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Having pushed the concept of lightweight VPP suspension as far as it could go with the old, aluminum Blur XC, Santa Cruz turned to carbon fiber to take the next step. The Santa Cruz Blur XC Carbon features 105mm of next generation VPP travel (including grease ports in the lower links, angular contact bearings, large diameter pivot axles and enhanced shock rates) tailored specifically to address the hard pedaling dynamics of XC racing while maintaining superb bump absorption. The XC Carbon is a full pound lighter than the aluminum model, with blazing fast acceleration and incredible climbing performance, built with a stable, surefooted geometry and a super stiff, flex-resistant chassis. Caution: When you hop on to your new Blur XC Carbon, you're opening up one big can of "Whoop Ass".
Frame: UD carbon fiber one-piece lay-up with Next Generation VPP suspension. 105mm (4-inch) travel. Aluminum lower link with 4 angular contact cartridge bearings, 4 lip seals and 2 grease ports. Molded carbon fiber upper link. Replaceable derailleur hanger. 16.6" chainstay length. Shock: RockShox Monarch 3.3. Frame Weight (Med): 4.2 lbs. Recommended Fork Travel: 100-120mm.
The Next Generation VPP Suspension is mighty fine stuff.
- Patented Counter-rotating Link Design allows flexibility in manipulating shock rates for a huge diversity of uses and delivers incredible bump absorption without wallowing or bottoming.
- The short links (carbon fiber upper, forged aluminum lower) and large diameter axles combine with angular contact bearings to improve chassis integrity and precision handling.
- Grease ports in the lower link and tons of seals throughout provide superior protection that's low maintenance and easy to service.
- Beefy 10 and15mm pivot axles bolt into the frame and feature aluminum collett head hardware to secure the linkage, eliminating any chance of loosening or slop.
Santa Cruz Carbon Technology and One-piece Lay-up.
Before embarking on the production of their new carbon frames, Santa Cruz set rigorous goals - the frames must pedal flawlessly, have virtually no flex, and be extremely strong, but ultra light! They also wanted to eliminate the perception that comfort and handling must be sacrificed to maximize efficiency and minimize weight. To achieve this, the engineers doubled their critical test targets and began making and breaking frames, all the while revising, rebuilding and repeating the process. They tried different modulus combinations and area reinforcement in an effort to make them stronger and stiffer. And then they tested them, and repeated the process again. And again.
All this testing and experimentation rendered a one-piece lay-up process that delivered some very important qualities. First, by laying up and curing the front triangle all at the same time (as opposed to assembling carbon pieces together) they were able to eliminate the overlapping joints that have to be bonded or wrapped with carbon, thus decreasing the amount of material used. Less material means less weight. Second, the unique lay-up process allows continuous fibers to be wrapped between the tubes. The resulting structure is better at distributing loads and absorbing impact energy. It also provides control of the outside and inside shape, delivering superb compaction of the fiber layers during the process. The complete elimination of gaps between the carbon layers keeps resin from migrating to the inside of the tubes. The inside structure boasts no gaps, no filler, no mystery material, no resin pools and no glue-patched sections. Essentially, no skeletons in the closet! Finally, Santa Cruz was able to truly integrate the shock mounts, pivot mounts, dropouts and disk brake tabs into the structure using all uni-directional carbon plies. The result is a clean, bold design that surpasses all of their original goals.
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Item Code: RYF-06-589
