Santa Cruz TRc - 3 months wait and it doesn't disappoint

BikeSwan

Frodo1095

Lovely looking machine.

Looking forward to hearing what you think. Looking at this as a potential replacement for my Blur LT if I switch to a carbon frame.

StumpyPaul

Liking this alot

Scalpel_79

coooooool

BikeSwan

Frodo1095

Since I took these pictures I have ridden it about 5 times and a few things I have noticed are:

- Compared to my Cove Hummer it's a bit sluggish off the line. You could probably attribute this to the heavier more "Trail" orientated wheels and tyres I have specced.
- Compared to my Cove Hummer it's a bit harder to ride through tight single track. You could probably attribute this to the slacker head angle, and the massive 730mm bars I fitted.
- Once you get it pointing downhill it is extremely lively and is an mazing ride.
- For racing I have the RP23 shock set on "Level 2" which is a bit harder than "Level 1" but it gives a more racy platform. When i'm just out for a ride I put it on "Level 1" and it has an extremely supple ride.

I would say that the build you choose really reflects the bikes capability. If you spec burley wheels, aggressive/wide tyres, wide bars, and a short stem you have a very capable big hit bike that can take almost anything. Dont get me wrong you still have to pick a line in technical bits rather than with, say, a Nomad where you can just blast through it. But then again a Nomad weighs 5-10 pounds more.

In the future I would hope to trade out the wheels for a pair of ENVE AM ones, and I would consider trading out the forks for the new Titanium crowned Fox Floats with a 15QR.

If i'm lucky ill be off to Colorado in a few weeks for some mountain biking so ill report back on what i've learned there.

My next project is converting a very, very old Trek 8000 into a sort of retro race bike with updated components, a serviced Pace fork, and new XTR V-Brakes. That should be interesting when it's done.

If you do a lot of Cross Country and only a bit of hardcore All-Mountain then the TR is your machine. It's a lot more lively than the LT, and it's got a better XC riding position.

Xgreygoose

Very nice. A simple and clean look. Liking it alot.. 8) .... Also a great choice on the your future wheelset. You will not be disappointed with Enve rims

BikeSwan

Xgreygoose

A friend of mine has the 29er ENVE AM wheels on his Santa Cruz Tallboy and he loves them so it would be a worthy upgrade.

BikeSwan

Xgreygoose

By the way . . . love the look of your Cannondale's. My bike looks like a 4 year old Trek EX compared to yours

Xgreygoose

BikeSwan wrote:

Xgreygoose

By the way . . . love the look of your Cannondale's. My bike looks like a 4 year old Trek EX compared to yours

Cheers.
I am so looking forward to my first and probably not last Santa Cruz bike.

BTW where in Colorado will be MTB? I was in Fruita, Colorado couple of years ago on a MTB trip......F#$King amazing!! 8)

BikeSwan

Xgreygoose

I was thinking of doing a kinda mountain bike road trip around Colorado. I was thinking of going to Crested Butte, Fruita, Pine, Salida, and Denver. I could add more along the way though. How did you like Fruita?

Xgreygoose

BikeSwan wrote:

Xgreygoose

I was thinking of doing a kinda mountain bike road trip around Colorado. I was thinking of going to Crested Butte, Fruita, Pine, Salida, and Denver. I could add more along the way though. How did you like Fruita?

I love Colorado/Utah. Big fan of hot, dusty, sand and rock trails. Fruita is great for me as I have friends out there.
Here is a good website about Fruita and its trails. The guy's comment are pretty spot on and great pic's too 8)
http://www.peterbeers.net/fruita/

BikeSwan

Xgreygoose

I just had a look, and it does give you a huge amount of usable information. I've got a Garmin Edge 800 and i'm going to download some of the maps of the trails I want to do.

Frodo1095

BikeSwan wrote:

If i'm lucky ill be off to Colorado in a few weeks for some mountain biking so ill report back on what i've learned there.

If you do a lot of Cross Country and only a bit of hardcore All-Mountain then the TR is your machine. It's a lot more lively than the LT, and it's got a better XC riding position.

Thanks for the update, was nice to hear your thoughts.
I would most likely swap everything from my Blur LT (see sig) over onto the TRc (if I got one) and just shorten the fork. (Current LT build sitting about 27 - 28lbs with pedals). What weight is your build ?

I certainly dont do "Hardcore all mountain" but a lot of our grade 3/4 trails have lots of roots/steps/small drops/rollvers in them, so I am wondering about the BB being much lower than the LT. It is almost all forest singletrack though so a light, nippy bike that you can throw around is great and with the same head angle as the LT it will handle the descents easily.

It will be a while before I am looking to upgrade so may wait and see if they change the LT at all, judging by what they have done with the TRc/Highball and the changes to the XC I think it may be the next frame to get an update as it has always been one of their biggest sellers.

Look forward to your Colorado report, have a great trip.

(Englishman in New Zealand )

BikeSwan

Frodo1095

My build is hovering around 26lbs which is fairly hefty for a XC race bike, but is fairly light for a do anything trail bike. So I think it is a good compromise. I think if you really forked some money out and did some homework on components you could get it around 22lbs. I am already thinking of upgrading to some ENVE AM wheels, and FOX 32 Float Ti fork. That should get it around 24lbs if i'm lucky.

I like the ZTR Crest wheels on your LT. I went for the ZTR Arch's (slightly heavier duty) because the Arch's are described as trail wheels (which I mostly do) and can take a bit more abuse than the Crest . . . but the Crest is about 50 or so grams lighter. But I have yet to tackle anything that the wheels cant handle, so I think it was the correct choice.

So far I haven't had a real problem with the 13" high bottom bracket. I have noticed a few more pedal strikes when going round steep corners after just bottoming out, but it happens so rarely I wouldn't take that into consideration unless you are really hardcore rider who does lots of jumps, and drop offs, etc.

