Mountain Biking - Cake vs. Blur

I was thinking about upgrading to a nicer bike, but I wanted to know what you guys thought. Gary Fisher Cake or the Santa Cruz Blur? No ones said very much about either of them so I was curious to know which was a nicer bike. Anybody own either of them?? ... let me know how it is.

Blur is sweet. I would take that over the GFish.

I actually think the Litespeed Niota is a better bike if you are looking for a comparable upgrade. 4-5" of adj. travel inches and lighter than the Blur.

Get the blur.

If you haven't found anything written on the blur you really havent been looking hard. In the past 2 years it has probably been written up more than any other bike out there. The facts are that the cake is a single pivot design vs the VPP on the blur. If you wanna compare it in car terms it's like a BMW 3 series vs an expensive chevy malibu. You might not be able to get the same parts spec for the money with the blur, but you will be getting a more refined ride and a bike that is designed better

Blur is far more talented. I saw em' live back in 89' at a small dive in Ohio and they were so drugged up and pumped up that they blew the lid off the place. Easily the loudest show I've seen. Loads of talent.

Cake is the the Saab of the music world ... quirky yet efficient.


Oh ... were we talking about music?

Mtbikechic make sure you check out the Fisher geometry. Most females have a difficult fitting into Fisher geometry. He uses long top tubes that stretch most women out too far. With that said, I would go for the Blur or even a Titus Racer X.

I'll second the Racer X! They have a 100mm Racer X now too.
The titus is better than all the bikes listed so far,imo

get a cake i'm tired of seeing all these people with my bike

I have read a lot about both bikes, but there's only so much that reading can do for you. I just wanted to hear some firsthand experience on the bikes. I have checked out the fisher geometry, I've rode the Sugar before and it felt pretty good, but I've never rode a santa cruz before. Thanks for the info guys.

hey what do you guys think about the Kona Kikapu??

My husband loves his Blur. I demo'ed a Cake, and really liked it except it felt really sluggish on climbs. Try both.

hey what do you guys think about the Kona Kikapu??


Sweet bike. My uncle rides for Kona and really does like the bikes. He has been riding with / for them since the beginning. Nice efficient bike.

The kona is a good bike.

Mtbikechic make sure you check out the Fisher geometry. Most females have a difficult fitting into Fisher geometry. He uses long top tubes that stretch most women out too far. With that said, I would go for the Blur or even a Titus Racer X.

Both santa Cruz and GF make the Blur and Cake in womens specific geometry,

the Santa Cruz is the Juliana, the GF is the Cake Genesister

I thought the kikapu was pretty sweet. I'm not too familiar with the fox float R shock... anybody know how they compare with the other shocks out there?

I thought the Julianne was the woman specific model of the Superlight.

L8R

I thought the Julianne was the woman specific model of the Superlight.

it is. i scrolled down to comment and you already had.

i am not sure, but i believe there is not yet a women's blur... (we bought a WSD Epic for my girlfriend in December and the Juliana was a possiblity but we didn't find one to test-ride)

I thought the kikapu was pretty sweet. I'm not too familiar with the fox float R shock... anybody know how they compare with the other shocks out there?
Fox Float R is a good shock. It's reliable which is the most important thing. It does it's job, rebound is adjustable. I would take the Fox over anything else just on the basis of my positive experience with it.

Fox Float R is a good shock. It's reliable which is the most important thing. It does it's job, rebound is adjustable. I would take the Fox over anything else just on the basis of my positive experience with it.

Thanks RacerX, I did some research on it and everyone that used it was happy with it.

The Kona is a very good bike built around a proven design. They make a great quality bike and from my expieriance are easy to deal with. I have ridden Konas since the company began and have no complaints.

However, if you have the money I would suggest the Blur or the Intense Spyder (same design). I have a few friends riding the vpp bikes and they say it is the best ride they have ever had.

Which ever one you get though you will have a nice rig but as others have said I would put the GF at the bottom of the list.

:beer:

I'd try out the Cake before I made the decision. It's all gonna come down to how it feels to YOU. All lot of people are pumped on the Blur cause of all the hype the magazines pushed, the media pushed and blah-blah-blah you hear in mainstream talk. Face it...if you throw enough dough at the magazines, they can make Walmart Schwinns the baddest on the planet!!! (not necessarily true at the moment, but with some marketing, EVERYBODY will want ONE!!!)

I'm just saying don't give up on anything til' you've had your butt in the saddle. My bike is a single-pivot and as "ANCIENT" as it's made out to be, it climbs and handles great. And guess what? Santa Cruz's most popular ride...the one I see more of (the Heckler and Bullitt) are singlepivot...Not that you don't get BOB with this design...but the Cake has the latest techno stable platform stuff, so if the hype is right (there's the word of the day!!! hype!!!) it ought to feel pretty good...

To make a long story short...GO RIDE ONE, FEEL IT OUT...and piss on what the public thinks!!!

I've tried a Cake and a Blur, the Cake is an overglorified single pivot bike(and a bit of a copy of the Giant VT1, and the Blur lives up to all the hype it gets.

Face it...if you throw enough dough at the magazines, they can make Walmart Schwinns the baddest on the planet!!! (not necessarily true at the moment, but with some marketing, EVERYBODY will want ONE!!!)

I'm just saying don't give up on anything til' you've had your butt in the saddle. My bike is a single-pivot and as "ANCIENT" as it's made out to be, it climbs and handles great. And guess what? Santa Cruz's most popular ride...the one I see more of (the Heckler and Bullitt) are singlepivot...Not that you don't get BOB with this design...but the Cake has the latest techno stable platform stuff, so if the hype is right (there's the word of the day!!! hype!!!) it ought to feel pretty good...

To make a long story short...GO RIDE ONE, FEEL IT OUT...and piss on what the public thinks!!!

hahaha its about time somebody said something like that. I agree about trying out a bike and seeing how it feels... I think reading about a bike can only do so much, you have to ride it to see if its really as great as its been advertised. Thanks for the advice leadbutt!!

I'm just saying don't give up on anything til' you've had your butt in the saddle. My bike is a single-pivot and as "ANCIENT" as it's made out to be, it climbs and handles great. And guess what? Santa Cruz's most popular ride...the one I see more of (the Heckler and Bullitt) are singlepivot...Not that you don't get BOB with this design...but the Cake has the latest techno stable platform stuff, so if the hype is right (there's the word of the day!!! hype!!!) it ought to feel pretty good...

To make a long story short...GO RIDE ONE, FEEL IT OUT...and piss on what the public thinks!!!

Way to put it! I like the cut of your jib... the style of your stride... the crease of your press...

I too ride a single-pivot bike and granted there is some bob but I've also learned to adapt to it and ride a bit smoother because of it. I can set my shock settings to also cancel out most of the bob except in really extreme circumstances. Just because a bike is a single-pivot design does not mean it should be discounted. We all thought URTs were dead too until the Maverick ML-7 showed up and changed our ideas about what a little spin on the approach could do. Now it's being hailed as the second coming for XC suspension. And let's also not forget that VPP is not necessarily a new idea. It's been around for quite some time. It just took some refinement. People seem to like to generalise when it comes to a technology but it's the implimentation that counts. And the only way to really tell what works and what doesn't is to try it out for yourself.