SPECIALIZED EPIC EVOEXPERT

£6,750 The epitome of power and precision

The Epic and Epic EVO have had a makeover for 2021, stretching them out and lowering and slackening them. Specialized have really gone to town on the EVO, making it more than just a jacked-up cross-country machine.

The frame

The Epic EVO shares the same FACT 11m carbon fibre front triangle as its XC sibling, which allows Spesh to tune the ride feel by tweaking the carbon lay-up. However, it gets a different rear end and shock yoke, it doesn’t use the auto-adjusting Brain shock, and rear wheel travel is bumped up from 100mm to 110mm. As on the Epic, flexible stays are used instead of a Horst-link chainstay pivot, to save weight. On the EVO Expert, a RockShox SIDLuxe Select+ shock with Specialized’s Rx XC tune controls the rear travel.

A flip-chip at the base of the shock lets you alter the geometry, tweaking the BB height by 7mm and the head angle by 0.5 degrees. Our medium bike has a reach of 436mm, which isn’t massive, but is still longer than the Scalpel’s. The 66.4-degree head angle helps to create a 730mm front centre, while the seat tube sits at 74.7 degrees. With a BB height of 335mm, the Epic EVO feels ground-huggingly low. The chainstays measure just under 440mm long. There’s room for two bottles in the front triangle. Spesh have placed a flexible rubber grommet behind the BB to close the gap between the frame and chainstay brace, where crud can build up.

The kit

While the Epic’s price tag might have you scratching your head over why it’s got a SID Select+ fork rather than the Ultimate version with top-spec Charger Race Day damper, its Charger 2 RL cartridge still does a fine job of controlling the 120mm of front travel. The Select+ model also has one advantage over the pricier fork – it uses a regular rebound adjuster, rather than the fiddlier Allen-key-style system on the Ultimate. You’ll still need an Allen key to tweak the rebound damping on the SIDLuxe shock, though.

The SRAM G2 brakes are a nod to the Epic EVO’s potential for rowdiness, but we’d prefer to see a 180mm rear rotor rather than the 160mm disc specced here. Deep Roval Control carbon rims are wrapped in own-brand 2.3in rubber, with a knobbly Ground Control tyre up front and a lower-profile Fast Trak at the rear, both in the GRIPTON compound and Control casing.

The ride

Press on the pedals and the Epic EVO instantly feels fast and efficient.

It surges forward like an e-MTB in turbo mode, with all the energy you put in spat out from the rear tyre. On the climbs, as your cadence slows the bike sits into the initial part of its travel, but doesn’t hunker down in quite the same way as the Scalpel, and feels more stable and better-supported, especially when you’re standing up. The only time we faltered was when tackling wet, steep inclines, where we simply couldn’t get enough purchase from the rear tyre.

When you get out of the saddle and sprint, the Epic EVO feels efficient, taut and muscular. It easily carries any momentum you generate and, despite its limited travel, feels reassuringly surefooted as the trail becomes more demanding. The low-slung BB boosts confidence further and will have you exploring the limitations of the tyre treads as you bank the bike over from one turn to the next. While the Ground

Control isn’t bad, we’d prefer more aggressive front rubber. At the rear, the Fast Trak rolls easily but isn’t the best under braking when it’s damp, so you need to be careful with how much pressure you apply through the G2 brakes.

When tackling more engaging trails, the Specialized feels superbly capable, but it’s best ridden in a calculated, precise way. That’s because, while it can tackle rowdy trails at speed, the Epic EVO has a narrower margin for error than the longer Reactor ST and Spur, and is less forgiving of poor line choice.