2013 Specialized Bikes in Bend, Oregon
Old St. Francis School
Our headquarters during our time in Bend, Oregon, was the McMenamins' Old St. Francis School. And while we certainly took in a few things about Specialized's new 2013 model range, we weren't in Bend to attend any classes. The hotel's name comes from its history as the first-ever parochial school to be established in Central Oregon. The faculty's doors first opened in 1936, in the midst of the Great Depression, and the grounds were expanded over the years to include more classrooms and outbuildings. Editors who flew in from all over the globe, including Europe and South America, were treated to McMenamins' self contained movie theatre, vintage tiled soaking pool (ideal for nursing those post-ride, sore legs), and slept in bedrooms converted from the old classrooms. The rooms themselves don't feature numbers such as you'd find in a run of
Our headquarters during our time in Bend, Oregon, was the McMenamins' Old St. Francis School. And while we certainly took in a few things about Specialized's new 2013 model range, we weren't in Bend to attend any classes. The hotel's name comes from its history as the first-ever parochial school to be established in Central Oregon. The faculty's doors first opened in 1936, in the midst of the Great Depression, and the grounds were expanded over the years to include more classrooms and outbuildings. Editors who flew in from all over the globe, including Europe and South America, were treated to McMenamins' self contained movie theatre, vintage tiled soaking pool (ideal for nursing those post-ride, sore legs), and slept in bedrooms converted from the old classrooms. The rooms themselves don't feature numbers such as you'd find in a run of
the mill hotel, but rather are named after the school's more prominent students. Pinkbike stayed in the McMenamins' Nunnery house, once home to the school's teaching nuns. Our walls were hung with portraits of the Sisters and adorned with quotes, many attesting their stern outlook on education. The Specialized camp was likely a much more relaxed atmosphere than the Sisters would have preferred, luckily for us. Plan on sampling some of Bend's supersonic singletrack? McMenamins' Old St. Francis School is a great place to rest your head if you appreciate a bit of history and character.
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 Ned Overend leading out NSMB's Cam McRae without too much trouble. 'The Lung', who can list being a UCI mountain bike champion, NORBA champion, XTRERRA champion, and even UCI Masters' Cyclocross World Champion on his c.v. hung out with our crew for the week. No, we don't think he broke a sweat once while riding with us. |
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| Editors could choose their steeds for each day from a massive stable of bikes, with many jumping back and forth between twenty six and twenty nine inch wheels. |
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| 2013 Stumpjumper FSR Expert Carbon EVO 29, our main steed during our Bend trail assault. The bike's progressive geometry and 135mm of rear travel felt like home after a quick bar and stem swap. Specialized also offers a 26'' version with essentially the same build package. It's good to have choices! |
2013 Stumpjumper FSR Expert Carbon EVO 29 Details • Lower BB, slacker head tube angle • Wider tires as stock equipment • 135mm of rear wheel travel • Command Post Blacklite dropper post • Dual ring guide • FOX CTD suspension front and rear • Autosag rear shock • 68° head angle (versus 69° on the non-EVO model) • 335mm bottom bracket height (versus 338 on the non-EVO model) | New for 2013, the Carbon EVO 29 brings the slack geometry and low bottom bracket to big wheels in a package that leans a little more towards bringing out the smiles on the descents than outright cross-country prowess. Specialized upped the rock and roll factor by way of a slightly shorter shock link that both lowers bottom bracket and slackens the steering, along with spec'ing some wider tires, wider bars, and a proper dual ring chain guide. The smartest addition to the bike, though, and one that oh so many companies seem to lose sight of in the hard battle of cost versus spec, is the inclusion of a dropper post straight from the factory. FOX suspension is utilized front and back, with a Talas equipped fork allowing the rider to reign in the bike's slacker head angle by dialling down the travel to 110mm. An Autosag valve on the Float CTD rear shock means that there is no excuse to be running off-base pressures - simply over pressurize, get on the bike, and hold down the Autosag button until air is no longer released in order to get the sag at a near perfect level. |
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| The slightly shorter shock link (left) gives the bike its EVO geometry. A dual ring guide comes stock (middle), while a FOX Float CTD shock (right) lets the rider tune the bike's level of firmness via a three position lever. The anodized red air valve controls the Autosag feature. |
The Ride
Now, you'll have to keep our perspective in mind here: we prefer wide bars, usually run platform-type pedals, and enjoy going for lengthy trail rides where we try to include burly terrain that may or may not be beyond the bike's intentions. That sort of thing sounds like it might be listed on the Carbon EVO 29er's Plenty of Fish dating profile, so it made sense that we spent our entire Bend visit aboard the new bike.
