Nice! Thanks.
How critical is it, do you think, to do a test ride?
I have trouble finding shops that stock or plan to stock the pure race bikes—they’ll have the Scalpel SE or the Epic Evo, for example, but not the shorter travel versions
Ironically, any bike I’ve demo’d, I’ve never bought. The one exception is the current edition of the Specialized Enduro, which I’ve purchased in my heart, even though I don’t have space for it, or the terrain that warrants it. (I LOVED that bike when I rode it and still lust after it)
Usually when I demo a bike, I find reasons not to buy it, versus when I pull the trigger, I just make it work.
For as much as we fuss over numbers and bits, modern mountain bikes are almost universally good compared to even 5 years ago.
I’m in the same boat with the regular Scalpel with the Ocho, no demo’s around. I was able to demo the regular Epic and my impression was that if you can get on well with the Brain, the geometry is fantastic.
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Depends. Ideally you would test ride it, but then again it’s not going to be set up and dialed into your settings. It could give you the wrong impression. I didn’t test ride, or even see one in person, before I bought my Spark RC 900 WC. I could tell by the geometry that it wasn’t going to be anything too drastic. It was a proven frame and wasn’t taking any wild trends or pushing boundaries. If the bike you are considering has a unique feature (Brain, Lefty fork) then I’d definitely recommend test riding it. But if it’s you’e typical XC bike you’re generally safe buying it. Another caveat would be if you are extremely small/tall or have a particular preference.
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This is very true.
I’d also say that once you’ve demo’d most of the different types of suspensions, you more or less can expect how they will react accordingly within brands when sized up or down unless there are dramatic changes in the linkage designs.
- DW-Link on Pivots and Ibis ride similar, with appropriate types of tuning for the areas where they are developed.
- Linkage single pivots generally perform similarly within a range of tuning
- Horst link
- Switch link
- VPP lower link
You catch my drift.
The interesting thing is that many of the newer XC bikes all have something a little weird about them:
- Supercaliber with the strut (although it’s most similar to a shorter travel singlepivot with flex stays)
- Scalpel with the pseudo Horst-link/faux-bar and of course the Lefty
- New Brain on the Epic
- Norco Revolver with crazy steep ST angle and super long reach
Definitely makes the purchase decision given current times a bit challenging and it’s something I’m struggling with myself.
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Agree, seems like so few bike stores carry them. Austin has over 2 million people and I think 2 Scott dealers in town. I can think of 8 shops for Cannondale. I can get one on a nice discount so I would like to get one dirty before considering.
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We only have one Scott shop in all of minnesota also. I bought my scale with no demo. We have about 100 trek and 100 specialized shops.
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I’m trying to decide between the 2021 Specialized Epic EVO and the Transition Spur. Both fit the trail lite XC bike mold. I’m looking for an all day 100 miler XC racer bike. The EVO is a couple pounds lighter, has room for 2 water bottles in the frame and a SWAT tool in the headset. The Spur on paper looks a little more downhill capable but maybe not as good a climber as the EVO? Can anyone point to some to other riding characteristic differences?
I think you hit the nail on the head. 100mm versus 120mm rear travel too. Epic Evo seems like more of a pure racer, but still supposedly descends really well. Spur is likely a better choice as a very capable all around trail bike if you’re using it for a lot of non-racing.
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A couple intro videos are up on YouTube now too. I guess the individual videos/results will follow throughout the day.
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Dang! None of the bikes in my running.
Oh, “review next week.” Guess this is just the teaser week.
If it’s anything like the regular Field Test was this year, they’re probably going to drag it out as long as possible.
i’m excited that they’re drilling down into the differences between similar models i.e. including the scalpel and scalpel SE in the same test. super pumped for the results of this.
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Consider Gemini stem/bar combo! Same design as the Syncros but lighter!
And twice the price for a no name brand.
Well, all of the best lightweight tech right now for MTB comes out of Europe (Tune, Gemini, Darimo, Schmolke) and are botique. I wouldn’t say they aren’t ‘name brand’. But that bar stem combo is 150 grams!! The syncros bar I run on my nino silverfish is 220 grams…
I ended up just taking a weight penalty and running an enve m5 with a kalloy sl stem @ combined 270grams because I heard the syncros doesn’t dampen vibrations very well like a high end carbon bar
Sounds like a beautiful cockpit! I may not be all that discerning, but my Syncros bar has been fine. I’m running the SID with aluminum steerer that came custom painted, but I suspect i would prefer the plush/stiffness of the stepcast 32…
Has anyone pulled the lockout off their bikes? I broke the fox 2 position remote and am going to repair it, but at the end of the season I was thinking about sending them to fox to have the three position put on and run it in trail mode. Having the bike stuck in lock mode was annoying until I rigged it open. If I decide to add a dropper it will free up that space as well. It’s an SC blur and I really don’t notice it squatting too much unless I really get up and out of the saddle on straightaway sprint.
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