Specialized P.Slope - Video
Looking for more info? Check out our R.C.'s first look at Specialized's new P.Slope machine. Video by Root One media.
www.specialized.com
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agreed
I used to work for the UK distributor of Banshee Bikes - and we were authorised to sell into any European countries that had no existing distributor
the market for full-suspension slopestyle frames / bikes is tiny - our first shipment of 12 units of Banshee Rampant (100mm slopestyle / 4x) took nearly 14 months to sell through, and that included me buying one of them!
bear in mind we also sold "direct" and were selling at price about 30% below what would otherwise have been the recommended retail price
even at those prices they did not shift quickly because there simply was not enough demand, or the demand was coming from younger riders who could barely afford a hardtail frame, let alone suspension frame
It just looks like an awesome frame for general pissing about on.
the Rampants actually sold quite well in Canada and North America - a lot of people did hear about it because leading riders Mike Montgomery and Jack Fogelquist were riding AMP and Rampant for Banshee and getting great coverage
you comment about the UK riding scene is valid, there is a lack of decent riding terrain for these kinds of bike, which is why the old 100mm Specialized SX (not the SX Trail) was either not brought into the UK on particular seasons, or was imported in minute numbers on other seasons
The customers haven’t supported Trek’s dirt jump bikes enough to deserve a slopestyle bike. Smaller companies that only exist due to sales of dirt jump bikes can afford to make a slope style bike because they already have that market and even then they are often slow to come to production.
It’s much less expensive to build three frames for your team than thousands for customers who are going to buy bikes from YT industries instead because they don’t want to pay a lot for a bike to just piss around on.
@hampsteadbandit
From Strength in Numbers to the Life Behind Bars series, Brandon Semenuk has arguably received more media attention than Mike Montgomery and Jack Fogelquist combined and could even be seen as one of, if not the most talked about riders for 2012 and yet it was not enough to sell the Trek Ticket.
@serpah
Bike companies don’t make enough money from selling bikes to shop employees to justify production of a bike that the general public won’t buy regardless of how much of a bike junkie they are. Bike shops probably wouldn’t even stock it for the same reasons. Don’t get me wrong, it would be an amazing bike, but people just won’t buy it, which is why Trek won’t make it. When it’s a race to the bottom for price, good quality doesn’t sell.
yes I got your point and I understand this. I just don´t exactly know all the differences between stock remedy and the custom remedy SS and then for me it looks like it doesn´t have to be a problem to order remedy in custom SS version. Let´s say there is just some adapter in shock mount to get less travel and custom length shock, then it would be easy. If it means heavier tubes, stronger parts of the frame...then ok it doesn´t make any sense, there is already a lot ss bikes.
i dont know what your talkin about..aluminum 4X bikes were MADE for dirt..cro-mo is more park oriented IMO. ive got a banshee amp and its extreamly nimble in the air and a great all around frame, i guess it just lands on personal preferance.
In my opinion,this Spec frame is nothing new and the work of the rear suspension seems to be rather poor.
I'm not saying that SS bike should rip the trail like DH rig,but it's not a problem to build something that works only when U land hard. Martin's frame doesn't seem to work at all and to be honest I'm far from being an optimist for Specialized with their success with introducing this frame. Don't know about the price but Kona with their Bass abd Cowan DS before had the best chance to own the world of slopestyle bikes and it didn't turn out too good for them.
And to be honest the suspension in my Bass made a very good impression on one of the creators of Dartmoor Shine. He said that with small changes in the geometry (of course shorter stays and generally lil' smaller frame) that would be the perfect bike for almost every park.dirt jumps etc in the world,but it;s reall unnecassary to biuld that kind of a frame,because nobody really needs it! He told me that everyone who takes that kind of a bike on local spot wants it to be as stiff as possible!
It must be like hardtail for 99% of a time and in that 1% of a time spent on a bike it has to give U some extra stabillity and confidence! And that was their intention! I think they reached their goal and I'd take the Shine ove P.Slope anytime and anywhere!
I bet it's 3 times cheaper than the Spec!
And who da fak needs custom tuned rear shock on the frame that doesn't work excluding really hard landings!
Get the Dartmoor and U'll have enough money to finish the whole bike on non basic components!
As U can see practicly all of the competition trails can be slayed with the hardtail,which means even the PROs are coming away from the full suspension bikes!
And to whoever said that Trek wouldn't make money off of sales to shop employees: duh
But my point is that customers are always interested in what shop employees are riding. In a small-ish town (15000 people), employees' bikes and setups can heavily influence the average riders' preferred setup because shop employees are always at least 50% more stoked on their bikes than the average consumer. Over the years I have personally influenced several bicycle purchases by customers that reflected my own bikes.
TL;DR. I rode a slopestyle frame. Love'd it. Now a bunch of fellow mechanics and customers ride a slopestyle frame.
You get exactly what I'm saying.
NS does have an aluminum frame now..ita called the NS decade
The "enduro" market is booming and people are more willing to pay for technical frame designs and you would be suprised what the Slash and similar bikes are capable of. Down tuning a Session to a 7" travel single crown bike like McCaul and Rheeder did for Rampage would be easy enough to do, so much so that it doesn't require a new category of bikes.
15 years ago you had one 'mountain bike' that did everything - XC, DH and everything imbetween on one bike. Over the years things have separated out and you have specific bike for every kind of mountain biking XC, trail, AM, FR, DH. Now it seems to be going back to the single 'Mountain Bike' that does everything. No doubt these specific bikes are here to say, but it's interesting to see how things are starting to shape up.
Maybe it isn't AUtoCAD. I'd like to know what it is exactly
It shows that U really don't need their extra dope custom tuned rock shox shock to get this frame work!
And I bet,they cound some $ for this custom shock...
And I'm pretty sure that custom tuned Monarch is for sure more expensive than the "standard one" and that's my point!
Cheers Jose
Most of my friends who ride the slopestyle frame use standard,stock shocks and none of them gets the idea of custom tuning.
The most important thing is that the rear triangle suppose to b e as stiff as possible and work only when a huge impact happens.
They really don't need anything but the rebound to make their bike work properly.
And I'm talking about my friends who are sponsored by Dartmoor like Szymon Godziek,Piotr "Kraja" Krajewski etc.
Cheers
but yeah, I've ridden the new p slope ( and loved it! =) ) as well as several other slope bikes and pros bikes, and from talking to the guys at specialized, custom tuning the shock was they only way to achieve the air pressure and dampening they needed to make the shock as stiff as possible, and to make it so it only opened on hard landings and not during low speed compressions like lips and berms.
www.pinkbike.com/photo/8539663