How about that Blur Commander Bond?

"Peter Tønnesen" <peto@***privat.dk> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

How about it? Does it ride well? Do you still have some pictures of it online, id like to see them
again but seem to have lost the link :-(

Could you give a small review/experiences of the bike?

Blur reviews from others would also be appreciated.

Thanks Peter

Sorry for the late reply, no newsgroup service up at school yet. (Yay google!)

I'm really liking it. It does bob a little bit uphill, and I have seemed to bottom it out more than
is necessary, but I really haven't played with the shock enough, so I can't really complain. I'd get
it with the 5th element air if I were to do it again, and I might buy one when I have the money
anyway, and keep the fox as a backup shock.

It climbs technical stuff really well - after riding with a BU rider on a Spec. epic today (expert
female racer), I'm pretty impressed at how well the blur did. I definitely wasn't being bounced
around as much, did better on the technical climbs in terms of maintaining rear wheel connection,
and sprinting always feels super nice.

Problems I've had: creaking from the BB - I expect it's FROM the BB (Truvativ GIGAPIPE ISIS Team)
The paint isn't he best - definitely put electrical tape or clear "framesaver" vinyl where cables
rub! Run the chain a little short. There's a lot of cable growth, so at the "Add one full link at
full compression" setting, you get a pretty slack chain. At least, you do with my somewhat
excessively large gear range. Like I said, the bottoming out thing. Its never been harsh, though.

On VERY steep climbs, it does seem a little light up front. Less so than many fully's I've ridden
(ahem - specialized enduro!!!!), but its still there. The marathon SL is really nice because I can
drop the front down and get great traction.

The bike seems very peppy on the trail. Its obviously slower on uphill fireroads, but thats the
nature of the beast. On flats, even fireroads, technical stuff, and down hills, its really fast. It
*feels* faster than my old hardtail, and feels like it wants to go faster. It has a very good
steering balance, in that it really carves into fast turns and switchbacks well, but is still stable
enough to inspire confidence at speed.

some older pictures are at pbase.combikesOpen ↗ . It now has speedplay frogs, which
I'm learning to like a lot. With the XT drivetrain, RF Turbine crank, WTB Laserdisc Lite/Velocity
VXCs, thomson, marathon sl, and other decently light bits, it weighs in at about 26.5 pounds. Thats
with heavy 2.1 IRC Serac XC tires and thick, multiple-patched tubes, so I could easily take a pound
to a pound and a half off the bike for racing (and might).

If you have any specific ride questions, let me know!

Jon Bond

Peter Tønnesen said:

How about it? Does it ride well? Do you still have some pictures of it online, id like to see them
again but seem to have lost the link :-(

Could you give a small review/experiences of the bike?

Blur reviews from others would also be appreciated.

Thanks Peter

I've been on a Blur since Feb. of this year. I really haven't had any problems with the bike. There
is some negligible bob, but the bike climbs really well. The steep, loose, ledgy technical climbs
around here don't seem to hold it back.

The extra travel is confidence inspiring, but it still feels like an XC bike. It can be railed and
climbed upon, but on descents and rough stuff it feels almost sorta as stable as a FR bike.

For the riding that I do, it works pretty well.

A