When the first images of Specialized's new S-Works Demo downhill bike were released earlier this week, it caught many by surprise. Sure, a 27.5" wheeled offering was almost a given, but the frame's futuristic, one sided design was radically different than what many riders had been expecting from the big S. Aluminum prototypes had been spotted last summer underneath Specialized test pilot Brad Benedict, but the general consensus seemed to be that the bike would be more of a park / mini DH bike rather than the full blown race machine that it has transformed into.
By all appearances the S-Works Demo will be situated at the very top tier of Specialized's gravity line, and will certainly require deep pockets to come by. Yes, it's true that you could buy a (insert name of an object that costs at least $10,000 here) for what this bike will retail for, but that's the norm when it comes to a newly released, carbon fiber machine designed to be raced at the uppermost level of the sport. Fans of the previous frame configuration needn't despair, as it looks like an aluminum 27.5” version that still uses the distinctive dual seat stay layout will be in the lineup for 2015. Although Specialized still hasn't officially released any concrete details about the bike, the new Demo supposedly has 200mm of travel and a slightly longer reach and chainstays than previous versions, which would make sense given the current bike geometry trends, and the fact that it has 27.5" wheels. We were able to snap a few photos of Troy Brosnan and Aaron Gwin's bikes as they prepared for the fifth round of the DH World Cup at Mont Sainte Anne - take a look at what they'll be rolling up to the starting line on when it's time for their race runs.
Troy Brosnan's Demo
With a win at Fort William and a 3rd place finish at Leogang, there's no doubt Troy Brosnan's eager to keep stepping onto the podium for the remainder of the season. A new bike will put the young Aussie under additional pressure to deliver a top result, but his performance in Scotland showed he can still keep his cool when the heat is on.
The new Demo's one sided frame design should make shock adjustments and spring swaps easier than ever, a welcome sight for any mechanic who has ever struggled to reach adjustment knobs hidden behind a linkage or heard the disheartening sound of spacers hitting the ground when removing a shock to install a different spring.
The bike is a full carbon affair, using a Horst link along with a concentric pivot that rotates around the bottom bracket. It appears that the derailleur hanger also serves to hold the rear wheel in place, and Specialized's derailleur guard has managed to find its way onto the new bike as well.
Rather than using two thinner carbon sections on each side of the shock, Specialized decided to do away with the left side altogether and create one extra wide carbon strut that joins the top tube to the bottom bracket area.
Aaron Gwin's Demo
After putting in one of the most amazing downhill runs ever on a flat tire, Aaron Gwin is hoping to cross the finish line this weekend with both tires fully inflated. He's still running FOX's RAD coil sprung rear shock, which offers independently adjustable low speed and high speed compression and rebound adjustments. It seems likely that the shock must be getting relatively close to being ready for production, considering that we first spotted it at the 2013 World Championships. The bike has internal cable routing, but the two empty holes on the down tube seem like they could be used to install a cable guide to run the housing externally, which would facilitate quick race day brake swaps.
The Demo's frame design should keep its center of gravity low, which will be helpful for the high speed cornering encountered on a World Cup race course. The frame weight has likely dropped from the previous version as well, especially without the secondary linkage.
The rear end of the bike uses 12 x 135mm spacing instead of the more common 12 x 150, a design feature that helps tuck the rear derailleur farther in and out of reach of the sharp rocks and stumps that can quickly end a race run.
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mikekazimer Member since Feb 1, 2009
1,731 articles
I like how the spacing concerns breakage, but this is a bike for the man who finished a race with a tire out of its bead. Lmao, I personanly do prefer the 135mm though
So I imagine you have a single speed hardtail with two right side crank arms and fixed cogs on both sides of your hub, so you can have a symmetrical drivetrain?
I think it is funny how all the Specialized haters just come in and down vote all the positive comments. I guess not only do you not like specialized but you also dislike anyone who likes specialized? You guys are committed.
