Specialized Epic Comp Carbon 29 World Cup 2016 Review

The Epic is a legend of a bike; ridden and trusted by the late Burry Stander and with multiple Cape Epic stage victories, you tin can simply know that Specialized accept done nothing wrong in engineering the Ballsy models.

We had the privilege of being able to examination and experience this legend; in particular, the Specialized Ballsy Comp Carbon 29.  The infinitesimal we saw this bike, nosotros only knew, that this ride is going to be ballsy! (And honestly, I couldn't keep my eyes off of it…)

The Tech:

Similar most bikes in the Epic Comp'south class, the frame has a carbon forepart triangle linked to an alloy rear triangle. In this instance nosotros've got Specialized'south FACT 9mm carbon fibre constructing the front triangle with M5 alloy amalgam the rear triangle. The SWAT Door sits outside the frame and is an optional feature.

The RockShox Reba RL29 is a super lite-weight air sprung fork, featuring 100mm of travel. It is paired up with a unique FOX/Specialized rear stupor, operating with the remote Mini-BRIAN Engineering. The Mini-Encephalon basically controls the rebound of the rear shock automatically and sits apart from the daze unit, on a half of the frame's rear triangle.

The drivetrain and its controls, consist of a very snappy Shimano XT Shadow Plus rear derailleur with SLX shifters, that brand shifting hears a pleasance. Sram's custom XO forepart derailleur and Southward-1250 creepo-gear up are reluctant in keeping the chain on the cogs, but that could simply be a tuning error.

Where the rubber meets the gravel; the Specialized Roval rims are extra balanced, and the S-Works FAST TRAK tyres; engineered for maximum grip.

The Ride:

On the first test ride nosotros did an exceptionally lot of climbing, one of which, has literally got loose rocks everywhere. On this unstable terrain, the Epic kept us surprising stable; the tyres managed to grip the loose terrain. Because the frame has 90 29 Geometry, we never felt that the bicycle would loop out from nether usa: we were able to become into an assail position and dart all the way to the peak of the colina, despite the steepness and obstacles.

When we institute ourselves cruising on apartment terrain and in the saddle, we were in a comfortable, stretched out riding position. The saddle is quite comfortable for a XC bike. We found that the saddle is overnice for long rides and does not hurt the glutose maximus that terribly.

In order to make sure that no free energy was lost while sprinting the Mini-Encephalon automatically adjusted the rear shock to a harder rebound, but when it was time for the descents it immediately made the rear shock noticeably softer.

The Epic Comp Carbon hardly feels like a 29er when handling curves on single-track, just it'south got the speed of a 29er though. The number of times that you actually feel unstable on descents are zero; that also goes for the number of times that y'all're riding "slowly" on the cycle.

Verdict:

The Ballsy is built around being fast and is meant for the seriously dedicated XC racer. All the components just scream speed. Short interruption travel, light-weight design and a higher aspect of gear ratios, all contribute to your speed on the bike.

At R55000 for the Epic Comp Carbon 29 you wouldn't expect to see the Mini-BRIAN making an appearance. So, actually you're getting a lot more than features on this wheel for a reasonable price, compared to other XC bikes.

If you get to know the Specialized brand, you'll see that they are non just in it for the coin, just for the ride experience and the sheer love of bikes. They have truly exhibited this passion in the way they've made the Epic!

Credits: Special thank you to the guys at TygerBerg Cycles for helping to brand this happen. You tin buy your Epic at their store or just stop by to have a chat with Mike(the owner), he's got a pretty neat story himself to tell!

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Source: https://sparkbikereview.com/tested-2016-specialized-epic-comp/

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