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Torn between a Nomad and a Blur LT

A

Armin

Chimp
Jun 15, 2010
6
0
Hi everyone !

I need a little help deciding which bike to pick, Nomad Carbon or Blur LT Carbon (XTR am build, TALAS 32 150 FIT on the Blur, TALAS 36 160 FIT on the Nomad)

- This will be my main bike
- I climb some steep hills and I go down a lot of technical singletrack, rough rocky sections, small jumps and some drops (4+ ft)
- I've ridden the Al Nomad, it's amazing going downhill, but I can't form an opinion as to how good a climber the bike is. I was using a borrowed Medium size bike and the TT was too short, the seatpost was at least 1 inch too low so I was feeling cramped and was very uncomfortable going uphill.
- I don't want to be the first guy to the top of the hill but I want a bike that can climb the steep stuff relatively decent. (2000 ft. altitude gain over 5 miles, that kind of thing) I'm not looking for a XC race bike, I have my Trek hardtail for that.
- I'm willing to compromise on the climbing ability in order to have a blast going down.
- The bikes, built with a Crank Brothers wheelset, will weigh around 28 lbs (Nomad) and 24 lbs (Blur), this doesn't worry me too much, I can drop 4 lbs off my gut.
- The thing that worries me most is the head angle (67 deg vs. 69 deg) and how will this affect the bikes climbing ability.
- I'm leaning towards the Nomad (I'm already on SC's waiting list), but I don't want to regret it later if climbing becomes too much of a struggle.

Your opinions are appreciated :)

Thanks,

Armin
 
amishmatt

amishmatt

Turbo Monkey
Sep 21, 2005
1,264
397
Lancaster, PA
Haven't ridden either of the two bikes in question, but I'll give you my $.02 about head angles.

This year I'm riding a Blur 4x with a Pike set at about 130mm. Should put me in the 67-ish degree HA. Last year I was on a Heckler with a 69 degree HA. The Blur weighs ~ 30lbs, which is 2lbs. lighter than the Heckler was.

Comparing the two, the Blur is better all around, no question. The slacker HA and lower BB make the bike rip the DH, but it still climbs everything I need to, and does so better than the Heckler did. That's partly due to the lower weight and suspension design, but the HA is not holding me back from any climbs.
 
O

oldfart

Turbo Monkey
Jul 5, 2001
1,206
24
North Van
I have the Blur LTC and it climbs very well and is very good decender. It can handle a 160 Travel 36 so that might be one way to get the lighter shorter travel frame that will climb better than the Nomad. That said the Nomad is a better decender at speed. I had a Nomad, the original one and it was a damn fine bike. I had the weight down to 31 pounds or so too which helped a lot. I did some big days on that Nomad including the Chilcotin area where we climbed for four or five hours one day. I wasn't holding anyone up.
 
Ridge_Rider

Ridge_Rider

Chimp
Apr 12, 2002
69
6
East Coast
I've had two Nomads, a gen one for 3 seasons and I have 2 seasons on a gen two now. I also have a BLT, when I had the gen one Nomad, I used the BLT a lot more than I do now. On more XC type rides, it seemed like a better choice. But now that I've got the gen two, I rarely use the BLT anymore. The Nomad (for what is and its intended for) is a very capable climber. The cockpit postion is tailored to get the most out of climbs given it's relatively slack head angle. And given that you're going with a TALAS (I run a FLOAT), you should be able to lower your front end enough/steepen the head angle enough to get you into BLT head angle territory. So given this, my vote would be the Nomad.
 
A

Armin

Chimp
Jun 15, 2010
6
0
Thank guys.

My main concern was that the Nomad was going to be too much effort going uphill, but from what I read here I've decided to go for it ..... now the only problem is the 6 weeks waiting list :think:
 
A

Armin

Chimp
Jun 15, 2010
6
0
My Nomad C is finally here, just got it in today. SC said 6 weeks got it in 5.

It looks awesome, I'll have it built tomorrow and take her out for a ride Tuesday afternoon, can't wait.

I'll report on how it feels after the ride.

Pics coming too
 
M

michaeldorian

Chimp
Dec 13, 2007
11
0
Armin said:
My Nomad C is finally here, just got it in today. SC said 6 weeks got it in 5.

It looks awesome, I'll have it built tomorrow and take her out for a ride Tuesday afternoon, can't wait.

I'll report on how it feels after the ride.

Pics coming too
Click to expand...
Ride report? I'm currently in your exact situation. :)
 
A

Armin

Chimp
Jun 15, 2010
6
0
Ok guys, here goes .... my $ 0.02

After 2 weeks and about 100 miles on the bike:

At first I thought the bike was going to be a struggle on the climbs, sitting on it for the first time it felt more like a FR rig than anything else, 2.35 soft compound Maxxis and a slack HA, eventhough it tipped the scales at 12.9 Kg (28.4 lbs).

For my first ride I chose a 5 mile climb at 7.5 % average, starting at around 11,400 ft. going up to 13,500, over loose, rocky fire roads, that I had done a ton of times before on different bikes (Trek 8500, Liquid 30, and a Heckler) so I could compare and get a good feel for the Nomad.