One of the funny things is that there are so many Demo and Spec. haters riding their ugly Giants and tank-heavy Intense's and so on. And now sitting on a Demo and would not want to change for any other bike. It might not be the "best" DH rig in the world, but f**k it's a hell of a bike. Hope it performs as well as it looks!!!
nope, demo sucks. way too short stays for a "dh" bike and it is heavy too. I would buy nearly any other branded bike than the demo or any specialized bike.
I don't get all the hate on SPZ... They make great bikes!!
I had an SX Trail I and loved it! Although I am not a Demo fan I reckon what a great bike it is, and the new demo looks sexier than most bikes IMO
So..let me get this straight. You say the demo is heavy and all the numbers are off, and also that you've owned many a number of bikes but none a specialized?
I would like to explain why I hate specialized, and to be clear, I am talking about the company and not its bikes. I currently own a specialized enduro from around 06-07, a big hit 2 from 08. A Santa cruz Heckler (Around 2011) and a sinister R9. I liked both the enduro and the big hit. But I still hate specialized. I will admit they have a pretty damn good warranty department tho. Specialized has been known to use brutal strong-arm tactics to obliterate competitors (and by competitors I mean small time local bike shops who can't stand up to them and who are also no threat whatsoever...)
-there is also a lot more where this came from. Just look.
The third link mentions that specialized was responsible for putting mountain cycle out of business. As heavy as they were, mountain cycles were some pretty sweet plow bikes. The company is one gigantically colossal a*shole.
The Horstlink is exaggerated to a level of Lawwill Design. And With the concentric pivots that rotates around the bottom bracket, it is resembling the Lawwill design of Rotec? www.pinkbike.com/photo/4404286
Yes, I wonder if Specialized are considering taking legal action against Mert Lawwill for copying their FSR design. Or maybe they'll chase Giant for the NRS. Politics aside it looks like a great bike!
As someone who is very wise once said..."This. Is. The future, this is like the apex of the vortex of joint engineering. It's rumored that M. M. O'Shaughnessy designed the first one - the guy who, uh, designed the Golden Gate Bridge. My second favorite civil engineer behind Hannskarl Bandel: Madison Square Garden... "
It's crazy to me that Specialized, having put in so much time, money, and resources into the development of the Ohlins TTX, are not doing everything they can to have their two best riders riding their new shock.. the TTX is amazing. I can only imagine how well it must perform on a demo.
For sure, I'm well aware of that, and of how sponsorship works. However, when you put that amount of time/money into shock development, it seems like it would be worth the extra money to find a way to get your two most prominent riders out on it. Agreements can always be made.. there are great things in store for Ohlins in the mtb market.
I can't remember did Gwin have the Ohlins on his Enduro? For some reason I think he did. There is also something to be said for riding what you know, and I'm sure both riders know what they have on right now really well.
Well, at least Mitch may get to race on the Ohlins considering he helped test it w/Brad Benedict. No news on Mitch's setup though, does he not get one?
Yea think the Ohlins is stock on the 2015 bike but Troy & Gwin have big sponsorship with Rockshox and Fox so even on the same team the guys share different sponsors like red bull - monster etc. Specialized just spending the money for a good product for the consumer which imo is a good thing. Like the look of these bikes
i think that specialized has agreements with rockshox (therefore SRAM components and boxxer on troy's rig) but the guys have also signed up with fox (the 40 on gwinny, the RAD shox on both). Strange though, i also remember gwinny running with a yellow shox at SPM...
Öhlins does not sponsor anyone to use their equipment. So if they want it, they have to pay for it and in turn not get paid to use it. I really doubt any racer would turn down a sweet sponsorship from Fox or Rock Shox.
