The Superlight™-est Suspension
Our priority with Superlight™ was to ensure that every kilojoule of your energy is translated into forward thrust, which meant designing something that’s both lightweight and really efficient. XC racing isn't a power lap around the park anymore—the courses are challenging and the competition fierce. With Superlight™ you’re left with plenty of traction, but not at the expense of added weight—by reducing the number of moving parts, bearings, and linkages, we saved 289g when we changed from VPP™.
In contrast to VPP™, Superlight™ doesn’t use a lower link or an additional pivot somewhere out back—the seat stays actually flex a small amount. This amount is part of the secret sauce of the Blur and was developed through countless revisions, designs, and hours in the saddle to strike the perfect balance of flex, damping, and durability.
The Superlight™-est Suspension
Our priority with Superlight™ was to ensure that every kilojoule of your energy is translated into forward thrust, which meant designing something that’s both lightweight and really efficient. XC racing isn't a power lap around the park anymore—the courses are challenging and the competition fierce. With Superlight™ you’re left with plenty of traction, but not at the expense of added weight—by reducing the number of moving parts, bearings, and linkages, we saved 289g when we changed from VPP™.
In contrast to VPP™, Superlight™ doesn’t use a lower link or an additional pivot somewhere out back—the seat stays actually flex a small amount. This amount is part of the secret sauce of the Blur and was developed through countless revisions, designs, and hours in the saddle to strike the perfect balance of flex, damping, and durability.
The Superlight™-est Suspension
Our priority with Superlight™ was to ensure that every kilojoule of your energy is translated into forward thrust, which meant designing something that’s both lightweight and really efficient. XC racing isn't a power lap around the park anymore—the courses are challenging and the competition fierce. With Superlight™ you’re left with plenty of traction, but not at the expense of added weight—by reducing the number of moving parts, bearings, and linkages, we saved 289g when we changed from VPP™.
In contrast to VPP™, Superlight™ doesn’t use a lower link or an additional pivot somewhere out back—the seat stays actually flex a small amount. This amount is part of the secret sauce of the Blur and was developed through countless revisions, designs, and hours in the saddle to strike the perfect balance of flex, damping, and durability.
Smart Frame, Tuned Shock
Hold onto your bidons, it's about to get nerdy. Instead of relying on a high anti-squat number, we looked to the shock leverage curve to provide more support and control for the Blur. This concept results in a consistently low average leverage, allowing us to reduce anti-squat, and therefore how much pedaling input affects suspension. This gives the rear tire more traction and sensitivity in both climbing and descending scenarios, but also produces a much more efficient forward drive. The overall package results in a supportive, efficient suspension without relying on platform-style damping or proprietary shocks that are associated with compromised traction and sensitivity—not only making you more efficient but giving you more traction too.
Smart Frame, Tuned Shock
Hold onto your bidons, it's about to get nerdy. Instead of relying on a high anti-squat number, we looked to the shock leverage curve to provide more support and control for the Blur. This concept results in a consistently low average leverage, allowing us to reduce anti-squat, and therefore how much pedaling input affects suspension. This gives the rear tire more traction and sensitivity in both climbing and descending scenarios, but also produces a much more efficient forward drive. The overall package results in a supportive, efficient suspension without relying on platform-style damping or proprietary shocks that are associated with compromised traction and sensitivity—not only making you more efficient but giving you more traction too.
Smart Frame, Tuned Shock
Hold onto your bidons, it's about to get nerdy. Instead of relying on a high anti-squat number, we looked to the shock leverage curve to provide more support and control for the Blur. This concept results in a consistently low average leverage, allowing us to reduce anti-squat, and therefore how much pedaling input affects suspension. This gives the rear tire more traction and sensitivity in both climbing and descending scenarios, but also produces a much more efficient forward drive. The overall package results in a supportive, efficient suspension without relying on platform-style damping or proprietary shocks that are associated with compromised traction and sensitivity—not only making you more efficient but giving you more traction too.
Anti-squat
Anti-squat affects how much your weight on the pedals–whether pedaling or descending–influences your suspension’s movement. Too high, and your bike will feel too harsh when you’re compressing quickly into the travel while descending, but too low will create inefficient pedal bob. And to further complicate this, it changes throughout the suspension’s travel. We take the best of both worlds and tune our suspension with a higher anti-squat at the sag point, then gradually lower it as you get deeper into the travel. This not only helps with efficiency but also helps deliver more traction, especially during hard accelerations—like when you’re punching up a steep loose climb.
Leverage Rate
The final piece of the puzzle, shock leverage rate, is the relationship between the movement of your axle and your shock at any given point in the travel—often in varying degrees and shapes of progressivity. Progressive rates require increasing amounts of additional force to move the rear wheel as the suspension gets further into its travel, meaning that it feels relatively soft in the initial part of the travel, then stiffer later. In contrast, a minimally progressive, or more linear, rate will have less natural ramp-up, giving a good balance of plush small-bump and bottom-out resistance. With Superlight™ on the Blur, we lowered the leverage rate to help facilitate a lower anti-squat so that the shock can have more interaction with the suspension than the chain—resulting in better efficiency and traction when climbing and descending.
Santa Cruz Engineered Carbon
Our modern, warranty-backed carbon technology and our in-house carbon engineering know-how make the Blur not just a one-season, one-off whip designed to hit weight targets, but the beginning of a new breed of XC bikes. So, whether you’re racing World Cup XC or racing your buddies at Wednesday night beer league battles, Superlight™ is sure to deliver all the traction and efficiency you could ever hope for.
To learn more about our carbon technology, click here.
Santa Cruz Engineered Carbon
Our modern, warranty-backed carbon technology and our in-house carbon engineering know-how make the Blur not just a one-season, one-off whip designed to hit weight targets, but the beginning of a new breed of XC bikes. So, whether you’re racing World Cup XC or racing your buddies at Wednesday night beer league battles, Superlight™ is sure to deliver all the traction and efficiency you could ever hope for.
To learn more about our carbon technology, click here.
Santa Cruz Engineered Carbon
Our modern, warranty-backed carbon technology and our in-house carbon engineering know-how make the Blur not just a one-season, one-off whip designed to hit weight targets, but the beginning of a new breed of XC bikes. So, whether you’re racing World Cup XC or racing your buddies at Wednesday night beer league battles, Superlight™ is sure to deliver all the traction and efficiency you could ever hope for.
To learn more about our carbon technology, click here.