I have to say, I wouldn't wait too long for an upgrade to the LT because I have a suspicious feeling they wont update it very much even if they did, and if they never update it you will be waiting around for ages.

If you like the idea of the TRc then i'd go for it. Wait . . . what am I saying I did!

Thanks for the good trip wishes

It's cool that you live in NZ. I've always wanted to go there for some mountain biking but I just couldn't bare the 22 hour flight or what ever it is.

I have to say . . . i'm really amazed at this forum. Right now there are people from Hong Kong, England, Canada, and New Zealand! IN ONE PLACE.

Frodo1095

BikeSwan wrote:

I have to say, I wouldn't wait too long for an upgrade to the LT because I have a suspicious feeling they wont update it very much even if they did, and if they never update it you will be waiting around for ages.

If you like the idea of the TRc then i'd go for it. Wait . . . what am I saying I did!

Thanks for the good trip wishes

It's cool that you live in NZ. I've always wanted to go there for some mountain biking but I just couldn't bare the 22 hour flight or what ever it is.

I have only had my LT for about a year now which is why it will be a little while before I look to upgrade and why I am happy to see if they make any changes to the LT.
However when it comes down to upgrading I will go with what is available not with what might happen and I must say the TRc is sitting on top of that pile at the moment.

The 22hr flight coud be worth it, have a look at this video. Was made by a group from the Australian Mountain Biking Magazine who said Rotorua's trails where some of the best in the world. http://vimeo.com/25641826 video lasts about 45mins so set some time aside and grab a beer. Will also give you an idea of some of the riding I do.

Have fun

Frodo1095

Also found this video for Billy T which is one of the most polular Grade 4's in the forest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RVqS7JVsvc and Huckleberry Hound http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQSNgI_g-wE both of these start just by where the shuttle drops you off.
You can ride up but it is quite tiring unless you are a decent hill climber and I am not

BikeSwan

Frodo1095

Just finished watching that first Rotorua video. And I can only think of one thing to say after watching it. I HATE YOU . Why cant I live in an area like that. Toronto is just full of concrete blocks and trees, there's nothing interesting. Consider yourself lucky to live in such an amazing area. The riding there looks amazing. I might just be formulating a plan to get down to Rotorua next summer.

Another thing popped to mind . . . about how perfect the TRc looks for those trails

Im off to bed so ill watch those youtube ones tomorrow.

Frodo1095

BikeSwan wrote:

Just finished watching that first Rotorua video. And I can only think of one thing to say after watching it. I HATE YOU . Why cant I live in an area like that. Toronto is just full of concrete blocks and trees, there's nothing interesting. Consider yourself lucky to live in such an amazing area. The riding there looks amazing. I might just be formulating a plan to get down to Rotorua next summer.

Another thing popped to mind . . . about how perfect the TRc looks for those trails

Yeh I get that a lot, we really do appreciate the forest, it is a working forest so a lot of work is done behind the scenes to keep the riding tracks open and lots of dedicated volunteers keep them well groomed.

The TRc does seem like a really good riding option for our trails I agree.

We always welcome new riders down here and I would be happy to show you around some of the local rding, and if I am not fast enough I can introduce you to a few guys who really fly on our trails.

BikeSwan

Frodo1095

Is the forest government owned? Or is it privately owned and run?

I think if I made it down to New Zealand I would have to bring the TRc with me. The TRc seems basically perfect

I would love to have a ridding buddy down there. I'm not really a fan of flying down trails i'm riding for the first time so I would be going a normalish pace.

Frodo1095

The forest / land is owned by the local Maori Iwi (tribe) but run by a company called Timberlands who plant and harvest the trees as the years go by on behalf of the Iwi.

Through various agreements set up through the Rotorua Mountain biking club, Rotorua district council, Timberlands and the Iwi we get to have trails in the forest at no cost to us, well maybe some in is our rates I dont know but it feels free

The MTB Club look after the trails and very carefully control the building of any new trails, and as happened recently when they need to harvest/log the trees some tracks become off limits, then we get to have working parties to put them back in when they have finished, usually make them better in the process.

We have a shuttle that runs on weekends and evenings in the summer along with every day in the school holidays. This you have to pay for unless you are very fit in which case you ride your ass up there.

I would be more than happy to show you some of our trails along with some areas near here if you wanted to visit.

Did I mention it is only a 15min ridee from my house to the trails :?: In fact you can ride to the trails from the town centre in under 30mins. Lfe can be so hard sometimes

ricardo_smooth

How are you finding the low BB height?

BikeSwan

I am soooooo envious. To get to any real mountain biking here, you have to go to the nearest trail centre which is a 2hr drive. My goal in life is to live somewhere like you. Possibly Crested Butte colorado or Moab Utah. I dont know, i'm just dreaming right now

BikeSwan

ricardo_smooth

I haven't really noticed it that much. You do get some ground contact from the pedal if you have just bottomed out and are banking very sharply. Rock gardens are a bit interesting as well, but no more interesting than I have noticed on my old 2002 Santa Cruz Blur XC. I would say it's not a major factor unless you are a fairly serious and aggressive downhiller.

ricardo_smooth

interesting to know mate, my current specialized can be a bit of a nightmare for pedal strikes ect due to their notorious low BB. But I think it's a case of adjusting your riding and getting used to where you can and can't pedal with it.

Frodo1095

BikeSwan wrote:

I am soooooo envious. To get to any real mountain biking here, you have to go to the nearest trail centre which is a 2hr drive. My goal in life is to live somewhere like you. Possibly Crested Butte colorado or Moab Utah. I dont know, i'm just dreaming right now

My goal in life is to win the lottery and ride in the forest every day