Bikes for Enduro... The restart

[Hairy]

No No. I want to sell my Tracer and buy an Enduro.

WOW that 29'er must have been an awesome ride to turn you over to the large / dark wheel side like that so fast!

[deviate]

Oooooh.

 

That's a secret.

 

Haha. Okay! Now I'm with you. The t275 is cheaper than an enduro. (Normal non insider prices)

[Guest Omega Man]

WOW that 29'er must have been an awesome ride to turn you over to the large / dark wheel side like that so fast!

It's an incredible bike. The wheel size really is secondary.

[Hairy]

It's an incredible bike. The wheel size really is secondary.

 

I am glad you said that, judge the bike on how it rides and afterwards pop it in a scale, scrutinize the components and lick and taste it to make sure you like it.

[deviate]

 

Hahaha. Sorry couldn't resist

[Guest Omega Man]

29er Cherry Popped. 20 minute S Works Enduro Review.

 

Clown bike

It’s a White 3 Series BMW (boring)

Head angle is too steep

I’m not a dirt roadie

 

These are all things I’ve said about 29ers. I’ve never been a fan to be honest. I like riding downhill and my “XC bike” has 4 pot brakes, 203mm rotors and a 170mm fork. Mountain biking for me is about smiles not miles.

 

And then Specialized ruined it all by releasing the S Works Enduro.

 

A few friends had ridden the test units that Spec have been letting loose on the trails at the Test the Best demo days and raving about them. Still skeptical. Then Marc from Olympic said he could get me a demo to test for a weekend. We’d already planned a weekend away at the Garden Route Trail Park so it was Game ON!

 

Where we went.

 

If you don’t know about it write this down. Garden Route Trail Park. This is a newish venue for riding on the Garden Route. Situated in Barrington about 20km inland from Sedgefield. Think G Spot with the best berms I've seen in SA into tight forest single track with short little lung busters to help you get elevation. It might have been an unfair test cos the place is pretty much made specifically for the S Works.

 

Mark Gordon of G Spot fame is the trail builder. He is busy with a Pump/BMX track at the moment that would not look out of place in one of those Pumptrack movies. It’s BY FAR the best Pumptrack I’ve seen with my own eyes.

 

Pumptrack

 

Back to the bike.

 

Build.

 

What can I say about the build of the S Works Enduro? Everything on the bike is top drawer. As you’d expect from a 110k bike. Carbon rims. CCDB Air in the back. Pike up front. Avid 4 pot trail brakes doing the stopping and an XX1 gearbox all mated together on a very purposeful looking frame.

 

The suspension worked amazingly well. As did the brakes and XX1 drivetrain. So nothing unexpected there.

 

The only possible criticisms I had of the test unit is the Specialized Dropper post instead of the market leading Reverb. But that’s really just nit picking. Once I got used to what the Command post was up to I was more than happy.

 

On first appearance I thought the stem was a bit long for the way I like a bike to feel and the flat bars had me raising my eyebrows but those criticisms melted away once I rode the thing.

 

This was a good day

 

The Ride

 

Oh My God!

 

That about sums up the performance of the S Works. I’d spent Friday riding my bike (Intense Tracer) and having a blast on the trails. Then Saturday was my day with the S Works. I’d never ridden a 29er before and was expecting it to handle like an Ox Wagon. Boy was I wrong.

 

The top of the Yellow trail at GRTP starts with 6 rollers and 2 little doubles that I always seemed to case on my Tracer. On the S Works right out of the box 30m into my first ride on a 29er and the jumps were butter. Further down the trail there are a few berms that have these great little crests where you unweight the rear into the next one. I could feel the rear skipping across the ground. I'd only ever felt that feeling in Les Gets. The endorphin's were pumping. Yeeeeeee. Then into the river forest and suuper flowy techy single track. Damn I was having fun.

 

 

Riding up. The bike pedals so well and feels so good underneath that it’s actually a pleasure to ride up. I kept seeking out little bits of uphill single track to ride up. The blue trail at GRTP intersects with the yellow at one point and we were using that to get back up. It’s a fun little bit of single track. Made all the more fun by the S Works.

 

The balance of the bike was pretty much spot and there were no funnies in the air. It almost feels intuitive.

 

Other peoples opinions

 

These guys are all downhillers and 29er skeptics. This is what they had to say.

