Retail $10,500 with custom build features / excellent condition. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.Ģ013 Specialized S-Works Epic World Cup Mountain bike MTB Large. A focus on own-brand finishing components allows for unique 84.5mm press-fit bottom bracket bearings – while there’s a converter kit if you ever want to run ‘standard’ cranks and bearings.When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. The one-piece front end reduces loads on potential stress point, such as the shock mounting, and the centre-of-bike and in-line shock position both improves plushness and looks tidier.įine detailing is superb, and we especially like the way the front gear mech mounts on the swing arm. Specialized claims a 14 percent lateral stiffness boost over the front end of the 2008 bike, although the frame is lighter. The steerer is 1.125in at the top and 1.5in at the integrated crown, with the lower headset bearing recessed well into the base of the tube so that it’s braced against the down tube structure. Both the fork and the back end offer 100mm of travel. The top tube, head tube and down tube of the Az1 frame form effectively a one-piece structure, layered with suitably woven sections of carbon composite cloth to create the required strength, stiffness and ride feel.Īz1 means ‘as one’ – see what they’ve done there? Increasing the overall carbon content of the frame meant creating new dropouts, a new lighter oversized bottom bracket shell and a head tube to take the tapered steerer tube of Specialized’s own superlight (3.1lb) E100 fork. Frame: light, stiff & superbly detailedĬlaimed weight for the frame is 2040g, including the shock and FlowControl Mini Brain. A wider range of ‘Brain Fade’ options than on previous models means there are now more opportunities to get it wrong as well as right.Īnd of course, it still takes a bit of nerve to hammer into rocky sections of trail on what essentially feels more like a hardtail until the fork and shock Brains sense that they need to kick in. Experiment and you’ll find ways of making it do just what you want it to. Perhaps stating the obvious, the key here is to spend time setting up the Brain shock and fork. It’s not exactly sofa-plush, but it’s forgiving over rough terrain to a point where you know it’s helping you to maintain forward momentum and make the sort of line choices you’d be loath to make on a hardtail, and you never end up feeling that you’re losing speed elsewhere. While racers obviously have a lot to gain from a bike like the Epic, the surprise is that it feels less like a pure race thoroughbred than other 100mm travel superlights we’ve ridden. It exhibits none of the nervousness or Bambi handling vagueness that often afflicts bikes of this weight. The new Epic is noticeably sharper than its predecessor on the trail. Specialized’s claim of substantial boosts to front end and drivetrain stiffness rings true. We were surprised and impressed by how sturdy and stable the Epic felt. You may think that any 22lb bike is going to feel a little bit fragile on a challenging trail. With carefully retuned Brain set-ups in the fork as well as in the rear shock, first impressions are that the new Epic will now appeal to almost anyone searching for a temptingly light, undoubtedly fast and well controlled trail bike. The good news is that Specialized has managed to maintain the solid, reliably fast and taut ride character that pleases most racers, at the same time as losing weight, adding stiffness and making their unique Brain inertia valve shock systems work just the way we’d always hoped they would. There’s no doubting its race credentials, but the question we wanted to answer at the press launch was whether it was still a purist race bike, or had it become the trail bike that we want to ride? In 2008 we thought the Stumpjumper S-Works felt a little bit better. It’ll cost you a lot of cash, but it looks like the Epic S-Works might be the highlight of the Specialized 2009 range. The race-tuned Brain configuration means that you still feel a little more harshness on initial square-edge impacts than you do, for example, on the plusher longer-travel Stumpjumper, but this is a far more versatile bike than before. Ride & handling: unusually forgiving for a race rigĭespite its fairly aggressive geometry, the Epic has a much more relaxed and balanced feel than previous Brain-equipped Epics, which will add appeal for trail riders as well as racers.
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