Mitch isn't part of Sram's Blackbox program and is not contractually held to the same "restraints" as Brosnan, or as Gwin with Fox. He runs the TTX rear damper and has Öhlins prototype internals in his Boxxer. For a rider like him, it makes a lot of sense to run the Öhlins stuff because he isn't giving away thousands of sponsorship/endorsement dollars as Brosnan or Gwin would be doing if they did.
timkoerber^^^Consider the possibility that the Fox RAD shock simply outperforms the Ohlins for DH. Fox has been at the DH racing game a lot longer than Ohlins. Experience counts for a lot in the racing game.
Richard, you might mean that Ohlins patent have run out and RS and Fox are using twin tube design. Hence, the adjustment system. Time at doing something doesn't mean a lot at all. If the people understand and learn what they are doing this will matter. Junk engineering for 20 years is still junk. The quality of people working on the project will matter the most.
@mtorb I'm going to have to disagree with you. You simply cant discredit the amount of time, effort, and championships that have been won upon both Fox and RS platforms. You can go to school and get whatever degree you want, hop out on a job site with people who have been carpenters for 20 years and you will understand what time and effort equate to in terms of knowledge. I am not disagreeing that Ohlins isn't filled with brilliance, but you can just put a race boat engine into a trophy truck and expect the same results. Trial and error.
Its only in America Öhlins has trouble getting riders/teams on their stuff. They want big money contracts and thats not Öhlins cup of tea. Europe its diffrent riders/teams dont mind paying for quality.
Anyone else a little old school! I just like 26'ers fair enough if your a world cup racer and want a little less rolling resistance but for those of us that ride for fun still is anyone making normal sized DH rigs this year?
So with you here, I was looking to build up my old bike after having owned and ridden several others and deciding that my old Orange is still the by far the best bike I've ever ridden, but I figure if I don't build it up soon there will be no 1 1/8" steerer tube forks or 26" wheels available on the market, I really don't like where the industry is going - might have to bulk buy older parts before they're no longer available!
Troys bike that green with black Boxxer is highly seductive, but I still think I like the Spec Factory team red more.... Kashima 40 doesn't hurt either..
There's that famous DT Swiss EX471 again. It's not even marketed as a DH rim, so they must really love it.. obviously it held up the last time they used it.
12x135 650b downhill rig with a 1x7 drivetrain... What in the hell am I supposed to do with all my high tech 12x150 26" 1x9/10 expensive paperweights?!?!
Are we going forwards and backwards with DH parts standards?!? Ughh
The racers ask for the narrower rear end, at their level, it apparently makes a huge difference in "threading the needle" of getting the rear end through rocks & such. There's lots of quotes from years past talking about it, & it's why last gen demos were 135 on the S-works.
How bout a show down with the Santa carbon v 10 ,the carbon Wilson and the new carbon demmo? The stays look beefy compared to the old demmos. Lets hope trickle down teck puts this frame at a price range more people can afford. Oh and make a 26 inch version for better cornering response.
If you look closely, Gwin's frame says S-works on the downtube near the BB. Troy's just says Demo. I wonder if they're riding final production colors or if these are still special team only versions.
It must be just a printing goof. To think that they would not give Troy the same S-Works carbon lay-up as Gwin is not really a possibility in my opinion. Put it another way, I doubt Troy would want a heavier frame when a lighter version is available.
I suspect one is a production color (Gwin?) while the other (Troy?) is a custom job. Either way the bike looks great, can't wait to see what it'll cost to have one to ride next year!
Troy tweeted a pic of him with the green bike. In it u can clearly see the down tube has Spesh/not Sworks on it.... This gives me hope they will have a little more price friendly Demo Carbon I version...
Probably the fist Specialized that I want to take for a spin since the first SX-Trail. I like how they got rid of all the mess in the rear of the previous Demo-variants.
But the sx trail did not have the articulated upper arm, so they might look alike, but function completely different. If you only compare the outline the new demo does look like these bikes, but taking a closer look to the frame contraptions it is quite easy to see how different they are
anyone have a clue as to what the 2 silver holes on th left side of the main tube just behind the head tube are for ?? i was thinking that they are for internal cable routing but that is already set up on the drive side
I wish they had used the SPD standard. The cleats look so similar that i do not really see the point of making another standard. These new HT look great though!