At this point we have logged time on many different 29ers, some of which quickly reinforced our love for 26'' wheels, others that weren't polarizing enough to leave an impression (which could be a good thing depending on your take), and others still who had us wondering why we would ever ride 26'' wheels on a trail bike again. After a quick bar swap - the Stumpjumper FSR Expert Carbon EVO 29 comes
Now, you'll have to keep our perspective in mind here: we prefer wide bars, usually run platform-type pedals, and enjoy going for lengthy trail rides where we try to include burly terrain that may or may not be beyond the bike's intentions. That sort of thing sounds like it might be listed on the Carbon EVO 29er's Plenty of Fish dating profile, so it made sense that we spent our entire Bend visit aboard the new bike.
At this point we have logged time on many different 29ers, some of which quickly reinforced our love for 26'' wheels, others that weren't polarizing enough to leave an impression (which could be a good thing depending on your take), and others still who had us wondering why we would ever ride 26'' wheels on a trail bike again. After a quick bar swap - the Stumpjumper FSR Expert Carbon EVO 29 comes
with a 720mm Specialized branded bar, but we went wider still - we hit the dirt to find out which category the black, orange, and blue machine falls into. We rode the bike on everything from the sustained climbs and loose descents of the Smith Rocks region, to rocks on Horse Ridge, to the more smooth, Bend-esque terrain found on Phil's trail. A proper sampling, indeed.
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| Up, down, or around, the EVO 29 was simply easy to ride fast. |
Confidence In Spades
It only took a few minutes of parking lot shenanigans while setting up the bike to feel that the Stumpjumper FSR Expert Carbon EVO 29 has that 'sit in' feel of a well sorted bike. That confidence inspiring feeling of being in the bike, rather than on top of it, is a symptom of a number of geometry numbers coming together: bottom bracket height and drop, top tube, head tube, and down tube length, and let's not forget about the wheelbase, all need to be balanced in order to find that special feeling. The EVO 29 ticks all of those boxes, letting us jump on and charge on a bike that we had never ridden just ten minutes prior.
Pointing the bike down slope revealed an easy to get along with personality that seemed to always have room for rider error, likely thanks to the relatively slack 68° head angle and low-to-the-ground rider position. Many sections of trail seemed to be laid out to allow riders to approach landspeed records on their bikes, but we don't recall feeling squirrelly at any point. Rough and rocky outcroppings were handled well, with the FOX CTD dampers doing well to eat up much of the chatter. The bike's agility surprised us outright as well, with quick changes of direction feeling very 26''-esque and a personality that was constantly asking us to back it into corners and play more than any other 29er we've ridden previously. As with our previous experience with CTD, we found ourselves preferring the middle 'Trail' setting more than the under damped feeling of the 'Descend' mode. This setup also added to the EVO 29's kick when it came time to put down some power, although the bike pedalled quite well with the suspension set to full open as well.
 | Although Bend, Oregon, is lacking when it comes to steep and rooty terrain, the EVO 29 felt more capable in every situation during our three days on it than a longer legged 26'' wheeled bike. |
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| We had never spent so much time in the big ring - to say that Bend's trails are fast would be an understatement. |
Although some of the climbing was rough and rocky, not much of it was overly technical, meaning that we'll have to refrain from commenting on how the bike tackled tricky elevation gains. One thing we can speak about, though, is the bike's neutral feeling over loose terrain. With 455mm long chainstays (nearly 18'') we expected the rear tire to ask to be weighted quite a bit in order to bite on loose climbs, but this wasn't the case. Traction was there whether we were standing or sitting, proving to be much more forgiving than the on/off sensation that we've come to expect of bikes with similar length rear ends.
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| You'll only find the 2013 Camber with 29'' wheels. The 110mm travel bike utilizes a stiffer co-pivot shock linkage and lower than ever stand over height, as well as a brand new Autosag equipped RockShox rear shock. |
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Deschutes Brewery
Our group was lucky enough to attend a private, after hours tour of Bend's Deschutes Brewery where we were given a run through of how they create their beer. Deschutes is known as a 'craft brewer', meaning that they produce more than the 15,000 barrels of beer per year that a 'micro-brewer' puts out. 2011 saw Deschutes manufacture 222,000 barrels of goodness, an impressive figure considering their humble beginnings as the small brew pub that opened in 1988 (they sold 310 barrels in that first year).
We went from holding hops in our hands, to seeing the massive, seamless steel vats, and even watching the bottling line at work, to sampling the brew at the end of the tour. The process is impressive, not to mention much more involved than an outsider might at first suspect.
