Curtis Keene's New Specialized Enduro - EWS Round 6, Whistler

Specialized's 2017 Enduro is more evolution than revolution, which might disappoint some who were looking forward to a radical departure away from the long-standing X-Wing frame design. But Specialized didn't go that route, instead producing an all-new frame with revised geometry that adds up to a longer, slacker, and lower all-mountain machine. Want to know more? Check out Kazimer's First Look at the 2017 Enduro to get all the details.


A well-earned smile after a great weekend in Italy.


Keene is the one world-class racer who has likely spent more time than anyone else on the Enduro during the many years that the bike has been out, which is something that gives him a unique perspective on the bike's growth.

''It's a subtle evolution. As bikes progress, the sport progresses, and we're going faster and faster, so we just need to make refinements,'' he said of the new Enduro's updates. ''I feel like the new bike is refined geometry-wise. It has gotten a bit slacker, a bit longer, and a bit roomier. And of course the little things like internal routing, a carbon rear-end, and adding the SWAT, too.''


We're used to seeing Curtis' brake levers being positioned close to parallel with the ground, but it appears as though he's running them angled down more these days. There's a set of 30mm wide (internal) Roval carbon rims on his bike.


Contrasting Seasons

A mid-season bike change isn't something that most racers are a fan of, but this is especially true when said racer is putting in some of the best performances of their career like Keene has been doing recently. A 5th place overall at the Aspen EWS came after a 6th in La Thuile, Italy, proving that the American is a hell of a lot faster than his 2015 results show.

''Last year, I broke my ribs three times in eight months,'' which, as anyone who has cracked some ribs will know, is extremely uncomfortable and slow to heal. ''I'm not one to sit there and talk about it all the time, you know, 'Oh, I'm hurt.' I was, and I tried to carry on but getting hurt again, getting sick, and just some shitty riding on my part, to be honest. All my confidence was gone, so I just needed this season to end,'' said the Specialized racer of a forgettable 2015.


Unlike its predecessor, the 2017 Enduro has full carbon rear-end. A layering of Mastic tape on any surface that the chain could hit makes for a quiet bike.


2016 didn't start off well, either. ''This season, the first few races weren't clean or anything, but I was still 21st, 23rd, and 27th - I had a mechanical on one stage - but even if I didn't have that, I was probably only a 15th place rider. In Argentina, I had food poisoning; I shouldn't have been racing and I still took 27th. Again, I think that if I was healthy, I might have been a 10th to 15th place rider, just considering where I was and how I was feeling. In Ireland, I flatted on the last stage and took 23rd. So again, I think that I was only 10th to 15th.''

And then came La Thuile and Aspen, trouble-free races where Keene raced to 6th and 5th place overall finishes. Not too shabby, but where did the speed come from? After all, even Keene himself says he might have been a 10th to 15th place rider if those earlier EWS rounds had gone smoother. It's down to time on the bike, he believes: ''I think what's changed is that Jared and I have been riding a lot lately. We put in ten days at Whistler, a week in Jackson Hole, and we went to Keystone for eight days. In a little over three weeks we descended over 400,000 feet. So we were smashing out laps and getting comfortable with speed and finding that edge.'' He also credits some important bike changes - going to a coil-sprung Vivid shock and a 170mm Lyrik fork - for the improved pace.


Keene will run likely run Butchers with a DH casing, especially on the back of the bike, and he typically goes with 30 PSI in rear, and 26 or 27 PSI up front.


This is what happens when you can go really, really fast.



So after a 5th and 6th on the 2016 Enduro, Keene was on the 2017 bike for Whistler's EWS race, although it wasn't his first time on the bike:''I did some testing around Sea Otter with Brad Benedict, testing out wheel sizes and sizes of the bikes to get an idea of if I wanted an extra-large or a large. And Jared and I did a week of filming in Jackson Hole for Destination Trail, so we got to spend a good amount of time on them there.''

At six-feet tall, Keene is on a large-sized Enduro, which was a decision that was easier to make compared to when he was racing the previous version: ''With the old large, it was too small for me, so I always wanted the extra-large, but the extra-large was too big. So this is spot-on.''


SRAM's Eagle combined with a relativley large 36-tooth chain ring and a Gamut guide.


Keene prefers a 170mm-travel Lyrik on the front of his Enduro, which is 10mm more than stock.


Keene's Suspension Setup

Curtis weighs 190lbs, which is on the heavier end of the scale when it comes to bike racers, and he also doesn't like his fork hitting bottom. As you might expect given his size and speed, this means that his 170mm-travel Lyrik runs a fairly stiff and progressive spring rate. And like most fast riders who know a thing or two about suspension setup, he's aware that a fork's sag figure can be almost irrelevant. ''I'm not really a 'sag guy,' I'm more of a 'feel guy.' I don't want it to bottom out,'' he explained of his approach.

''In Whistler, right now it's around 114 or 112 PSI; it floats in between there, and I have three tokens. I've always run really open compression on my forks, just because I run them really progressive, so I keep it light. From all the way open, it ranges from two to five clicks in.''


The new Enduro's headtube is a bit shorter than its predecessor, so Keene runs a handful of spacers under his stem to compensate.


His 170mm-travel Lyrik also slackens the bike out by about another half degree from when it has a stock 160mm-travel fork on it, taking it from 66-degrees to about 65.5-degrees. Keene is a fan of the extra 10mm of travel, but also of the increased axle-to-crown length: ''With this 170mm fork, the handlebar is pretty high. I love it, and it's obviously really good on the steep stuff.''

He also prefers the action of a coil-sprung shock, citing it as one of the reasons for his improved results. ''What I've taken from the other bike, and some of the changes I've made this year, I feel like they're really helped me, is that I've gone to coil in the rear full time,'' referring to the RockShox Vivid R2C on his Enduro. ''With the new bike, it's a 550 [in/lb spring] with just a couple clicks of progression and a stock tune. Nothing crazy.''


Keene's go-to setup is light on compression but heavy on high-speed rebound, which he says provides control when things get wild.


''We don't have a high-speed compression [adjustment dial] on the Vivid, but what I really like is the high-speed rebound. To me, that makes a huge difference because things get kind of wild and violent, and with the big hits it keeps the bike planted, controlled and it doesn't do anything crazy. I run a lot of high-speed rebound; it's almost fully closed. But the compression is fairly open, and same with the low-speed rebound; it's fairly open.''

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Reviews and Tech Specialized Curtis Keene Enduro World Series