Driver 8

Still getting your head around the Blur XC carbon......no snoozing for Santa Cruz, they role out another new bike......Here is the Driver 8 (not VP-Free a replacement, it's something else again)

Just pretend it has a Canadian accent and might explain what the Driver 8 is all a-boot.

Here's our new bike. We call it the Driver 8.

It has 8 inches of next-generation VPP rear wheel travel. It also has enough room to raise or lower the seat through a 7-inch range. It's got a 1.5" head tube, an 83mm wide bb with ISCG05 mounts and 150mm rear spacing with a Maxle thru-axle. So, just what kind of bike is it supposed to be?

We designed the Driver 8 to be a general duty, daily driver gravity hauler. It is a super tough, super versatile bike that is ideal for a life at Whistler. It's a damn good long travel high speed trail bike (Wait, is that freeriding, or all-mountain high speed trail riding? What about low speed, sphincter pinching gnarl? Does it speak with a Canadian accent? Man, this gets confusing...)

Anyway, it's a kickass park bike, more lively and poppable and jumpable than the V-10. And it is also a very handy downhill race bike, probably a better race choice for most riders who aren't World Cup pros on most courses that aren't World Cup courses. But it can still plow through big rocks and huge drops with the best of them. 8 inches of travel is still a whole lot of cushion for the pushin'...When the seat is slammed all the way down (7 inches of up and down adjustability, remember?), it is in a similar fore/aft location to the seat on a V-10, but can be run even lower. However, due to the angle of the seat mast, when the seat is raised up as far as it will go, the pedaling position is about the same as that of the Nomad, which is a pretty good location to kick at the cranks and point a bike uphill.

With regard to that "general duty, daily driver" comment, we've gone heavy duty with the VPP links. The upper link is carbon fiber, insanely strong, and pivots on four beefy radial contact sealed cartridge bearings. The lower link gets grease ports for easy service, huge 15mm pivot axles with the same trick locking collet head feature as the Blur LT, Nomad and new Blur XC, and it swings on EIGHT angular contact bearings. All bearing sets, top and bottom, are encased in a further set of lip seals and labyrinth washers to further combat the ingress of dirt. The bike comes with its own grease gun, and you won't need a personal mechanic to deal with any of that.

You can call it a freeride bike, if you're into that. You can call it a park bike. You can call it a downhill bike. It can do all that, and more. We're sticking to our guns. We call it the Driver 8.

Available to customers mid-May, 2009, in all the usual powdercoat colors as well as an anodized, as yet to be named, sort of golden colorAccepting orders for FRAMESETS nowAccepting complete bike orders April 1st, 2009For more info including sizing and geometry, please click here

http://www.declinemagazine.com/Nucleus/index.php?itemid=1315

Santa Cruz Bicycle, Blur XC Carbon!

Hail To The Chief

The inauguration of a fresh president here in the USA seems like an auspicious time to take the wraps off Santa Cruz Bicycles' most closely guarded secret since, well, ever. Ladies and gentlemen, departing Trek riding Texan Republicans and incoming Illinois hoop shooting Democrats, please lend a hand for the arrival of the totally new and completely awesome, carbon fiber Blur XC!

Since it would be tacky to try and stretch a metaphor about domestic and/or global policy any further to somehow validate our new bike, we'll cut straight to the chase:

-105mm travel, next generation VPP suspension

-Super efficient bump absorption, incredible pedaling response, no lockouts or platforms required

-Reliable, serviceable, stiff - next generation VPP links are core of the most evolved suspension on the market

-Ultra-lightweight, incredibly strong carbon fiber frame (4.2 pounds, frame and shock, size medium)

-That wasn't a typo. It's really light.-How light? 22 pounds, 6 ounces for the XTRxc complete-Damn, that's light

We spent a huge amount of time and effort developing this bike, and are confident that it sits right on the sharpest part of the cutting edge of both performance and technology. You can read the whole developmental spiel. Or you can just nod your head in agreement when we say that this bike will change how you think about cross country performance.So put your hands together folks. Out with the old, in with the new.

James Rennie and his Bullit

Here in New Zealand, Rennie still rides a Santa Cruz, that's James Rennie, not the Australian Rennie.

