Conclusion
It’s a common theme with bike testing that you spend much longer riding the bikes you struggle to sync with, and that’s definitely the case here. We literally spent months setting and re-setting sag levels, tweaking the compression and rebound damping on the Specialized Epic World Cup and riding it in as many different situations as possible.
In the process we figured out that there are some things the Epic WC does very well. The
‘take no prisoners’ vibe is a psychological gift for flat-out short-blast attacks. The split-personality suspension works very well in firmer modes when powering from smooth surfaces to stutter-bumps (or vice versa). Fixed seatpost aside, the spec is pretty much perfect premium race gear and its clean looks were universally praised.
Now for the negatives. The topped-out, sat ‘on’ not ‘connected to’ the trail suspension response undermines control and traction significantly on descents, and you get tired really quickly on technical trails. The soggy pedalling action also saps energy and morale, and being unable to change that feeling when riding inevitably means compromised, rather than customised, performance for each section of track too.
Now contrast that with the Trek Supercaliber. Sure, it took a couple of rides for the ZEB bushing on the Isostrut shock to free up, and the skinny Bontrager tyres needed switching out too, but the Supercaliber just felt ‘right’ from the start, especially from a race point of view.
The combination of the structural stiffness and the very positive pedalling feel from the higher than average anti-squat and extra low-speed compression damping gives a noticeably different character to most conventional XC bikes. And even though the suspension response is firm, the fact it’s progressive makes it more predictable than the reversed stiff-to-soft action of the Specialized.
There’s none of the harsh, hammering, topped-out staccato of the Epic World Cup either, and the standard SID SL is a lot less spikey than Specialized’s Brain-equipped fork too. As a result, fatigue levels were dramatically reduced, even on rougher descents, when testing the bikes back to back.
The Supercaliber felt ‘right’ from the start, especially from a race point of view
In fact, the only time the Trek felt at a disadvantage to the Epic World Cup was on smooth climbs where the increased sag felt less efficient than the topped- out Epic. That’s immediately remedied with a twist of the lockout though, and overall the Trek Supercaliber just felt a lot more sorted, connected, and intuitive for racing and flat-out Xc/trail riding.
Having said that, neither bike is as fast on descents/technical sections as most longer-travel XC bikes, and therefore neither is as versatile. Also, there’s no weight advantage to be had with these bikes, and with a remote multi-mode suspension, rather than binary lockouts, most 120mm-travel bikes are faster on a lot of climbs and more tuneable for different sections of track.
We’re already seeing both the Supercaliber and Specialized’s Epic Evo using Rockshox Flight Attendant electronic suspension adjustment on the World Cup race circuit too. That makes investing £10k in a proprietary suspension system and frame potentially less appetising when Ai might do a better job on a more versatile frame in the nottoo-distant future.