Santa Cruz Blur XC

Going the other direction, there were plenty of people who loved the Blur as a race bike. But, being racers, there is no such thing as too light. And while the original Blur was a very svelte bike, at the end of the day, the racers said they wanted less of everything. So we wrapped the Blur in a foil tracksuit and put it in a sauna for a few months with nothing but raw vegetables to eat.

What emerged is the new Blur XC. By careful paring down of material, using smaller diameter downtubes and shorter headtubes, we were able to get the frame weight down to a feathery 5 pounds even, while still managing to retain a plush yet efficient 4.5 inches of rear wheel travel. We also sucked the chainstays in by a half-inch (down to 16.7 inches), just to keep things extra-snappy. If you want to go for big air, look somewhere else. But if your upward glance is trained on that elusive top step of a race podium, this is your bike.