I set the Talas at 120, locked it up fully, Propedal at Max and off I went. What a surprise ! The beast can really climb, definitely better than the Heckler or the 30 and closer to the hardtail than a 6 inch bike has a right to be. My time up the hill was about 1:30 off my best hardtail time, not bad and I'm sure that going tubeless, 2.10 and a 70a compound will make up for most if not all the difference.

On the way down we have a nice stretch of technical singletrack, with some fast sweeping sections and a few small drops and jumps .... without really fiddling too much with suspension setup other than going to 160 and adjusting the rebound I went down faster than anything I had taken down that trail before (Bullit built with Monster/Avalanche and a Kona Stinky), the bike is light and super stiff, no flex whatsoever front or rear. It tracks like nothing I've ridden before, just point where you want to go and let go of the brakes, rock gardens, ruts .... eats everything up and comes back for seconds.

After that I also took her out on a 50 mile XC ride, with quite a bit of climbing, on the downhill sections I was more relaxed and a lot less tired than on the HT, on the way up I kept up with everybody with no problems.

The Formula brakes are amazing, truly one finger operation, great modulation, no fade at all, and very powerful for such a light/small package. Almost went over the bars the first time I used them on a DH.

The VPP suspension is great, put it under power, it locks up and goes. On the steep technical stuff it remains active under braking, no brake jack to scare the sh*t out of you like single pivots.

What can I say people ? Best bike I've ever had .... by far !

I so impressed that I'm doing a XC race with it next week (I was going to use the 8500) but I'm getting Stans No Tubes, Maxxis 2.10 70a's and taking the Nomad. (www.rallytrasmontania.com.ar) I'll let you know how it goes when we get back.

Cheers,

Armin
 
M

michaeldorian

Chimp
Dec 13, 2007
11
0
Armin said:
Ok guys, here goes .... my $ 0.02

After 2 weeks and about 100 miles on the bike:

At first I thought the bike was going to be a struggle on the climbs, sitting on it for the first time it felt more like a FR rig than anything else, 2.35 soft compound Maxxis and a slack HA, eventhough it tipped the scales at 12.9 Kg (28.4 lbs).

For my first ride I chose a 5 mile climb at 7.5 % average, starting at around 11,400 ft. going up to 13,500, over loose, rocky fire roads, that I had done a ton of times before on different bikes (Trek 8500, Liquid 30, and a Heckler) so I could compare and get a good feel for the Nomad.

I set the Talas at 120, locked it up fully, Propedal at Max and off I went. What a surprise ! The beast can really climb, definitely better than the Heckler or the 30 and closer to the hardtail than a 6 inch bike has a right to be. My time up the hill was about 1:30 off my best hardtail time, not bad and I'm sure that going tubeless, 2.10 and a 70a compound will make up for most if not all the difference.

On the way down we have a nice stretch of technical singletrack, with some fast sweeping sections and a few small drops and jumps .... without really fiddling too much with suspension setup other than going to 160 and adjusting the rebound I went down faster than anything I had taken down that trail before (Bullit built with Monster/Avalanche and a Kona Stinky), the bike is light and super stiff, no flex whatsoever front or rear. It tracks like nothing I've ridden before, just point where you want to go and let go of the brakes, rock gardens, ruts .... eats everything up and comes back for seconds.

After that I also took her out on a 50 mile XC ride, with quite a bit of climbing, on the downhill sections I was more relaxed and a lot less tired than on the HT, on the way up I kept up with everybody with no problems.

The Formula brakes are amazing, truly one finger operation, great modulation, no fade at all, and very powerful for such a light/small package. Almost went over the bars the first time I used them on a DH.

The VPP suspension is great, put it under power, it locks up and goes. On the steep technical stuff it remains active under braking, no brake jack to scare the sh*t out of you like single pivots.

What can I say people ? Best bike I've ever had .... by far !

I so impressed that I'm doing a XC race with it next week (I was going to use the 8500) but I'm getting Stans No Tubes, Maxxis 2.10 70a's and taking the Nomad. (www.rallytrasmontania.com.ar) I'll let you know how it goes when we get back.

Cheers,

Armin
Click to expand...
Armin,

Thanks for the review! Sounds like the perfect all around bike. Question, do you think its still pretty good trail / climber running the fork at 160MM? I have a non adjustable Fox Float I'm thinking of throwing on there. Thoughts on this bike with non-adjustable forks?
 
A

Armin

Chimp
Jun 15, 2010
6
0
michaeldorian said:
Armin,

Thanks for the review! Sounds like the perfect all around bike. Question, do you think its still pretty good trail / climber running the fork at 160MM? I have a non adjustable Fox Float I'm thinking of throwing on there. Thoughts on this bike with non-adjustable forks?
Click to expand...
I've used the Nomad at 160 on short climbs, you can feel the difference compared to 120, but it's not bad. If your Float has a lockout you will have no problems.

A friend of mine rides a Titus FTM and he uses his Talas 32 at 150, no lockout, all the time, and he climbs very steep stuff without a hitch. Keep in mind that the FTM has a slightly steeper HA than the Nomad, but I don't think it's really significant.

The Nomad is the best all around bike I've had, you can't go wrong there, I'm sure you're going to love it.

Cheers,

Armin
 
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