Phlizz

It's nothing special... maybe so much that it makes it special again. No gloss/matte finish, no subtle patterns, no sparkle, no reference to the shape of the frame... a plain fade in WC colors.Nothing to cheer, nothing to complain about.

the thing is... environmental impact will be absolutely negligible, it will actually make some kids and parents happy, but... its just odd. It gives me that creepy feeling that things are just a little too off in Morgan Hill. Is Robert Egger still there? Is this processing a childhood trauma? Yikes!

@F22: I recently dismantled a 30 year old Suntour XC Pro hub... made me wonder how good todays bikes would be if manufacturers would have preserved those tight tolerances and bulletproof design approach.

@Molesdigmyjumps: because nobody could guarantee sufficient alignment of the threads... the hardly get it right on a 73mm bb shell on 4000+ frames! Make no mistake, bike manufacturing has nothing to do with "real" high tech (e.g. F1, aerospace, medical instruments)... it's more or less toy manufacturing for adults.

the most hated task can't be on the list, because it's always an unexpected surprise, caused by poor design, tolerance, choice of material or coincidence. That one bolt that won't get in because somehow there is a chunk of loctite in the thread, the slightly angled post mount plane, that one rubber seal that would just not slip in place on high speed compression dial, a seat tube that is at the very end of tolerance on a otherwise perfect high end frame, the aluminum bolt that is rounded by looking at it, that one in a thousand tire rim combination you just can't get sealed, a free hub body made of too soft alloy, the list goes on... I have no problems when hard work is rewarded, but when I am victim to a "it works 95% of the time" design or botching from the factory: damn it!

What's the problem with your standover heigts GT??? All the full squish bikes and now this trail bike have frighteningly high tob tubes. It gives me shivers when I feel a tob tube on my knee on a steep trail. As long as there are no 300mm dropper posts a 520mm seat tube also seems pointless on XL with so many riders considering upsizing to the next frame size when they prefer a longer bike. A long seat tube and high tob tube may just be the reason to go elsewhere for them. Other than that: great move... people must be reminded that the original Zaskar was not an XC bike by any means... actually it was just the top of the line (Xizang??) when all the bikes in the market were basically they same geo numbers, and had to do all and everything.

How dare you Specialized? I have just brought some solid distance between me and you, riding a different brand long, low, slack, mullet bike and slowly replacing all kit by different makes, except saddles... and now this! It's like they have telepathics in there R&D, whenever I think there is no offering from Specialized, (Enduro being too big for local trails, Stumpy Evo only available in a too short S3) they come around with a bike that seems to be the incarnation of my wishful daydreaming. Now, high pivot/ idler pulley... but that would be too much to expect.