I have been looking for a new mountain bike for a do it all ride. After some research I think I have narrowed it down to 3 bikes. A Scalpel SE, Epic EVO, or a Blur TR. Just wanted to see if anyone had any experience with any of these or better yet if someone had experience with more than one of them. I am looking for this to be my only mountain bike to be fun and fast, with the plan on the occasional Marathon MTB race. Currently I am on a 2018 Camber 29. And yes I know, even when I decide I am facing more of a challenge finding one to buy.
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Bump! 
I donāt have experience with any of the bikes yet, but Iāve been looking for something similar: an XC race bike thatās been over-forked for trail.
Iāll be using it for my āeasierā marathon races next year (Rattlinā MTB marathon, Leadville Lake Placid qualifier, and whatever Mid-Atlantic Super Series endurance races I do. I have a Ripmo that Iāll use for more extreme events, like Shenandoah, and maybe the wilderness 101.
Based on 2021 XC Bike Thread Iāve added the Revel Ranger and the Orbea Oiz to my list.
Based on a number of friendsā experiences with Specializedās handling of carbon frame damage issues, I pulled the epic and epic EVO off my list.
Based on (what I understand as) the proprietary headtube and crank spacing, I pulled the scalpel off my list.
Really interested to hear thoughts on:
Santa Cruz Blur TR
Orbea Oiz
Revel Ranger
I have a 2021 oiz-m-ltd, 100, 100. Sort of wish i got the 120 version, but i tuned my suspension to pretty much always use all 100mm on trails I ride, occasional bottom outs, whic is fine with me. My opinion is you should use everything what you pay for! With a carbon post in lieu of the Fox transfer, it is less than 22lbs, with pedals (converted Garmin vectors) and tire pump, and bottle cage. If it cannot ride something, it is because my skills are bad, or I am too weak, not the bike. It seems to descend surprisingly well. Beware that it only accepts chainrings between 32 and 36 due to the design of the drive side chain stay. I tried to put a 30 on, but the chain will drag on the stay on the smaller cogs. I wish the industry supported front derailleurs on MTB. I would use the range.
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I didnāt realize that - super-helpful!
I have a 30T on one of my MTB, that I would switch between bikes if I needed to. Really good to know it wouldnāt work with an Oiz.
I really like the look of the Orbea Oiz TR, it looks super capable but very racey and light. Itās a long time since I checked the specs, but from memory the non trail version is pretty steep compared to the modern bikes and the bikes in your list?
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Good question.
Based on what Iāve been able to find (mix of online reviews and WAAAAYY too much time on geometrygeeks.bike), the Oiz, the Blur, the Scalpel, and the Epic all use the same frame for the XC and TR counterparts; itās the forkās axle-to-crown that changes the effective HTA. I believe that the XC Oiz has a 69 degree HTA, which is the same as the 2018-2021 Blur, the 2018-2020 Epic (actually this might be 69.5?), and a similar range for the Scalpels.
I havenāt decided if Iāll go new or used yet.
I also have a Fox Performance 34 SC 120mm that I can swap in to make any of the XC versions slacker - essentially creating my own TR version of an XC bike.
Iāve probably done too much research at this point; my spreadsheet calculates Lee McCormackās RAD, and compares HTA, STA, ETT, chain stay, head tube length, and weights (with and without forks, with the ability to change fork selections to see how that impacts overall weight).
Currently leaning towards a 2018 or 2020 Blur - and while Iād prefer the TR version, Iād also be fine with the XC version (especially if it came with a dropper).
How does the squidlock remote play with the dropper remote?
Its all in one. Has a single bar clamp, with the 3 position (open, semi, and closed damper) suspension levers below the bar, and the dropper lever orthogonal to the bar. Works well. When I pull the dropper out, i just leaventhe cable in the seat post of the fixed post.
Iād like to see that Spreadsheet
Hump
Slightly better layout. Youāll probably need to request accessā¦ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Zmvk7iOYSQVDIgEHjKhlvbQf_ggJTOhE/edit#gid=1281657650