5 Likes
Not a fan of the look of the linkage. For me it’s a no go on that alone.
2 Likes
Tubing shape looks great, and I’m a fan of the integrated chainstay protector/chain slap diffuser. Also happy to see bottle bosses under the downtube for extra bottle or storage.
I’m interested to see what they did with the leverage ratio and shock. If they tuned the antisquat lower, I want to see how the rest of it is put together, but I haven’t been able to get a code off of any of the stock shots of the shocks.
(edit: found this pic on the website, which may be nonsense or may be the actual leverage curve)
1 Like
pretty underwhelming
1 Like
Interesting! They went single pivot in lieu of VPP.
Similar to how Specialized went single pivot on the Epic in lieu of FSR.
A sign that XC bike designs are converging?
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Normally I’d agree with you, but with XC, winning sells bikes.
They can’t really make courses more technical right now, so we might be at a local maximum.
The next frontier will have to be aero, for competing in short track if they move towards tactical races.
4 Likes
I want one.
My Blur was OK, but ditching the VPP for SP seems like a good choice for this platform. I’ll venture a guess that beyond the weight savings, you have a bit more poppy bike because of it.
1 Like
I like it overall, especially the TR versions (without SID & remote lockouts). Really wish they’d sacrifice the 50 grams or whatever and spec G2s. I hate Levels.
2 Likes
Yup, I didn’t love the Levels on my 2017 Top Fuel. Took notably more lever force compared to my Guide and XT brakes. Stopping was fine, but the extra effort seemed to instill some level of fear and lack of confidence vs my other brakes. Fine for a pure XC, but since the TR swings to trail, I think the brakes should have been changed along with the rotors.
2 Likes
I’ll be getting one this summer, either regular or TR (regulars are on the way, shop doesn’t know about TR just yet). Trying to decide if I want to swap to g2 from the get-go or not. I’ve never ridden the levels, but also haven’t ever heard anyone say anything good about them.
In terms of geo I like the blur, but now that I’ve seen the full spec sheet specialized epic Evo definitely wins on spec.
What do you have against the SID?
I like the looks of this bike, but yeah I hear you. There have been bikes that I just glance at and think “Nope!!”
1 Like
I’m not a huge fan, but impressed with the Spec vs the price. The XT build is cheaper than a lot of equivalent builds I priced in November. I’m surprised the Specialized build stacks up as it looked like they were significantly more for a lower Spec when I did the research.
I can’t find the TR spec on the website, maybe it’s identical except for fork and shock travel?
That all assumes that the USD RRP doesn’t get a big bump when it comes to other regions (far from guaranteed).
Click the “Blur TR” tab right under the “Build & Price” leader.
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Doh, too easy.
Also, I just looked up the US price for a Scott Spark 910 (almost exact same spec) and you guys pay half what we do so that doesn’t make the Blur so good 
.
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FWIW, I actually like my Levels thus far (minimal ride time on my new bike at this point and my old bike had Guides), but as a smaller rider (~115lbs), I imagine that comes into play.
1 Like
Looking at the base model it looks like the new Blur is $1k more than the equivalent Carbon S model was in 2019, and the same listed weight as that model was with an added dropper. Almost the same color options as well, with the black and coral options.
The two bottle cages in the frame will still drive me insane.
I’m wondering when this steeper seat tube angle increase will slow for XC bikes?
I’m on a Pivot Mach4SL right now, and I have put a Ritchey seatpost on it to get the seat/saddle in my preferred location.
Anything steeper and I couldn’t achieve this.
Either I need to change or I’m going to have to keep looking for bikes that stay around that 74 degree angle.
Hump
Potential reliability issues. From the Pinkbike review:
Updated: Unfortunately, the SID fork in this review, as well as two others in our cross-country Field Test review series, developed a notable amount of bushing play after this review was posted. If your SID has this issue, reach out to RockShox for support.
Fox 34 SC is a something of a workhorse, and I like that. No Fox/RS preference on my end, I’m just scared off by the new SID.
1 Like
Question about geometry: The two versions of the new Blur (XC and TR) use the same frame but a different shock (40 vs 45mm stroke) and fork, hence different geometries on the bikes. I figure that the geo differences (notably the HTA and STA) are due to the fork (100 vs 120 mm) and not the shock, so if I keep the same shock but bump the fork up to 120mm, I’ll still land on the TR geometry numbers. Does that sound right, or is there more interplay between the fork and shock to account for?
Is it just me or most of the XC Bikes Blurrrrring into one?
1 Like