For the past two months, I’ve been locked into a fascinating deep dive on the new Specialized Epic World Cup XC race bike. A bike that seems like a defiantly, deliberately awkward, and possibly over-complicated way to target a segment so tiny I’m not even sure it exists. It uses a new frame with a new shock to create a 75mm travel, zero sag weapon that’s totally against the grain that everyone else is going with their race bikes, including Specialized’s own Epic Evo which has 35mm more rear travel but is 100g lighter in terms of frame weight and a $1000 lower price tag.
However, while it sounds like a non-starter on paper, it's a twisted firestarter when it comes to hardcore race raving. It was trying to analyze how Specialized have achieved that which turned this test into a real education.
