Kate Courtney's Specialized Epic - Val di Sole World Cup 2017
Overachiever. It’s as good a word as any to describe Kate Courtney. She's been racing since the age of 14 and has as many national champion jerseys as a woodshop teacher has fingers. At 21 years of age, she’s proven herself a dominant force in the UCI XCO World Cup U23 ranks.
This year Courtney has notched wins at both in Nové Mesto and Lenzerheide and then there’s the whole Red Bull sponsorship deal--that company just hands out helmets willy nilly, right? Oh, and she’s a full-time student at Stanford University. You know, one of those easy degrees—Biology.
Sort of makes you wonder what you’ve been doing with your life. Photographer Matthew Delorme hit up the Specialized pit to find out what’s going on with Courtney’s Specialized Epic race whip--a bike that sees major updates for 2018.
Sort of makes you wonder what you’ve been doing with your life. Photographer Matthew Delorme hit up the Specialized pit to find out what’s going on with Courtney’s Specialized Epic race whip--a bike that sees major updates for 2018.
If being a rising star at the World Cup level simply leaves you with too much spare time, you could also chase that dream while simultaneously earning a degree in Biology at Stanford. Seems to be working for Courtney.
The 5'4" Courtney rides a sized Small Epic...what just might be the most storied XC race sled of all time.
What's missing here? The Horst Link that was the foundation of their FSR design. For the first time in roughly forever, Specialized foregoes their chainstay pivot in favor of a gram-shearing flex-stay design.
The Epic began its life a decade and a half ago and has undergone plenty of makeovers in the years since. For 2018, the bike received more than its fair share of nips and tucks. For starters, the new Epic is lighter. The S-Works model that Courtney rides lost a solid 345 grams (3/4 of a pound) from an already-lightweight frame. Specialized claims that the weight loss is akin to losing the chainstays completely. Damn.
Much of the weight loss was achieved by forgoing the Horst Link on the chainstays in favor of a flex-stay set up. In a nod to the ever-more-technical XC courses on the circuit, Specialized also gave the Epic a wee bit of a long, low and slack makeover.
Much of the weight loss was achieved by forgoing the Horst Link on the chainstays in favor of a flex-stay set up. In a nod to the ever-more-technical XC courses on the circuit, Specialized also gave the Epic a wee bit of a long, low and slack makeover.
Brain in the front, Brain in the back. Courtney's S-Works Epic is spearheaded by a RockShox SID, which features a compression damper that borrows technology from the Brain shock that roosts at the back of the bike. Fork offset is sort of the rage these days (or fiddling with offset, that is) and the pointy-headed types at Specialized have been fiddling as well. To that end, the Epic's 29er forks now have a reduced offset (42 millimeters instead of 51), which their engineers claim helps add stability without zombifying (my term, not theirs) the front-end handling.
Courtney tends to run 65 psi in her fork, but her mechanics are upping the pressure to 70 psi as there are some serious G-out moments on the descent that would likely lead to some bottoming-out at her normal air pressure. Courtney is also considering adding a token to the air spring, but she prefers a token-less feel, so that's a decision that's still marinating at present.
Specialized gave the Brain suspension unit out back a major reboot. The goal was to improve fluid flow and make the shock more responsive to the increasingly technical terrain of World Cup racing. The Brain now sits slightly behind the rear axle--a move intended to improve the shock's timing and, consequently, its sensitivity.
Specialized also ditched the Brain's internal floating piston for a bladder system, which they say will improve its smoothness and predictability in rough terrain. Specialized's women's-specific line no longer features unique geometry. Instead, they've gone with smaller touch points and, in the case of rear suspension, lighter shock tunes that better suit female racers. Courtney is running 115 PSI in her rear shock.
It's the little details... Ceramic Speed pulleys are said to reduce chain friction and improve shifting...if nothing else they add a further touch of bling to the rig. What would that cost you? If you're running SRAM Eagle, a pair of compatible Ceramic Speed pulleys will ding your checking account to the tune of $379. What would it cost to have your name printed on the pulleys, a la Kate Courtney? If you have to ask....
MENTIONS: @Specialized / @mdelorme
Author Info:
Member since Apr 11, 2014
Must Read This Week
[UPDATED] Final Elite XC Results & Overall Standings from the Mairiporã XC World Cup 2024
42257 views
42257 views
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
The tone and context seems to say that she has a lot of national champion jerseys, but the words themselves seem to suggest she doesn't have a lot? Is there a reference I'm missing here?
thats why the line doesnt make sense.
The 9-fingered woodshop teacher was a fixture in public education. Sadly, I'm given to understanding that many of the trades-oriented "shop" classes have been shuttered, so many of you readers will not have experienced the joy and terror of the experience. To paraphrase America's Great Leader, "So sad!"
So, yeah, nine jerseys. She's got nine jerseys. Could I have just said "9" and saved you all the confusion? Sure. Should I have? Yeah, I guess so. But really, is this the end of the motherf@cking world? Is there not a thing called Wikipedia? Some sort of Google machine? Have you not learned something crucial about the demise of the trades-oriented curriculum in America's public education system? No? None of the above. Okay, I'll just type 9 next time. Sheeesh.
We did have a STUDENT that became fingerless in our class though. Moral of the story: play stupid games around power tools, win even stupider prizes.
Blood everywhere \M/
And yes, I knew you meant 9.
health an safety?????
I honestly can't believe ceramic bearings are a thing. They're useful in industrial applications, where you have things spinning at 10,000+ rpm for long periods of time, as they're more resistant to heat.
Also @allballz running ceramic bearings in a Shimano hub is a bad idea, because the balls are harder than the steel races, the cones and races will wear out very quickly.
I thought the advantage was in having larger jockey wheels more than the bearings themselves.
also why the f would you upgrede headset bearings on a road bike... the only people that should be doing that are slopestyle guys and bmx for faster barspins.
@adrennan he had a rapha kit so I dont think logical thinking was his forte, nice guy tough.
I've always run dh bars, since the mid 90's, when they were about 710mm. People used to say they were too wide, now they're not wide enough!
That's fashion for you.