I’m debating the age-old update/upgrade vs new-bike question and I’m looking for some advice. I have a Revel Ranger v1 that is built more as a short travel trail bike than an XC racer (30+ lb weight, ~2,000 gram wheels, Fox 34 130mm Grip2). I’m considering selling it to buy the X0 RSV Santa Cruz Blur TR. I typically ride Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN and Cable/Hayward/Chequamegon, WI trails and I have 8 MTB races on the calendar this year right now (ranging from sub-1hr to 3-4hrs, largely singletrack).
My thoughts on the Blur TR are that I would be gaining some snap/speed without losing much if any trail capability. The Blur TR is about 5 lbs lighter for the X0 RSV build, including 100g per rim, and while the rear travel is the same as the Ranger, the flex-stay suspension seems more geared toward efficiency than plushness.
The alternative is to “XC-ify” the Ranger somewhat: lighter wheels, go to 120mm 34SC, and probably adjust the cockpit to be a little less upright and more racy. Overall weight would still be higher, but wheel weight would be similar if not better than the RSV wheels.
Does anyone have first-hand experience with the Ranger and the Blur TR? I’ve seen the PInkbike articles/reviews of both, but I haven’t seen many other industry sites with experience on both bikes.
No experience with the blur, but having a Ranger v1 this is something I consider too. Your build seems a little heavy. I forget the exact weight but it’s under 30, and that’s with a 140 fork, Cane Creek DB IL, big rotors, 4 piston brakes, alu bars, and big (but reasonably fast) tires.
The problem I see is that no matter what, the Ranger frame is heavy. Even I swap back to Sid fork/shock, drop the rotor size, and go to carbon bars, all the low hanging fruit, there is still at least 2 lbs more frame weight. OTOH the Ranger climbs pretty well and eats up descents.
I’m in the midwest and just swapped my V3 Tallboy frame for a new Blur frame. Kept the same Step Cast 34 120 fork, although I have had a 130 34 on the Tallboy before as well. Mostly did it for the second bottle cage and more racy feeling of the single pivot 100 rear with the lockout. Saved a couple pounds with just the frame swap. Blur weighs ~25lbs with G2 brakes, carbon wheels, and a dropper.
As a one MTB stable the Tallboy and other “down country” bikes are great to race and also do chunky trails. And 100-110 rear is plenty for everything in a couple hundred mile radius from me, but I built a Stumpjumper this winter for trail riding when I travel, so I didn’t need both the Tallboy and that.
I would weigh what your budget allows, and where you want to compromise. If outright speed is your priority, than the XC bike is going to be the better plan. If you just want to be faster on course, but still have a trail friendly bike, then modifying your current bike is probably a good enough option.
I have a dedicated XC bike and trail bike with zero overlap. For my riding, it’s the better option.
It seems obvious to me that the blur is far superior than trying to xc-ify the ranger. Really the only downside is the price tag; that rsv build is incredible.
I have not ridden the ranger, but have a blur tr. The blur blows me away every time I ride it with how capable it is. I mostly ride whistler, Squamish, and north Vancouver, where the trails are (imo) as steep and technical as it gets. I have an enduro bike as well and the blur is actually faster on many of the blacks and double blacks because it’s so snappy and easy to get up to speed. I only find it limited on the true enduro/dh trails where it gets very steep and chunky. It’s also so flickable and playful it’s opened up a whole new world of fun on many trails!
In terms of brands…once you go Santa Cruz you’ll never go back. Every feature is so well thought out and well put together. I probably have 3,000 km on mine and I’ve only had to do pretty normal regular maintenance. If you like working on your own bikes, Santa Cruz makes it so much easier than any other brand I’ve owned.
I have one and absolutely love it. Super fast, light & capable bike. I’ve ridden pretty much all the MORC trails and it shreds them up. Perfect for your local trails.
Can only comment on the Blur TR I love that bike, definitely not the lightest mine is ~25 lbs with T-Type axs dropper, eggbeater, ready to ride with a racing ray/thunder burt. It does have a full ridewrap, I really love this bike, I also have a hightower v3 that hardly gets out
The question is why not get a zfs on sale vs a Blur? The cervelo right now is an awesome deal!
Yep, all pretty much the same except for the 0.5 degree slacker which is very welcome on the zfs. I was ready to add their hardtail to my garage until I noticed that for whatever reason they did the complete opposite having a very old school geo
I appreciate all the comments. I think I’m sold on the Blur TR, just need to see how much TPC will offer me for my Ranger. I also love that GREEN frame!
The Cervelo looks to be out of stock in size Large nearly everywhere online and definitely everywhere local to me. My LBS is a Santa Cruz dealer which is a big plus, and the Cervelo dealers in my area are limited. I also find the 120 builds kind of strange - full Rekon tires, no dropper, no option for Factory-level Fox kit, and no T-Type builds right now. Maybe the recent 35% sale was to make space for new T-Type builds they can announce ahead of Paris.
All other design details aside, a Revel Ranger is about 2900gr w/ shock (Fanatik website + 350gr shock) . The Blur is about 2000gr (added a bit of weight to the frame# for a trail shock). So like for like, you’re looking at a 900gr penalty like-for-like.
Otherwise, they’ve got about the same angles when you look at them. The Ranger can probably take a bit more dropper (?). The Blur can better handle two bottles in the triangle, especially in smaller frame sizes, though the Ranger has more native bottle capacity for longer rides.
You can trim 400gr (practically) from the wheels and 150gr from the fork? Tires might be 300gr different in that build to your bike (XC mini knobs vs trail knobs). Unless you’re sizing the differently, I don’t think you’d notice much difference once you adjusted the Blur (tires).
I think you’d notice the difference taking 1lb off the front of the bike whenever you need to lift the front of the bike, but that’s about it for the rest of the frame weight. The fork is on fire sale right now at Jenson - to the point that you can resell it for what you bought it for.
If there were two identically built bikes, one Blur TR and one Ranger, I’m guessing 2lbs of frame weight would be hard for me to notice. There would probably be small differences due to geometry, but my guess (/hope) is the main difference would be in the suspension, with the Ranger likely being more plush and the Blur being at bit more snappy.
With how different my Ranger build is from the Blur build, it’s hard to separate the build from the frame on a test ride. I rode the Blur very recently and it certainly felt quicker to turn, which could be the weight on the front wheel or the 120 fork/67.1 HTA vs my 130 fork/<67 HTA. The short test track at the LBS also gave me the impression that the flex-stay suspension was definitely snappier without being overly stiff. I’ll probably go back and bring my Ranger to do an A-B test on their track.
I won’t see it for 4-5 weeks, unfortunately, but here in MN, MTB trails may not be open much before then. I also have a few gravel races on tap in that window, so I’ll be focusing on that in the meantime.
I did a back-to-back ride comparison with my Ranger on the bike shop test loop and I felt that the Blur was MUCH snappier and agile. The test loop is pretty flat, so I couldn’t gauge any descending differences, but the agility and responsiveness was very noticeable. It could be attributed to a variety of things, from weight to bars/position to wheels/tires to some other factor, and it would have been costly, time-consuming, and potentially to try and replicate that feeling on the Ranger vs. just going with the Blur.
Congrats man! I love my Blur, while I wish it was a bit lighter I really don’t have any desire to get any of the new XC bikes being released this year! It’s an awesome bike, and SC is a great company with amazing customer service!
You’re definitely going to be happier racing a TR. It feels so much more efficient on the climbs and stable on the descents. Ranger is more flickable and fun but that’s not the characteristic I really want during a race.