2023 Specialized Diverge STR, new rear "suspension"

And they are running a promotion that if you spend $3000 you get a $500 costco gift card!

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Haven’t watched any vids yet but I can’t imagine (what looks like will be) a constantly changing reach distance being anything I’d ever want to experience.

Per BikeRumor article:

An S-Works Diverge STR frame weight is just 1,100g (claimed, FACT 11R frame, size 56, painted with no hardware, and without damper… keep reading), about 100g more than a standard S-Works Diverge frame.

So not terribly heavy in the grand scheme of things. Surely far less than even the lightest XC suspension like a Blur or Epic.

Says in one of the ads, sorry, reviews that it’s 1600g with the damper and adds about 400g total. So yes, not terrible, but also not as capable. At the same time per the same author actual weight was 9.67 kg/21.x lbs for the $7500 Expert version. I personally could not stomach paying almost 8 grand for 10 kilo gravel bike, once I add some pedals and weight weenie cages.

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The pricing is absolutely something to complain about. $6k frameset. $7.5k Rival AXS base build. Who the heck is buying this stuff? Please stop so that the bike companies realize that prices are getting out of control!

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Yeah, FS pricing in particular is interesting:

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I have not dug into specs, but even the Expert level comparison sure looks bad for the G bike.

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Extremely bad. Gravel bike market must be a bunch of high rollers.

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Gravel Marketing Department:

“Watch this—We can go dumber.”

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Not there yet, ever since gravel became a thing each of the more “unique” bike has to measure up against my all-time favourite in the “unique” department:

Paris-Roubaix 1994

Now if they paired the Diverge with a Canyon Grevil handlebar :thinking:

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So the big thing that bugs me about the STR system is that it looks unfinished (IMO).

Trek’s IsoSpeed and IsoStrut on the other hand look very fleshed out.

Also, what’s the travel on IsoSpeed?

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Interested to see where this gets us by about generation 3, but this gen1 gets a hard pass from me. Seems like maybe a necessary step to go through in order to get to something really special, but I don’t think this is it.

Also, no aero improvement claims? Odd for spesh…

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I agree that the STR looks too much like a prototype. I am surprised to not see some form of boot over the damper. And the connection between the seat tube and damper while functional, also looks less finished to my eyes.

Great question on the IsoSpeed travel. I have to search to find it. I do know it varies generally speaking. The main factors relate to rider weight, coupled with saddle height. Each can increase or decrease leverage on the spring effect. From memory, it’s around 10-20mm but I could be wrong. Isospeed has been around since about 2013, and each iteration from the original Boone to the versions on the Checkpoint all got some level of refinement which impacted the functional range of motion.

In my experience, the magic of IsoSpeed is less about the “big bump” absorption, and more about the “small bump” mitigation. That is what tends to really lead to fatigue for most of the “gravel” I have ridden. This STR seems aimed at a potentially more aggressive use case than where I think the Trek system excels.

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…as a replacement part. Who needs repairability nowadays anyway.

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Dude, that is bonkers to degree. We do see a shift to cartridge inserts for stuff like dropper posts, where full replacement is the norm. But WRT to MTB and such, most of those are user and shop serviceable.

The one big exception is apt here, since Spesh and their Brain suspension has typically required shipping to whatever site they use for maintenance on them. Looks like they are taking a similar approach with this one.

I didn’t have much interest in this model from the outset, but I like it even less the more I learn about it :wink:

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This bike is for people with tons of spare cash with a local Spesh shop to sell it to them and deal with all aspects of service. Makes no sense for anyone else. I like the idea but the execution/sales end is a big miss.

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I wonder how this compares to the kingpin on the Topstone. That also claims 30mm of travel and while I couldn’t find a weight, the kingpin looks like it would be lighter then this

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As much as a relative pain in the ass as my Future Shock 2.0 has been on my Diverge, there’s no way I’d get one of these. I am about to have to replace the cartridge and once that’s done then I’ll likely sell the frameset and get something without all the moving parts like a Aspero or even a Fairlight Secan.

No instore :frowning:

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Dude, that is super interesting! Thanks for the link :smiley:

The next roubaix needs its parts tested first

Isn’t that all s-works bikes?