Morzine-Avoriaz. A place synonymous with mountain bike trails of every variety, and an area steeped in history and mystique from UCI events of yesteryear. To visit there is to fully immerse yourself in the breathtaking beauty of the Alpine peaks and explore the expansive Morzine-Avoriaz area, boasting Europe’s largest MTB Park. Our resident mountain bike guru Alex, from our Specialized Chelmsford branch, had been longing for a trip there aboard his brand-new steed. So, make yourself a brew and take a deep dive into the bike Alex specifically built for trips just like these!
After months spent speccing and building my new trail shredder, and after several test trips, it finally felt time to visit the mecca of mountain biking. But is it as simple as just taking a bike over and riding? In years past, when choosing what bike is best suited for bike park riding, a downhill rig was the clear and obvious option. With its triple clamp fork, long wheelbase and slack head angle, these attributes provided riders with high stability and increased confidence when the going gets rough, or when it comes to sending big jumps.
Nowadays, however, enduro bikes have come so far in how hard they can be ridden, with geometry numbers similar to downhill bikes of not that long ago, the decision on which bike to ride for bike park missions is no longer so straightforward.
Of course, downhill bikes still have more travel (usually in excess of 200mm compared to most Enduro bikes which traditionally have around 170mm) and as such they will naturally be more stable and confidence-inspiring on the gnarly stuff. This is where the Enduro bike really comes into its own, with its increased versatility and usability in a wider variety of tracks and terrain. The main one is that you’re actually able to pedal the bike! As a result of this, many people now are choosing a long-travelled enduro bike over an out-and-out downhill bike, as it can be used for big days in the saddle and is still useable on flatter/more pedal trails! This is exactly what came into my thinking when choosing what bike is best for big trips, and big sends.
I’m going to jump into the finer details of the bike I built specifically for 2 weeks in the French Alps, whilst also being more than at home in our own bike parks here in the UK.
- Let’s Start with a Spec List
- Frame – Star of the Show!
- Suspension – A Choice that Can Make or Break a Build!
- Gearing – Not as expected…
- Brakes – Bulletproof Stopping Power
- Wheels and Tyres – Maximum Grip, Maximum Shred
- Cockpit – Straightforward Selections
- Pedals – Big Pins for Big Sends
- Summary. Did I build the right bike?!
Let’s Start with a Spec List
- Frame – S-Works Enduro 22 with Fox Float X2
- Fork – Rockshox Zeb Ultimate Charger 2 180mm
- Gearing – SRAM GX AXS
- Brakes – TRP DH-R Evo
- Wheels – Roval Traverse Alloy
- Tyres – Specialized Cannibal Grid Cavity 29×2.4
- Handlebar – Deity BF800 (780mm)
- Stem – Deity Copperhead 31.8mm 35mm
- Grips – Deity Lockjaw
- Pedals – Deity TMAC
- Dropper post – OneUp 150
- Saddle – Specialized Bridge
- Rim Inserts – Not this time…
Frame – Star of the Show!
Working at and being an ambassador for one of the Specialized Concept Stores, it made sense to stick with the brand I know best. With the above points in mind, it was a choice between 2 bikes, the Specialized Enduro and the Specialized Demo. No surprise that the Enduro is, shockingly, an Enduro bike, and the Demo is Specialized’s downhill bike option. Based on my local area and the trails I ride regularly, a downhill bike would be left in the garage locked up unused for the majority of the year, I went down the Enduro route. Specifically, choosing an S-Works frame build. If you do something you have got to do it properly, right? There are some great off-the-shelf options for the Specialized Enduro, however, I wanted to try some specific parts out, so a frame build seemed more suitable. For reference, I’m 172cm and chose an S3.
Suspension – A Choice that Can Make or Break a Build!
The frame came with a Fox Float X2 Factory shock, something I had wanted to try for a while on a bike and never had the chance, so I decided to leave this on the bike and see how I got on with it. The initial setup was easy enough, getting sag right, then adjusting the high/low-speed compression/rebound to their suggested settings from Fox’s online manuals. I did find these settings to be a little off for my liking so made some changes after my first few rides. Adding in 2 volume spacers and speeding up the rebound, along with some more low-speed compression, the shock then felt more supportive and less ‘wallowy’. The X2 has a lot of dials and setting options to play with, which can be a bit confusing if you’re not familiar with what each dial does. However, there are plenty of really helpful videos and articles online to help you navigate suspension set-up. I eventually found a happy medium on the bike which gave good support but also maintained grip and comfort on big hits, exactly what I was after.
Around the time of building this bike up, Rockshox had just released the Charger 3 damper in their new line of forks, having seen the initial positive reviews, I was keen to try this out. I went for beefy Rockshox Zeb Ultimate with 180mm travel. The enduro typically comes with a 170mm fork fitted, but as this bike was going to see mainly steep and technical terrain, I wanted the extra bit of travel to help with comfort and to get me out of those “oh **it” moments. A longer travel fork will also slacken the head angle of the bike slightly, providing increased stability at speed. For this fork, I found the Rockshox recommended settings suiting me down to the ground, the air spring is naturally very progressive, so at 66kg, I actually didn’t end up needing any volume spacers. High-speed compression was set to 3 clicks from open and low-speed Compression was set about 4 clicks from closed, this was a good base setting for dealing with steep runs and keeping the fork plush on rocks and roots.
