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2010 Turner 5 Spot vrs. 2010 Santa Cruz Blur LT

6K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  Jaybo 
#1 ·
First, these are both fantastic bikes! I'm not going to pour over every detail but just my impressions. I have no dog in the fight. Both frames are large.

SIZING: The Turner has a bigger head tube (5.3) than the Santa Cruz (4.7). This creates some challenges in sizing as I am trying to get my bars lower on the Turner. I'm going to go flat bar to do the trick. Advantage Santa Cruz for me. Second, Santa Cruz has a shorter down tube (18") than the 19" one on the Turner. The Turner and Santa Cruz have very similar top tube lengths but the Turner feels bigger. Advantage Santa Cruz for me.

Handling: Santa Cruz is legendary for their handling. I found this to be true as I could throw the bike around and it was incredibly fun. The Turner feels like it has a longer wheelbase and is a point and shoot rocket. I find myself going super fast on the Turner with an awesome feeling of stability. However, the downside is the Turner is not as quick in tight stuff as the Santa Cruz. Tough call but probably for my style of riding: Turner wins.

Durability: Santa Cruz need a shock bushing replaced after a year. Easy and cheap fix. I love the lower link grease pivots on the Santa Cruz. I have not ridden the Turner long enough to comment on the durability but my old Turner was bombproof. No advantage until I ride the Turner longer. Advantage: we shall see

Weight: Santa Cruz is lighter at 6.6 lbs while the Turner is nearly 7 lbs. I weighed the Turner but not the Santa Cruz but read about the weight on the web. Advantage: Santa Cruz.

Climbing: Tough call because the bigger frame on the Turner gave my some mechanical advantage when cranking. The Santa Cruz locks out pretty well on climbs and creates an awesome climbing machine. Climbing traction is much better on the Turner. However, the Santa Cruz was fine. Tough to corner the variables between the bikes because of the sizing difference but VPP design is a crisper climber. Advantage: even.

Suspension design: The Santa Cruz has a great VPP design. The suspension feels bottomless as noted in a recent Bicycling magazine. It is very stiff and levels the ground incredibly well. The Turner's DW design is just awesome. Very seamless and doesn't hardly bob in any gear. The Turner seems to blow through its travel a bit too easy. I am not a suspension expert but advantage: Turner by a hair.

Descending: Santa Cruz just rumbles downhill; particularly on steeper tight turns. The Turner is so freaking stiff it just rumbles like a monster truck in technical terrain leveling the ground. Advantage: Turner.

Variables: Santa Cruz makes a carbon bike that would change the comparison: stiffer and lighter. No carbon for Turner yet. Advantage: Santa Cruz.

Which bikes is best? Hmm. Tough call. For me I would pick the Turner. However, the Santa Cruz is just a fun bike. It is nicer looking and just screams ride me. I would like to ride a carbon Blur LT and see if that makes a difference in my comparison. I love both bikes and don't think the Turner has a huge advantage.
 
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#2 ·
Two of my favourite frames, but I have a Blur LT2, came from a BLT1 that it looks on the descending side more like the Turner that you describe, but not on the climbs, the BLT2 is better.
Never try a Turner, no one sell Turner here in Portugal. The Santacruz Portuguese dealer is my friend, but if I want a Turner I'll could get, but they are heavier, industrial look. You could solve the bushing problems on your Fox with BETD.co.uk strong bushes!!

I think the next BLT will have a longer top tube, the head angle will be 68º with a 150mm Fox but remain the seat tube angle and the bb height of the 140mm BLT geo, that will put it more stable on the descending.

Here a video that I made on my last summer vacations

 
#3 ·
I demo'd a 5-spot a year and a half ago.

And I just put money down on a new Blur LT frame.

The biggest driver for me was the price (about $500 at the frame level). Both bikes were pretty similar, both had good points and bad points. So if they are that equal, I'd have a hard time going for the Turner. $1975 for the Blur vs. $2550 for the 5-spot. I don't think it is worth 25% more.

And, SC is a larger company. I hear good things about Turner support, but SC has equally good support and as a larger company, you have better odds that you will get taken care of over the years. As a guy who once had a Titus and now rides a Knolly, the value of a bigger company can't be denied.
 
#4 ·
I rode a Turner 5-Spot before making the move to buy Santa Cruz. The turner was a great bike, but like you said the SC screams to be ridden. Also, SC has great service, especially with frame issues.
 
#5 ·
I had a 2009 DW Spot followed by a 2011 DW Spot and also a 2011 DW Flux until the latter two were stolen a few weeks ago. I made the decision to try and go down the one bike fits all route and replaced the two Turners with a Carbon Nomad.

