Bike check: Carter Nieuwesteeg’s BCBR/ST6 Santa Cruz Blur

It’s not easy to get a bike or body through two weeks of mountain bike stage racing. That’s why BC Bike Race and Singletrack 6 both offer mechanical service packages as add-ons to their race weeks. Carter Nieuwesteeg raced both events, back-to-back, and in contention for podiums and wins both weeks. First, battling with Geoff Kabush to finish fifth at BC Bike Race. Then, dueling with New Zealand’s Cameron Jones at Singletrack 6. His Santa Cruz Blur survived all of that.

Here’s how the Fernie, B.C. local set up his Blur for two weeks of XC stage racing on Vancouver Island and into the Canadian Rockies.

Carter’s Santa Cruz Blur

Nieuwesteeg has his Blur set up with a mechanical Shimano XTR 12-speed drivetrain that didn’t need to be charged once during the two-week double-header and XTR two-piston brakes. Fox supplies a 34 StepCast Factory fork with 120mm travel for racing rough trails blind and 115mm of rear wheel travel via a Float Factory shock. Both are controlled via a lockout lever on the bars, as is the Fox Transfer dropper post.

For wheels, Niuewesteeg is running We Are One’s Sector wheels. The 28-mm rims have the distinctive shaping of We Are One’s new Convergence line and are, like all We Are One products from bars to bike frames, handmade right here in Kamloops, B.C. At BC Bike Race, Nieuwesteeg ran Maxxis Aspens (2.25″ rear, 2.4″ front) for maximum efficiency. At Singletrack 6, he’d switched to Maxxis’s slightly grippier Recon Race tread. With a Cush Core XC tire insert in the rear only, and Orange Seal tire sealant in both, to keep the Blur rolling through any unexpected impacts.