Viva mucho el Carbono!

New Carbon Blur XC coming very soon from Santa Cruz.

Got this email in my inbox from Santa Cruz this morning, let the web surfing begin, first person to find a picture of a carbon Blur XC will be 'way cool' for a day.
You probably won't see a picture on my blog for a week, I'm about to jump on a plane to Canberra with the New Zealand XC development squad so they can race at the Australian nation champs. [[not so - I hacked your Blog Stylie - theres a photo for you - Jeff]]
This is the email from Mariano

Hello All,
It is here, just in time to celebrate Obama inauguration with us. Pictures will follow later today.
Viva mucho el Carbono!
Mariano

seriously agressive psycho cycle!

You gotta see this, funniest cycle humour on Trade Me. Click here

Bloody distractions, I supposed to be packing for Rotorua, see you at the DH race.

Update from Lisa Morgan

Hi Santa Cruz fans! My racing this year kicked off on the roads around Nelson with the Tour de Femme with vast improvements over the last couple of years - a great way to start things off. Since then I've been in Rotorua and Auckland for the first couple of rounds of the North Island XC Cup getting reacquainted with my Blur XC. Full race reports are on my website here. Plenty of racing left yet!

Dirk Peters Christens new Blur XC with a First Place in the second round of the North Island Cup.

A BIG welcome to Dirk Peters to the NZ Santa Cruz XC team.

Dirk's also supported by the guys at Bike Culture, who set up Dirk's Blur XC to be race ready. Looks pretty good huh?

This is Dirk's report from the Auckland North Island Cup Round 2 in Woodhill.

I took delivery of my new Santa Cruz Blur XC on Wednesday morning, and travelled to Woodhill (Auckland), which is where I had my first ride on the Blur that afternoon.

I was instantly impressed, with more practicing on the course on Thursday & a light ride on Friday I was more than happy that the bike felt right & I was ready to race it on Saturday in the second round of the North Island XC Cup.

This was a fun race course. Nothing like I'm used to riding on, with the sand being dry & soft in a lot of places. There were a few challenging & great to ride sandy descents, mixed with short climbs & flowy single track.
It was also a high effort track, with the venue containing a large flat grassy paddock which was the event village & start/finish loop as well as the soft sand to suck up your energy.

Our U19 men's race was a strong field with a few more starters than round one in Rotorua. The pace was again real fast, with the conditions being hot & humid, I felt comfortable and had good speed throughout the race. The Blur felt amazing over all terrain including the climbs & I found myself in front with a good margin to go on to take the win.

The next race in Wellington this weekend is going to be interesting, with rumours of a few South Islanders riders heading to the race.

thanks
Dirk

Raewyn Morrison update after Round 1 NI Cup

A quick update on how first round of the NI Cup in Rotorua went.
The course was quite hard with a long steep uphill then a technical decent. I had a crash the day before while pre-riding the course and hurt my knee, so that night there was lots of panadol and ice.
The senior woman grade which had some great competition, there was 10 in my class, with the top three all finished within 20 seconds of each other. I started out in first place for the first 10 minutes but once the uphill started getting stepper dropped into 3rd. I had a nasty crash on the 1st lap down Hot Cross Buns, which saw me go chest first into a stump, but recovered well and got back on the bike.

By the last uphill on the last lap I was about 40 seconds down, but had a long technical downhill which I just attacked. I over took 2nd place half way down, and just on the last flat stretch I spotted 1st place. 200m from the finish line I clicked into my highest gear and sprinted, I caught up to Amy Laird (also races pro-elite DH) on the finish line just missing out by 0.3 seconds- bugger!
Overall I was really stoked with my result, I got the 4th fastest average lap time of the women (including pro-elite) just missing out on prize money by 0.3 of a second.
result: http://www.vorb.org.nz/article-91368.html

Right now my body is feeling very sore and very bruised, but I am really looking forward to racing Auckland this Saturday! I will keep you posted on my progress,

Thanks,

Raewyn

Distractions

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Sports/Cycling/Parts-accessories/Forks-frames-shocks/auction-196121271.htm

Aahh, Trademe, what would we do without it? We've all used it and probably check it way too often.

