Finally bought something!
jehosophat
Posts: 108
So a shocking three weeks after the royal signoff to spend some of my money on my own selfish desires I have finally ordered a real, in-stock bike. I have gone for the brand of my last three bikes and the shop that supplied two of them (the other was a used Ebay special) - Santa Cruz and Stif. Always been very happy with both. The bike is a Blur XC Carbon, which they are currently offering with a free F120 RLC Kashima for £2500 the lot (I had originally discounted this bike and the TRc as £2500 and £2700 respectively for just a frame was more than I wanted to spend so this offer was well timed).
This bikes suits 99% of my riding perfectly, and I'm sure will be fine at places like CYB with the 120mm fork (let's face it, I enjoyed it there 14 years ago on a hardtail with a crap 70mm elastomer fork!). Before the current vogue for longer travel it was reviewed as a fun XC bike and a decent trail bike with 120mm forks. If I look at my main objectives for a new bike over my Blur Classic then lighter weight and a lower maintenance suspension design were my main requirements - it's easy to get carried away with travel but if in the future I start going to places like the Alps again (and even if I do I always ride up to earn the downs) then I'll look to a bike alongside this one.
In the (unlikely
) event anyone is interested this was the list of other considerations:
Tomac Supermatic - no-one can tell me if they actually have any, and the reasonable £2000 frame price as tested last year has ballooned to £2300 then £2700 under the new importer. A bit worried about resale value and parts availability/prices as well - £90 for the very basic bearings/pivot kit is not a good omen. Nice though.
Trek Fuel EX9.9 frame only - originally what I wanted, two shops took my money for one but could never get a delivery date (one - Evans - claimed to have it but have still not refuded me 2 weeks later despite just now the 5th promise to do so). Also all the shops but Evans said the RRP was £3k not the £2k they were all advertising before my phone-around (some updated their sites after I called). Bit of a shambles from Trek and Evans, really.
Pivot Mach 4 - looks like a really good bike along similar lines to the Blur XC - geo etc very similar - and light at 5 pounds for an alloy bike. Would love to add DW link to the list of suspension designs I have used heavily, it sounds great. Good value, in the modern world of crazy bike prices. Would probably have ordered one today but for the Stif offer, but a whole pound less and the chance to see for myself what this "carbon ride" is all about appeals. Again difficult to find people with Mach 4 stock or frames/bikes to view, whatever their websites say. The fact Stif actually have SC bikes in stock helps them.
Yeti ASR5c - perhaps the bike that most suits my riding character according to the reviews, but living at one end of the South Downs and only sometimes visiting trail centres it just looked too long, slack, and basically big a bike for me. I like to be able to flick a bike between trees easily and do this a lot more than long fast rocky descents.
Blur TRc/LTc - too expensive, especially compared to their own US pricing. Like the Yeti, more common with a 140mm fork and above 120mm forks just feel too long and move about too much for my liking in my typical riding, lock outs only partially solve this and are a hassle. Prefer less travel and no fiddling with shocks front or rear, personally. If I lived in Wales or the North then an LTc would probably have been the one.
All the Santa Cruz bikes get brownie points from me, as a self builder for taking a standard BB I can fit/replace myself, and if they genuinely are as stiff with a QR rear as other people's 12mm axles then that is a plus too.
Just need to get a headset fitted now since Stif forgot to send one - Hope probably... Then I can get on with the build...
This bikes suits 99% of my riding perfectly, and I'm sure will be fine at places like CYB with the 120mm fork (let's face it, I enjoyed it there 14 years ago on a hardtail with a crap 70mm elastomer fork!). Before the current vogue for longer travel it was reviewed as a fun XC bike and a decent trail bike with 120mm forks. If I look at my main objectives for a new bike over my Blur Classic then lighter weight and a lower maintenance suspension design were my main requirements - it's easy to get carried away with travel but if in the future I start going to places like the Alps again (and even if I do I always ride up to earn the downs) then I'll look to a bike alongside this one.
In the (unlikely
) event anyone is interested this was the list of other considerations:Tomac Supermatic - no-one can tell me if they actually have any, and the reasonable £2000 frame price as tested last year has ballooned to £2300 then £2700 under the new importer. A bit worried about resale value and parts availability/prices as well - £90 for the very basic bearings/pivot kit is not a good omen. Nice though.
