I suspect @wintermute may have meant aesthetically terrible, as a lot of people have commented on that aspect since the bike was announced.
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/first-ride-2025-rocky-mountain-element.html
New element. Not much different than old, although the use of new bearing hardware gives me hope this wonāt be a creaky as the old one.
Things I like: price is pretty good on the frame set at $3k usd. Annoying that itās without a shock, but even with shock thatās pretty good.
Things I dislike: itās a lot lighter than the old element, but damn that is a heavy xc frame. Itās 2100 grams without the shockā¦
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The constant weight increases of bikes is annoying. Conspiracy theoryā¦ bikes are constantly getting heavier to force everyone to move to e-bikes. 
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Iām super confused how they can claim itās lost 300g.
New Element 2080g (no shock)
Old Element 2000g (no shockā¦2300g - Fox Float DPS)
Am I taking crazy pills here?
I was super confused by that as well! Maybe the new frame weight assumes a 300 gram shock.
@wintermute the element is basically a trail bike in a trench coat to sell it as an xc bike. Iāve ridden my buddies a few time and itās super fun! But I would never buy one, and Iām basically the user this was designed for: BC coastal enduro rider that races XC races with technical, challenging, and long descents. But thatās such a narrow use case, Iād rather have something a bit āracierā and less downhill oriented.
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A few months ago I posted in here asking for some advice about upgrading my S-works stumpy to something a little more XC race focused. Thought I would come back and post up what I decided on and leave some pictures of the final product. Special shout out to @teddygram for helping me order up a custom wheel set that helped me get under 10Kg. Thatās with two power meters for testing purposes, one bottle cage, k edge Garmin mount and my winter tires.
Two rides on it and I can comfortable say this bike rips. Iāve set PRs on both outings both climbing and descending. Excited to really put some power down and see how much faster it can be.
Build details:
2024 Sc Blur size L
Rockshox SID Ultimate 120mm 3p
Sidluxe Ultimate 3p
Shimano XTR 2 pot brakes
Nextie Omega wheel set with DT240exp hubs
XX1 Axs Mech and crank
Xcadey Spider PM w/wolftooth ring
eThirteen Helix Race cassette
Schwalbe Rocket Ron 2.35 f+r
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Custom Santa Cruz labels? Bling is worth a few watts for sure!
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I donāt think it ever had FA for the frameset. When I was looking a few months back for a new bike it didnāt have FA. And I remember some of the complaints here were that it didnāt include FA.
Some of the weight of the Epic 8 is the downtube storage. I have heard of some people getting the 7 series Epic EVO and building it out like a non-EVO gen 8. Basically just buying the Epic 8 shock and throwing it on the Epic 7 EVO frame.
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Whatās the difference in the epic 8 shock and epic evo 7 shock? I thought they were both 120?
For some reason I thought the 7 was only 110 travel. Could be wrong.
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If the previous generation epic Evo is the 7, I have it and itās 120 front and 110 rear.
Corrected
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Iāve been real happy with my Oiz if you can find a frameset and if the parts you have transfer over, Fork would, shock maybe not. Just finished swapping it to Flight Attendant, so actually have a box of Fox and Lockout parts.
Has Internal Routing that isnāt too bad to deal with - I just did a bunch of work where I had to pull brake cables. Iāve also packed it successfully in a bike bag without too much trouble. Unlike the epic it has no frame storage, but can take a cable-actuated dropper.
Being in the US it does take me a little longer to get spares from Orbea, Iām not going to find them as easily. That and I would like the internal frame storage.
The previous gen epic evo (7) is 110mm rear, 120mm front. You can look at any review tech specs Specialized Epic EVO Expert ā In our 2022 downcountry group test | ENDURO Mountainbike Magazine
On the topic of weight, I donāt think weāll see a bike lighter than the evo 7 for a long time, really impressive.
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Right on, I must be wrong. Goes to show how much this roadie knows about MTBās
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Oh man, once I get my Nextie rims in our bikes are going to be so similar. Awesome build.
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Lots of people have āover strokedā their Epic Evo 7āsā¦ I have a 190 x 42.5mm that I purchased for some rougher trail races in the future. Zero clearance issues tested at full compression.
40mm stroke = 110mm travel
42.5mm stroke = 117mm travel
45mm stroke = 124mm travel
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Yup! The Ti linkage bolts alone were worth like 10% in my very rigorous scientific testing.
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These wheels are super nice! Easiest tubeless set up Iāve ever done. I put 50ml of sealant in them for punctures, but they hold air fine without any. Post up some pics so we can compare lol!
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Ope, thought I did! It was in the TR Userās Bike thread:
Santa Cruz Blur C- I9 TR 280 wheels - Sram GX/X01 Transmission- Hayes T2 brakes - Side Ultimate Fork- Fox DPS shock - XPEDO CXR Pro Pedals - Wolftooth Resolve Dropper - WTB Gravelier Carbon Saddle - Raceface Next R Cockpit
Weighs in about 25.5 lbs ready to ride. Should be around 23 after I get a XX cassette and the Nextie wheels built up. Lacing them to the I9 1/1 hubs I have laying around.
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