Santa Cruz has been working hard on their cross-country and marathon bikes and today sees the launch of an all-new the Blur and a redesigned hardtail Highball. The Blur has been reintroduced into the Santa Cruz lineup after a short hiatus whilst the Highball frame has been updated and been on a diet too. 

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The New Blur

We've not seen the Santa Cruz Blur since 2013, after the introduction of the Tallboy may the short travel 26" wheeled bike a little redundant. It's back now though, with big wheels and once again claiming the space in the Santa Cruz shed as the brands 100mm cross-country and marathon racer. A move to using 110mm of travel and longer forks for the Tallboy freed up space and left a gap for the Blur's return. For all the history of the Blur, click here.

So, the new, all carbon Blur features 100mm of travel, front and rear, it weighs just 4.5lbs (2kg) for the medium frame and uses 29er wheels (no, you're not allowed plus tyres on this one). You can't have a front mech either, the VPP suspension has been designed around a 1x drivetrain only. Here are the finer details and the geometry chart below: 

• Available in C and CC carbon frame options
• VPP suspension design with forged alloy links & sealed bearings
• 100mm travel fork w/44mm offset
• 73mm English threaded bottom bracket
• Post mount rear brake tabs
• Internal cable routing
• Two bottle mounts

A CC frame only will cost you £2999 with Fox Float DPS shock and there a five different build options available thereafter ranging from an RRP of £3699 to £7899 for the XX1 Reserve build with FOX 32 Factory 100 Step-Cast forks. 

The New Highball

The Highball is now in its third iteration with this year's updates being pretty substantial. The new bike has a completely redesigned carbon frame which features a new carbon layup that allows slimmer and rounder tube profiles helping to lower the weight of the frame by nearly 200g. There are also now dropped seat stays to add more compliance to the frame, an increase in the reach of the bike and a slacker head angle too. 

• C and CC carbon frame options
• 1140g for a medium frame and hardware
• 29in wheels
• 100mm travel fork (51mm offset)
• 73mm English threaded bottom bracket
• 1x drivetrain only
• Space for three bottles - two inside the triangle and one under the downtube
• Removable rubber armour on the downtube

Prices for the Highball start at £1699 for the frame only. Full builds are priced between £2,799 and £6,599. 

•  www.jungleproducts.co.uk
• www.santacruz.co.uk

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