Trek Fuel EX9.9 frame only - originally what I wanted, two shops took my money for one but could never get a delivery date (one - Evans - claimed to have it but have still not refuded me 2 weeks later despite just now the 5th promise to do so). Also all the shops but Evans said the RRP was £3k not the £2k they were all advertising before my phone-around (some updated their sites after I called). Bit of a shambles from Trek and Evans, really.
Pivot Mach 4 - looks like a really good bike along similar lines to the Blur XC - geo etc very similar - and light at 5 pounds for an alloy bike. Would love to add DW link to the list of suspension designs I have used heavily, it sounds great. Good value, in the modern world of crazy bike prices. Would probably have ordered one today but for the Stif offer, but a whole pound less and the chance to see for myself what this "carbon ride" is all about appeals. Again difficult to find people with Mach 4 stock or frames/bikes to view, whatever their websites say. The fact Stif actually have SC bikes in stock helps them.
Yeti ASR5c - perhaps the bike that most suits my riding character according to the reviews, but living at one end of the South Downs and only sometimes visiting trail centres it just looked too long, slack, and basically big a bike for me. I like to be able to flick a bike between trees easily and do this a lot more than long fast rocky descents.
Blur TRc/LTc - too expensive, especially compared to their own US pricing. Like the Yeti, more common with a 140mm fork and above 120mm forks just feel too long and move about too much for my liking in my typical riding, lock outs only partially solve this and are a hassle. Prefer less travel and no fiddling with shocks front or rear, personally. If I lived in Wales or the North then an LTc would probably have been the one.
All the Santa Cruz bikes get brownie points from me, as a self builder for taking a standard BB I can fit/replace myself, and if they genuinely are as stiff with a QR rear as other people's 12mm axles then that is a plus too.
Just need to get a headset fitted now since Stif forgot to send one - Hope probably... Then I can get on with the build...
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Comments
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^ +1worst moment ever...
buzzing down twisting single track then.... psssst BANG!!!0 -
Right then. A good day today as I have allegedly finally been credited by Evans, and the new frame/fork arrived. Blur XC Carbon frame, new (well 2011>) tapered model, not that heavy (medium) is it:
Forks - predictably enough F120 RLC. I don't like white Fox forks so was pleased to get these in black:
Also the other parts I have been accumulating for a while in mind of this build. Group - XTRM970 - I like rapid rise rear mechs and have it on my other bikes so will be staying 8/9 speed for now. Cassette is PG990 as they are less than half the price and last longer than XTR (chain will be SRAM too):
Controls - I don't go for madly expensive brands or carbon stuff here where it saves so little in weight, and have started going SDG I Beam for posts/saddles rather than my old Thomson/Flite. Weighs the same and I like the I Beam design - very simple. Old style ATAC pedals (along with the tyres the only used items in this build). Formula Oro brakes - again bargain hunted - I got a set cheap for the Superlight to replace the old Mono Minis on there, that no amount of bleeding or pad changes ever made me like, and they were great so I got another set for this build. If not up to it I'll go 2012 XT and replace the BB7's on the hardtail with these but I reckon they'll be fine:
Wheels - I had these ready for a rebuild of my old trail bike, a Blur Classic, but never used them as I bought this rather than rebuild that for the second time. In time these will become my "trail" wheels for this bike, will probably get something light maybe next spring. For now happy with these (I have an identical pair on the Superlight doing great service). I used to use Hope XC/DT Comp/717 and was going to go 719 this time as I tend to ding the 717's at trail centres and they are narrow for my 2.25 tyres. But then saw these Alex rims very cheap, same weight as the 719's, and used the cash saved on Super Comp spokes which means they weigh less as a pair than my old 717 wheels! Sure it will not please the brand snobs but especially for trail centres and holidays abroad I like old fashioned 32 hole rims/hubs that can easily be repaired and Hope bearings have always done me well:
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Very smart...0
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very nice
I like your approach to stuff, no brand snobbery
how do you rate the formula brakes?0 -
Very smart...
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