. I doubt I can get sub 27lb without seriously compromising how much I enjoy the ride. This is a pretty typical build for your BCBR type trails.
