New and old-fashioned at the same time: the new hardtail from Specialized
Lightweight was not enough for Specialized and the team of engineers at Denk Engineering. At 790 grams, a painted Epic frame in size Medium weighs very little and is around 75 grams lighter than its predecessor. This puts the new Epic frame right up there with the lightest large series frames in the bike industry.
More comfort and control were also in the specifications. This has been achieved with a seat tube measuring 30.9 millimetres, which is therefore ready to accommodate long-stroke dropper posts. The engineers have also managed to make the 30.9 mm seat tube equally compliant compared to the previous 27.2 mm seat tube. This means that the hardtail should not be hard as nails to ride, but also provides some flex. Also on board are thinner seat stays on the rear triangle, which increase the vertical flex. Specialized has this to say about the control of the hardtail: "We wanted to give the rider more control. We achieved this by increasing the reach and flattening the head angle to 68.5°. The bike still has to be agile and easy to steer through the corners, which means that the wheelbase couldn't get much longer. The reduced fork offset of 42 mm helps us to manage the balancing act between more control on the downhill and agile handling on twisty sections."
The new frame fits 2.3" to 2.4" wide tires and thus offers enough space even for ploughing through muddy ground. The BSA mount for the bottom bracket is very old-fashioned - and at the same time very welcome. This puts an end to press-fit or pressed-in bearings, which tend to crack and get on your nerves. The weight of 790 grams in size medium is therefore all the more remarkable, as a press-fit mount for a bottom bracket is significantly lighter than an aluminum housing for a BSA bottom bracket.
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