You’ll have to adjust your seat position when you do the flip chip too. I did find it a little more snappy on the climbs with it in the high position but because I’m a very good climber, I would rather sacrifice a tiny bit on the climbs to have the increased stability, safety, and fun on the descents with it in the low position. I don’t think it’s by any means slow on the climbs though with it in the low position though… not sure my times are actually any different - might be just more of a feel.
If I want to build my own Ultralight, I should just get the frame in the right color or is it a different frameset?
I am keeping my eyes open for a M in the UK
I would also want a M, but am here in the US 
Size?
Wanted to chime in on this one now that I’ve finally gotten the setup sorted on my Epic 9 (has taken a while!).
tl;dr: I threw in 2 volume spacers in the fork and the #2 size (largest) shock spacer, and I went from wanting to sell the bike to really liking it.
Full version:
I have a size Medium S-Works Epic 9 with FA and was very frustrated with the suspension setup.
My weight has been between 149-151 for the past month, so my stats are 5’10" (178cm) and 150lbs (68kg).
The calculator suggested the following for me:
Shock Pressure: 152psi
Shock Rebound: 7 from closed
Fork Pressure: 68psi
Fork Rebound: 9 from closed
This had me at about 33% sag, which was a hair more than I had on my Epic 8.
FWIW, my Epic 8 did not have factory tuned suspension. It had more compression damping and rebound damping than the specialized tune, but running the suspension calculator’s settings were almost spot on, so I was quite happy with it. It was initially plush and avoided bottom outs, but above all, was somehow incredibly supportive in the midstroke while also being supple enough to not get hung up when you were in the “Magic Middle” or Pedal setting. I loved it, If anything, it still could have been a bit more initially plush though.
At recommended settings my Epic 9 felt much more initially plush which was welcome, but it lacked that midstroke support and was eager to blow through the stroke, dive under braking, and feel unstable / inefficient whenever you were trying to throw energy into the bike and get it back (pumping, mantling up a ledge or rock, etc.). It did resist bottom out extremely well though, so that combined with the extreme initial plushness didn’t cause me to think that I needed to play with volume spacers to make what already felt like a very progressive feel even more progressive.
So in an effort to get the bike to not bob, dive, be unstable under foot and while pedaling, I increased the pressure in an incremental way until it felt more supportive. I finally got it to a point where it felt more supportive, but I was all the way up to 182psi in the shock and 84psi in the fork! That meant I had to crank rebound damping to fully closed or one click from closed to counter that increased “spring rate” caused by the higher pressure. With these shocks that don’t have independent compression and rebound, and independent high and low speed for each of those adjustments, cranking down rebound damping has a larger umbrella effect on the shock’s performance that is less than ideal. In a weird way, when you are very close to closed it makes the shock feel like it has more compression damping as well, making the bike feel super harsh and dead.
So the closest I could get to the bike feeling as supportive as I needed made it feel super harsh and dead. But strangely it still felt initially plush!
Because of this, volume spacers still hadn’t seemed like a good lever to pull here, and I more or less had resigned myself to selling the bike after Leadville and getting an 8 again.
But I decided to play around with volume spacers on the odd chance that it changed the sag point and would cause the bike to set in a more supportive spot in the stroke when in the pedal setting, and sure enough, that’s exactly what it did.
2 volume spacers in the fork and running 72 PSI and the fork quit diving. I am 5 clicks from closed on the fork.
The #2 sized (largest) volume spacer in the shock and running 154psi and 4 clicks from closed on the shock.
I’d likely drop some pressure and free up rebound damping (further from closed) if I was riding in consistently bumpy terrain like you have back east in this country, but for the mountain west that is predominantly smooth with punctuated periods of extreme roughness, it works very well.
This is a long one, but hope it helps somebody that is frustrated by the unstable and unsupportive feel.
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Great info, thanks! I have my S-Works frameset arriving in August that I’ll be building up. Although I’m a quite a bit bigger at 6’1" and 175 lbs and coming from a Scott Spark. So I’ll be curious how I get on with the Epic 9 after 8 years on various Sparks. In any case, at least I know that playing with the volume spacers is an option.
Did you also have the Epic Evo 7? If so, what was the setup like on it?
Kinda interested in what was peoples favorite… 7, 8 or 9
I think the 8 wil come out on top, but the 7 was so far ahead of the curve when it came out, it may be close.
I guess then the big question is… will you keep the 9 after Leadville? or go back to the 8? As someone who knows less than zero about suspension setup, it has been super interesting/confusing to hear everything you have been trying and testing.