Gearing – Not as expected…
When it came to the groupset, I’ve used numerous cable-actuated groupsets, from Shimano XT/SLX all the way SRAM X01, so I wanted to try something different. With it being an S-Works, there was really no other choice than one of SRAM’s AXS groupsets, and I went with the GX level. I must admit, this did take a little while to get used to, having a rocker paddle to change gear rather than two independent shift levers. Benefts were consistent and reliable shifting, but I also have a few critiques. One was of the rear derailleur, which I found the clutch to be surprisingly weak (also read: ineffective). This resulted in quite a lot of chain slap and noise coming from the bike when hammering fast/rough sections. Worse than that, it ended up taking a lot of paint off my spokes on the drive side. In the future, I probably wouldn’t spend the extra money to go AXS over a cable groupset, perhaps I’m still old school at heart.
Brakes – Bulletproof Stopping Power
Brakes for this bike were a hard decision, having ridden options such as SRAM Code RSC’s, Hope Tech 3’s and Shimano SLX’s in the past. Again, this time, I wanted to try something new… I eventually settled on the TRP DH-R EVO brakes. With silver callipers, chunky reservoirs and a solid lever feel, they looked like a great option for the type of riding this bike was made for (a bonus was that they use mineral oil not DOT fluid…). These brakes were faultless for my two weeks in the Alps, I never experienced brake fade on long runs, always had plenty of power on tap and had heaps of modulation for those steep and loose Le Pleney off-pistes… which if you know, you know!
Wheels and Tyres – Maximum Grip, Maximum Shred
Roval Traverse alloy wheels were the selection. With 30mm inner diameter rims, a lightweight feel and easy-to-set-up tubeless, these tick all the right boxes for a stock set of wheels! My only complaint with these is the engagement in the freehub, in some cases, I would have liked a quicker pickup when trying to put the power down Other than that, with downhill tyres fitted to them, I didn’t dent them once, not even after casing some jumps harder than I care to admit…
Tyres, as most components on a bike, are a very personal preference-oriented choice. With quality offerings from countless tyre-focussed brands such as Maxxis, Schwalbe and Continental, it’s hard to compete. However, despite Specialized being a bicycle manufacturer first, they’ve done an incredible job with their Cannibal Grid Gravity tyre. Developed alongside Gravity team riders, Loïc Bruni, Finn Iles and Chris Grice, these were undoubtedly going to be a great option for big mountain riding. The combination of the soft T9 rubber and heavy-duty sidewall offered an unbelievable amount of grip and support when hammering through rough terrain at speed or trying to manage speed on super loose steep chutes. I’ve run tyres such as the Assegai from Maxxis and Magic Mary from Schwalbe and found these to top both of those options for out-and-out grip.
Cockpit – Straightforward Selections
For me, this was the easiest choice of the build. I have been running Deity stems/bars on my bikes for the past couple of years and love the styling/feel/weight of their products. For the Enduro, I went with what I have found to be the comfiest grips out there for both gloved and gloveless riding, the Lockjaw. These were bolted onto the BF800 bar (Brendan Fairclough’s signature bar), cut down to about 770mm. Pairing these to the Copperhead stem in 35mm reach and 31.8mm clamp. I chose the smaller 31.8mm clamp over 35mm to give a bit more flex in the bar and hopefully save my hands a little more on those long alpine runs, which came to fruition when out on the tracks.
Pedals – Big Pins for Big Sends
Being a flat peddled rider, pedal feel is key to feeling confident on the bike on big features and technical terrain. What better choice than to pick a pedal designed by a Pro who is known for going huge on jumps and sending insane lines, the Deity TMAC pedals (Tyler McCauls signature pedal). These are without doubt the grippiest flat pedals I have ever used, with big pins and a concave design, your feet are glued to these. No slippage = maximum confidence!
Summary. Did I build the right bike?!
The short answer is an emphatic Yes. I am extremely pleased with how this bike rides. With standout parts such as the forks and the tyres, this bike breeds confidence in a variety of situations, from high-speed flow tracks to black runs and off-piste sections. Its ability to carry speed and smooth out sections of the trail when off the brakes was amazing, yet the suspension remained active under braking, never making hard braking seem out of control. Components such as the cockpit/pedals were faultless, the brakes never faded as mentioned and the wheels held up well despite some square-edged hits!
Admittedly, I probably would change to a groupset with a stronger clutch in an attempt to make the bike quieter, and I would probably also like a faster-engaging hub for better power transfer and a snappier feel… but they’re minor quips in the grand scheme of things. This bike RIPS!
