How about that Blur Commander Bond?

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

"Peter Tønnesen" wrote in message . dk...
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 http://www.pbase.com/jonbond/bikes . 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 wrote:
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