Our group was lucky enough to attend a private, after hours tour of Bend's Deschutes Brewery where we were given a run through of how they create their beer. Deschutes is known as a 'craft brewer', meaning that they produce more than the 15,000 barrels of beer per year that a 'micro-brewer' puts out. 2011 saw Deschutes manufacture 222,000 barrels of goodness, an impressive figure considering their humble beginnings as the small brew pub that opened in 1988 (they sold 310 barrels in that first year).
We went from holding hops in our hands, to seeing the massive, seamless steel vats, and even watching the bottling line at work, to sampling the brew at the end of the tour. The process is impressive, not to mention much more involved than an outsider might at first suspect.
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| Cog Wild looked after our group's guiding duties, with owner Lev Stryker (above, right) showing us the goods. |
Cog Wild Tours
With editors visiting from countries such as Brazil and Italy, both locations with amazing riding in their own right, Specialized wanted to be absolutely positive that we'd be sampling the best of what Bend has to offer. What better way to have the trails on lock-down than engage the services of the area's eminent guiding company, Cog Wild. Lev Stryker, one half of the Cog Wild partnership, acted as our ride leader, shepherding our multi-national herd up, down, and around the area's eye-watering fast trails. This was a treat for the Pinkbike crew who call British Columbia home - we don't often get to spend our singletrack time in the big ring. Lev is, of course, strong as an ox on the bike and with handling skills in tune with Bend's high-speed trails.
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| Going to a Specialized bike launch means keeping up with this crew, a task that is harder than at any other of the company launches we attend. There is something comforting about knowing that the guys behind the bikes and components can shred harder and faster than most. From left: Sam Benedict, Brandon Sloan, Joe Buckley, and Chris Wyatt. |
Looking for more 2013 Specialized bikes?
Check out our in-depth look at the brand new Demo 8 Carbon
Or if riding the park and local jumps is more your style, you'll want to see their 2013 P. bike lineup.
www.specialized.com
Photography by Sterling Lorence
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123 Comments
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Pinkbike != The rest of the world.
His name is Chris Sugai. I've never heard of anybody as koolaid-soaked as him. Well... Except maybe Jacko (Jack Thompson) or a few other weirdos.
I fricken love shuttling cline butte here haha, soo fun on an SX trail
I own a 26er and a 29er. Strava is logging how many km I do on each and at the moment the 26" is winning 2.75:1. I'm voting with my calories.
no complaints from me, Specialized really got their 29ers dialled right, and they have a playful feel that many other brands 29er were lacking that I tested
all I care about is having fun riding dirt, and the Stumpy 29er is a really good bike on the dirt = lets me go quicker (more fun!) than any of the 26" bikes I have owned in many years
I love Ned, but he looks like a dork on those big of wheels. They are bad enough as it is, but when someone short rides them it looks awkward and strange, could never look smooth or flowy.
29er: the future of clothes hangers, their best use in the garage. They are taller so you can hang clothes off them without hitting the ground. Enjoy burning in heil, Specialized.
very apt observation!
I have ridden some horrible 29er that, if it was my first experience of 29er, would have turned me off the bigger wheel size for ever!
I have also ridden some awesome 29er that made me question my snobbish attitude towards the big wheels, with the result I sold my Devinci Dixon 150mm all-mtn (26") and bought the Stumpjumper 29er without even test riding the bike - no regrets.
Specialized rarely make mistakes, and the market agrees as 29er is the fastest selling sales category by some margin
650 has some great potential for longer travel (140mm+) full suspension bikes, but the majority of the MTB market (not the hardcore Pinkbike readership) is interested in trail riding, specifically hardtails, and the 29er is a fantastic choice for trail riders
The new Demo Carbon was shown here first on June 4th: www.pinkbike.com/news/specialized-demo-8-carbon-2013-first-look.html
I should have linked to them at the bottom of the article, sorry =) Added now.
It's just adding more complexity, money and weight to something which worked perfectly well already.
I can't believe people exist who are too lazy/stupid to put the correct pressure in their rear shock without it being done for them.
That is all.
What's that all aboot, eh?
I know you were praising the bike's balance, but comments like the one above beg for an explanation. Are you implying long chainstays, on other bikes, required you to weight the rear (26" or 29er wheel size) on loose climbs? What techniques did you exactly use to weight the rear? What's this on/off sensation you get with similar length rear ends (26" or 29er wheel size)? What you seem to say seems to be worded in a way that goes against convention--you probably have the feel, but the way you communicate it seems to be unclear and can be interpreted in a way that that you didn't intend. I honestly had to scroll up to see who authored it--if it was RC, I'd just simply just go "O RLY?"