The Nomad is large as were the Turners but it feels smaller to ride, I feel less stretched on the bike even though I am running the same stem. The Turners were very familiar to me after 100's of rides but within hours I was at home on the Nomad and actually feel far more secure and 'connected' to the trail. The SC manages to feel like a short travel XC machine when out on easier rides and although clearly over biked I dont feel like I am paying for the extra travel or slacker angles and so it replaces the Flux very well and carries 1llb extra onto the scales. As far as the comparison with the Spot goes again it feels better in that environment. The suspension feels plush, the handling crisp and the extra head angle adds stability over the tighter Turner, it also has 3llb advantage over a similarly specced Spot

The Nomad climbs and descends better although I am running tubeless for the first time which I am sure has an effect and all in all I am delighted with the change. To me the Nomad feels a far more advanced product and rewarding to ride. I am not too keen on the paint finish on the SC, it holds greasy marks easily and the cable routing with dropper etc is not quite as neat, but for my money it's Santa Cruz 1-0 Turner....... And I say that as a great fan of Turner.......
 
#6 ·
The suspension feels plush, the handling crisp and the extra head angle adds stability over the tighter Turner, it also has 3llb advantage over a similarly specced Spot
Sounds like you really like your new bike, which is great, but you might be getting a little carried away with the weight thing. According to their respective websites, a medium 5 Spot weighs 6.8 lbs, and a Nomad C 6.06 lbs, so it's actually a 3/4 lb. weight advantage.

Maybe the difference between your two particular bikes was closer to 3 lbs., but if that is the case I wouldn't personally call them similarly specced. :)
 
#7 ·
Miles..... I hear what you say but in actual fact the weights are different. My old Spot was specced with old XTR, 2.2 Rubber Queens with tubes, R1 brakes, Hope Hoops, alloy bars and a bash guard, the Nomad is 2.2 UST Rubber Queens, 2011 XTR, The One brakes, Carbon bars and a chain device, major change is Carbon rims which are about 300grams lighter all other spec such as Reverb, seat, pedals etc are the same... Its why I said similar, but the difference is 27.9 llbs vs 30.8 llbs....
 
#9 ·
I had a DW Spot for two years and now I have a Carbon Blur LT and a Carbon Nomad

Blur LTC vs. DW 5 Spot.
Climbing: The DW 5 spot "rounds off" square edge bumps more effectively than the DW 5 Spot. However, the DW Spot can get hung up on the rocks while climbing. I noticed power transfer seems to be more efficient on the Blur LTC on the technical climbs.

Descending: Both bikes are great descenders. Both feel plush on the descents and both are very stable on the descents.

Cornering: The DW spot always felt sluggish in the corners. The tires would have a tendency to break traction from the trail while in the corner. The Blur LTC would hug the corners much better and I am more confident in corners with the Blur LTC compared to the DW Spot. I am able to go into corners much faster with the Blur LTC compared to the 5 Spot.

If I had to choose one I would choose the Blur LTC over the DW 5 Spot.
 
#10 ·
I had a DW Spot for two years and now I have a Carbon Blur LT and a Carbon Nomad

Blur LTC vs. DW 5 Spot.
Climbing: The DW 5 spot "rounds off" square edge bumps more effectively than the DW 5 Spot. However, the DW Spot can get hung up on the rocks while climbing. I noticed power transfer seems to be more efficient on the Blur LTC on the technical climbs.

Descending: Both bikes are great descenders. Both feel plush on the descents and both are very stable on the descents.

Cornering: The DW spot always felt sluggish in the corners. The tires would have a tendency to break traction from the trail while in the corner. The Blur LTC would hug the corners much better and I am more confident in corners with the Blur LTC compared to the DW Spot. I am able to go into corners much faster with the Blur LTC compared to the 5 Spot.

If I had to choose one I would choose the Blur LTC over the DW 5 Spot.
hmmmmm, can we get a clarification?
 
#13 ·
My world is square edge bumps as well and I still prefer my Blur LTC over the 5 Spot. The difference in square edge bumps is not dramatic to the extent it would pursuade me to select the DW 5 Spot. When you look a pros and cons of both bikes, I went with the Blur LTC over the DW Spot. The square edge bumps was only one factor and it was not a dramatic difference.
 
#14 ·
One area the Blur LT falls a touch short is loose climbing. The VPP design loses traction when climbing; however, it is tough to beat a VPP bike on climbs. They just rock and roll! It is hard to be to dogmatic on some aspects of this comparison because the bikes are very different in sizing. The Blur LT felt so much smaller and I could whip it around really well but the frame wasn't as secure as the Turner when blasting downhill....it is really give and take.
 
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