Thanks for get'n rid of the other Bar Specialized. I might be interested again; last bike I had of yours was steel 97 stumphumpy. Thnx for warranting it 3 times for me.
This bike has four things going for it - Gwin, Brosnan, Ohlins and carbon. Kinematic design - yawn. Structural design - who needs that when you have carbon. With the Specialized horst-link patent expired I really wish some manufacturer would give us the bike that the Demo could have been. Aspiring designers would do well to look closely at the Devinci Spartan for a bit of inspiration. Do it now though, before DW beats you to it.
Suffice to say good quality kinematic design work is what DW designed or Santa Cruz designed bikes almost always have and what Specialized bikes often lack. Anyway, you have got me wrong. I would like to see a great Demo/Demo-like bike - more like the current one than the new one but losing the sub-seatstay definitely was called for. I just am not interested in bikes that don't pedal well and that must be saved by having the best and most expensive shocks available. An affordable Demo that pedals well is not much to ask for.
Again for the third time , until my comment gets deleted by PB, the shock seems way too exposed and Id be worried sick to pinch my inner thigh between the coils
Do you ride without pants on and squeeze your legs together when you ride? Because that would be the only way your thigh would get pinched by the spring on the rear shock...
So why is my comment about pinching your inner thigh between the coils has been deleted ?? I was a bit joking but now wonder if I was onto something and Pinkbike deleted it :-)
Ofcourse, because a world cup dh bike made by the biggest race brand on earth.. eats left legs? You're on to something. Specialized bought pinkbike. It's all just a big interactive advert. And you're living in the Truman Show.
With a win at Fort William and a 3rd place finish at Leogang, there's no doubt Troy Brosnan's eager to keep stepping onto the podium for the remainder of the season. A new bike will put the young Aussie under additional pressure to deliver a top result, but his performance in Scotland showed he can still keep his cool when the heat is on.
With a win at Fort William and a 3rd place finish at Leogang, there's no doubt Troy Brosnan's eager to keep stepping onto the podium for the remainder of the season. A new bike will put the young Aussie under additional pressure to deliver a top result, but his performance in Scotland showed he can still keep his cool when the heat is on.
Member since Feb 1, 2009
www.google.com/search?q=nissan+cube&client=safari&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=k27bU5nNIpahyATbqYHwAQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ#facrc=_&imgrc=azhPl0XHCSRpTM%253A%3BFNo9M7UEYKr9RM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%252Fwikipedia%252Fcommons%252Fa%252Fa3%252FNissan_Cube_Z11_003.JPG%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FNissan_Cube%3B1280%3B700
on a Demo and would not want to change for any other bike. It might not be the "best" DH rig in the world, but f**k it's a hell of a bike. Hope it performs as well as it looks!!!
Yea, ok, buddy.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2520416/Whats-Specialized-bike-company-pressures-Canadian-bike-shop-drop-Roubaix-name.html
specializedbicycle.blogspot.com
drunkcyclist.com/2014/03/12/now-know
-there is also a lot more where this came from. Just look.
The third link mentions that specialized was responsible for putting mountain cycle out of business. As heavy as they were, mountain cycles were some pretty sweet plow bikes. The company is one gigantically colossal a*shole.
www.pinkbike.com/photo/4404286
Good work specialized, this bicycle looks rad
Specialized just spending the money for a good product for the consumer which imo is a good thing. Like the look of these bikes
Are we going forwards and backwards with DH parts standards?!? Ughh
The stays look beefy compared to the old demmos. Lets hope trickle down teck puts this frame at a price range more people can afford.
Oh and make a 26 inch version for better cornering response.
fotoalbum.mtb-forum.it/albums/25162/thumbs_800/835945.jpg
Is that weird?
yours was steel 97 stumphumpy. Thnx for warranting it 3 times for me.