I thought both 29er wheels and longer stays (up to a point) improved climbing performance on steep inclines. 29er wheels help by toning down the acceleration, which can cause spin out from the torque exceeding frictional grip. Longer stays (than the typical 16.9" or lower) help by moving the point where the tire contacts the ground to be further back, so it will be aligned better under your weight on a steep climb with the seatpost at "full climbing" extension, especially when there's a rock or step up that pitches you up even more.
Convention extends beyond mtn biking, so going against it defies that as well. Hill climbing motos have such long swingarms/chainstays for the steep and loose stuff they go up--would they perform better with shorter? If not, why? For small "robots", designers often try to find the max wheel size it can fit on their robots, within limits of the motor's torque, for it to climb off road hills better.
If the seat tube were straight and the BB aft of where it is, the familiar barge-like rear half behavior of a long CS bike would be more prominent.
That's my guess at it. I'm probably wrong.
Hill-climb motos aren't the best key for what to do with CS length. They're driven by engines that are far more powerful than even the strongest sprinter alive today. You can do things with the throttle that a pedaling effort just won't achieve. The surplus power on tap means you can put the rear wheel way back there.
On a bicycle, the further back the rear axle, the harder it can be to get the driving traction sweet spot body position right. That's how it works for me. Stand-climbing is a real hassle for me on long CS bikes. But that's assuming straight line from seat tube to BB.
Is the overall wheel base longer than average or just the CS ?
Anyone who wants to make the climbing less painful? Would you like shorter CS even if that meant you had to tuck your torso so tight that your chin is on the stem any time the trail pitches up, in order to get traction and keep the front end down?
Anyways, the point is more about balance. The longer stays happen to help bikes stay stable at speed too (AKA the descent and fast trails). Might be time for some to get away from DJ, Trials, BMX, pumptrack, and street geo for trail riding and go more for a more capable bike, if they want "1 bike that does it all". You might have fun doing whips off of little air with your short CS bike, playing with all the little bumps and dips of the terrain, but the truly fast and skilled people are doing them off of the big stuff, and simply flying over the terrain, on bigger and longer bikes.
I am just egging Mike for his technical explanations. I personally know what he meant to say, but knowing the readers, I just didn't want to see more misconceptions about CS length popping up. Mike is totally on the right track by saying that the balance of the bike made the bike feel more capable than he thought, despite the geo numbers and what he knew from riding other bikes with similar numbers. Balanced bikes are versatile, but there will be bikes out there with more personality, that compromise at many other aspects, to get select aspects to feel better.
Where climbing is concerned, it gets hard to keep the front wheel planted with really short chainstays unless you can work with the rider and the rider is willing to try certain things. If the rider wants really short CS and wants to use, say, a 35mm stem, you're going to have to lengthen the top tube to put the rider in a good (but more traditional, not sit-up-and-beg) climbing position.
A steeper seat tube angle can improve this, but some folks' anatomy and general base cycling power might not work with the hips being so close to the BB plumb line. Short femur folks find it easier, long femur folks less so.
Or the rider can say "I don't care about climbing position" and then he'll have to work extra hard to keep that front wheel planted on a long, technical and steep climb. On shorter climbs it's easy just to stand up all the time, and then the frame front half + cockpit geometry aren't as critical.
As the HA slackens the front wheel misbehaves even more when climbing, the rider's weight is less direct and more oblique relative to the contact patch on the trail. It's more noticeable the steeper it gets. Ironically a longer stem can counter this, but those of us who have ridden 120-100 stems know what kinds of funky tradeoffs come with a long stem.
I guess it is, for some people.
I think the Giants look better than the Specialized, and the Specialized to me look like they're trying to look "space age" or "futuristic" or something. But Specialized bikes have always struck me that way. They ride great, but they seem to prefer complexity in design, over simplicity. Like a Nicolai, but mass produced. Still, not as bad as the old Quad Link Marins, or the Whytes. Those things look like the designer wanted to imitate an insect from a horror movie.
On top of that, they also remarked on the minimal difference you get jumping from 26in to 650b wheels compared to going from 26in to 29in wheels.
this extract is from bike radar yesterday, is this another con?
What fork manufacturer isn't making a 650b fork in 2012? All the big one's are. Nice lie.
Yours truly, and in all honesty,
Your biggest fan (now with a broken heart)
Levy, you`re a mediawhore :-).