Specialized S-Works Epic 29er 2019 Hardtail Mountain Bike - Carbon/Red

So instead of playing along with a glued-on smile we opted to turn the cross country world on its head with a bike that's not only the lightest mountain frame we've ever made. It's our lightest frame, period. Introducing the S-Works epic hardtail.

Over the last decade cross country racing has evolved into a completely different animal, the courses are rowdier more technical and overall they're inherently different. Because of this we realized that the best bike for the job needs to not only be lightweight and stiff but also be able to descend and climb with equal prowess. Determining the best geometry was the easier of the two as we took our current XC race geo and added some trail dna to the mix. This equates to a longer top tube a shortened the head tube and a slacked out the front end the result of which is a tremendous increase in downhill stability plus a wider fit range. And just as importantly this doesn't require any sacrifice of climbing proficiency. The weight aspect was more complicated though. We were posed with the question "how do you take weight out of something that's already so light?" but the answer was relatively obvious: you get the best mountain bike engineers together in one room and let the magic come out.

Up until now there were two ways to lighten up a frameuse less of the same grade of carbon or use less of a higher-grade carbon. Option one is never a viable solution as it sacrifices stiffness and strength two attributes that shouldnt be tampered with. And while we did end up using option two we werent content with the amount of weight we could cut out by just using a different grade of carbon. So how else do you cut weight? Well we began looking at our layup schedules to see if they could be improved which shed light on a new discoverylayup inefficiencies.

Beginning with our rider-first engineered frame technology each size epic hardtail is specifically tailored to sizeevery carbon layup and tube are exclusively selected based upon hundreds of hours of collected ride data. What does this mean for you? It not only creates the optimal balance of rigidity weight and responsiveness across every frame size but it led us to the discovery of how to save weight through the studying of the layup.

Through extensive layup studies we made the discovery that by further controlling the construction and layup schedules we could drastically decrease weight all while maintaining the ride characteristics that youd expect from a top-level XC race bike. With this discovery each frame now features complex cut carbon plys that allow difficult junctions to be covered with less overlap. And while this does complicate the carbon frame puzzle by adding more pieces to the mix it allows us to design and place them more intelligently. The result of this is a lighter frame stronger junctions and a drastic increase in stiffness. We then took the weight savings one step further by using japanese military ballistic-grade carbon which we now call 12m to create the lightest mountain bike we've ever made. How much lighter of a frame you ask? Less than 900 grams for a size large framethe same weight as a full 24oz purist water bottle.

For the build the S-Works spares no expense opting for a custom Rockshox sid world cup fork with brain SRAM xx1 eagle12-speed shifting SRAM level ultimate hydraulic disc brakes and hand-built Roval control sl carbon wheels.

• To provide the optimal blend of stiffness, crazy light weight, and strength, we constructed the frame from our S-Works FACT 12m carbon fiber. And when combined with our XC 29 geometry, this epic is guaranteed to deliver uncompromising, blistering speed and agile handling come race dayno matter the course.
• The Rockshox sid world cup 29 fork with brain provides 90/100mm of efficient travel. It features brain technology that distinguishes between terrain and rider input in order to maximize your power, while a brain fade adjusts the oil flow when not hitting bumps.
• The 1x drivetrain is controlled by sram's venerable xx1 eagle components to form the ultimate in efficiency and intuitive feel, while also having the added benefit of significant weight savings and minimal required maintenance.