A friend of mine is currently selling off his 2007 Nomad (he just got a new one).

No matter what you sell, there is always those questions that you want to really take the mickey out of the answer. This is so funny, I had to show the world.

Actual Question and Answer;

Q: any ding's, crack's, ovalised head tubes? i presume not but need to ask. Why replace the bearings? has it had a very hard year of riding?

A: This frame is in good condition, some minor cable rub in places, but that is the extent of wear. No cracks, dings or ovalised head tubes. The bearings were replaced because I did not ride much this winter and one became slightly siezed. As you are probably aware Santa Cruz has free lifetime replacement on bearings. It has been used for XC/freeride style riding not hucking off the garage roof onto flat concrete landings

This was the suggested Answer supplied by a mate!

'Yeah mate the frame is completely f**k*d. I have been hucking off my roof on to the flat driveway with some Monster T forks on it (the old 230mm travel ones). The head tube looks like you could pass an ostrich egg through it now. I cross threaded my bottom bracket so ended up just whacking it in there with a hammer. The rear disc tabs are a bit warped as I tried to retro fit a motorbike 300mm rotor on there so I could do more awesome skids. I replaced the bearings as I found I was blowing through the rear travel when landing off the roof. I made up some custom bushes out of old ice cream containers and steel wool. Heaps of stiction now so the travel takes more of a hit to work. Heaps better than the original bearing setup. Apparently Sam Hill is running the same setup in '09. The top tube has more of a hydroformed shape now too since I always hold the bike in my vice when working on it. Thanks for the question.'

The North Island Downhill Series Round 1 - Rita's Report

The '09 season has finally begun, and I was feeling the pressure at the first race, being the newest rider in the Elite category. The weather leading up to the race was wet, and I had a few days of extra practice which I used to learn some good lines, crash a lot, and obtain impressive bruises!

The actual race day was sunny, but the track was still muddy with big ruts. I had a proper crash in seeding and some minor ones in the first part of my race run before getting stoked on riding fast, and stomping the last half to finish feeling good and grinning from ear to ear. My V10 loved it and was great through the rough lumpy stuff, I think it wanted to hit the big end jump... but I wasn't keen in the wet. Next round in Rotorua will include the other end jump, so I'll be taking to the air properly then!

Until then I'm hanging out in Rotorua, alternating between riding my Heckler (we did a 3 1/2hr xc mission yesterday waaay up the back of the forest, so muh fun!) and my V10 on the Southstar shuttles which are running every day during the school holidays. I'm riding with Emmeline Ragot, a French pro (and world number 4!) who is hilarious to hang out with, and is teaching me to ride faster. Bring on round 2!

For more on my racing you can check out my blog here: http://www.ritaracing.blogspot.com/

Rita Langley

Caleb from Spoke Magazines New Nomad

Caleb has a new 2oo9 Nomad, fresh from Santa Cruz Bicycles. XL sized in Yellow, you won't be seeing another one like that in a hurry.

Check out spokemagazine.com for more details and more on what's happening at Spoke Magazine too.

North Island National series round 1 - Report By Annika Smail

We had the first rounds of the north island national series events in Rotorua in the weekend.

The weather was pretty good as it didn't rain much while the xc was on and the sun was out for the dh which made for great days to watch, cheer and race.

I competed in the xc race on saturday. the course was wicked with lots of very flowy single track while also being quite a tough course as there was not much opportunity to recover in the first 2/3 of the course and we only did 3 big laps (not 5 or 6 short ones) which was great! I managed to get into the lead in the first lap before heading into the single track and enjoyed a good race.

For more info about my races check out this link

Annika Smail

Happy New Year

Wow! It's 2009. Happy New Year.

If you a reading this blog posting, probably means you are back at work and pretending to look busy. Hopefully you managed to get the ratio of quality riding to family time right, I'm sure you would have been reminded if you got the ratio wrong.

Anywho, to distract you from you work for a bit longer, here is an Ibis Mojo review from 1995. Go get another coffee, sit back and ignore your work for another hour.

I'm supposed to be working out my GST!