Our first impressions of the superlight

Santa Cruz Blur XC, Nuke proof’s MegaWatt e-MTB and Bomb track’s Cale 29er hardtail

Santa Cruz are back at the sharp end of World Cup cross-country racing, with their htSQD team jumping on this brand new bike. The Blur XC retains a traditional 100mm of travel at each end, but has all the hallmarks of a truly upto-date race rig. There’s also a Blur TR, with 115mm/120mm of travel.

The frame

Made from Santa Cruz’s ‘CC’ grade carbon fibre, the new Blur XC is claimed to weigh nearly 300g less than the previous iteration. There’s no rear pivot – instead, the brand have built flex into the sculpted rear stays, which drive the shock via an alloy rocker link. To keep the bike calm under pedalling power, Santa Cruz spec a shock with a low leverage ratio, rather than bumping up the anti-squat. They say this keeps the suspension more active and means less pedal kickback.

The geometry is contemporary. Our size large sports a 68-degree head angle, 76-degree e ective seat tube angle, 470mm reach and 435mm stays. Each frame size gets a di erent-length back end. There’s space in the front triangle for two water bottles, with more bosses below the down tube, in front of the rubber armour, which is also present on the driveside chainstay. The matt paint looks great but holds on to dirt.

The kit

The Blur is available in five builds, starting from £5,099. This is the second-from-top model so you’d expect top-end kit, and Santa Cruz mostly deliver. It boasts SRAM’s wireless X01 Eagle AXS drivetrain, although cheekily there’s a lowerspec GX AXS shifter under the righthand SRAM Level TLM brake lever. Suspension is RockShox Ultimatelevel – a SID SL fork and SIDLuxe shock, both paired with a TwistLoc lockout on the carbon bar. Maxxis’s 2.4in Aspen tyres barely have any tread, and wrap around Santa Cruz’s new Reserve 28|XC carbon rims, built on fancy Industry Nine hubs. A WTB saddle sits atop a two-position Fox Transfer SL post with 100mm of drop.

The ride

The Blur is designed as a head-down, arse-up, go-fast race machine. On rough, bumpy climbs the suspension, being relatively free of anti-squat, lets the rear wheel move over trail features easily and avoid hooking up on square edges, thus maintaining traction. This enables you to stay seated and pedal e ciently.

With a fairly steep seat tube angle and geometry that puts you in an aggressive stance over the bike, it’s easy to keep the front wheel planted and your weight nicely balanced between the wheels to further aid