 

JP reckons it's 30-40% better on the ups than his Ibis Mojo. On the downs he said they were on a par.

 

Deon said It really is good with a smile on his face.

 

Karl complained about the gyroscopic effect and that it didn't levitate itself back up the hill. He's just grumpy.

 

Dan nodded.

 

 

It’s not all Champagne and Roses however

 

Look it’s DAMN expensive. It’s hard to justify the 110k price tag of this bike. But it is top level in every respect and it rides up and down very very well. Which is a pretty difficult trick to pull off no matter what the marketing departments of the various bike companies tell us.

 

There is a noticeable gyroscopic effect when jumping and turning the bike but that’s to be expected with the 29 inch wheels. It’s not a huge issue. It just takes a little extra muscle getting the bike to change direction. You can still get it sideways tho.

 

 

Apart from that I think it’s pretty much faultless as a trail bike. Put it this way. If I could have only one bike. For the rest of my life. I would choose the Spec S Works Enduro. No doubt. It's a great bike. The best trail bike I've ever ridden. Would I take it to the Alps? HELL YES!

 

Thanks to:

 

Garden Route Trail Park for the amazing trails (Expect a little edit soon)

Specialized SA for the use of a truly great bike

Marc from Olympic Cycles for organizing the test unit for me.

Edited April 14, 2014 by Omega Man

[Guest Omega Man]

JP about to have a little hit of S Works. My Tracer in the background.

 

[Francois Pienaar]

so we may as well start with the king of all Enduro Bikes ...

http://www.endurotribe.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/eviluprising.jpg

 

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the difference between Enduro and like marathon riding?

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the difference between Enduro and like marathon riding?

 

Enduro = Timed events based on All Mountain discipline (more focus on the descents) with bikes in the region of 140-170mm suspension travel

 

Marathon = long distance "cross country" events on hardtails or FS bikes with less than 120mm suspension.

 

Essentially, Enduro is the event. All Mountain is the category of riding.

[ThePubSA]

You too short for a naainer ..

[Brian Fantana]

 

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the difference between Enduro and like marathon riding?

 

Just to add to Mayhem's reply:

 

In Enduro only parts of the route are timed. These timed sections ( Special Stages) are mainly downhill and flat singletrack. The uphills between the special stages ( called liaison stages) are not timed. On these hills the riders will usually share war stories about their timed runs. An Enduro rider requires a combination of skills and fitness.

 

In a Marathon, the entire route is timed, and in SA marathons the emphasis is more on endurance and fitness than skill.

[Brian Fantana]

 

Depends on how strong you are............

 

This is still by far my favourite bike, also, technically, not suited to Enduro but just look at it. There's just something about it.

She is a thing of beauty!!!!

 

This Evil is a bit more suited to Enduro riding:

 

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

This Evil is a bit more suited to Enduro riding:

 

 

Thanks.

As much as I love that frame I don't believe I would buy it if I had the money.

Not really suited to where I ride and there aren't many places I can think of that would justify the costs.

I have been looking at the Ibis Ripley though, wife is unconvinced though

[Nofearnofun]

what was that ... you want to sell your stumpy ... drop me a PM will you RE the frame

 

Yeah dude, the only way I will let her go would be as a complete bike and the price would be rediculous due to how much I love the bike!

 

Considering it is only a 120mm travel bike it has seen some gnarly bits a trail and has never let me down

[Skott5]

Yeah dude, the only way I will let her go would be as a complete bike and the price would be rediculous due to how much I love the bike!

 

Considering it is only a 120mm travel bike it has seen some gnarly bits a trail and has never let me down

 

Did you roll on down the hill and hit the gap jump at the bottom ?

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

 

Thanks.

As much as I love that frame I don't believe I would buy it if I had the money.

Not really suited to where I ride and there aren't many places I can think of that would justify the costs.

I have been looking at the Ibis Ripley though, wife is unconvinced though

 

Dude. Riding the HDR at the moment and I can honestly say it's the best bike I've ridden yet. I just wanna jump off everything I see... and it accelerates so FAST! Okay, it's approx 3k lighter than my giant, and the shock is far better (fox CTD vs dhx5) but it's just so much more lively. I can see a shock tune and weigh less regime coming along when I have the money for it.