JAMIE’S SPECIALIZED TURBO KENEVO SL COMP

MONTH 6: After six months of abuse, Jamie takes a crash course in geometry to unlock the Kenevo SL’S full potential

£7,400 / 29in / specialized.com

Adjustable geometry is a great idea because you can tune your bike to your riding style and the terrain you’re on. Specialized thinks so too, the Kenevo SL comes with a mind-melting six different settings to choose from, tech we first saw on the Stumpjumper Evo in 2020. So I set about optimising the bike to my own blend of skilful flamboyance and downright speed [Ed - steady on JD, make it believable] on Surrey’s finest.

Where to start. The Kenevo SL uses flip-chips on the chainstay pivots, you can put them into either the high/short or low/long setting and adjust the height of the BB by 6mm and the chainstay length by 5mm. Meh, plenty of bikes have adjustable BB heights. But Specialized takes it further, with three independently adjustable head angles, accessed via an insert that drops into the top of the head tube: flip it one way for a 1° steeper head angle, flip it the other to go slacker by the same amount. For the third setting there’s a second insert with a centred bearing cup.

I started out in the high BB setting and intermediate head angle as a baseline, before steepening it up by 1°. It’s a small change, but it was noticeably easier to weight the front of the bike on the flat, loose corners near the top of my test track. After a couple of runs I then flipped the headset cup round making it 1° slacker and immediately the front felt more likely to wash on those flat turns.

This is easy, I thought, until bike tester Muldoon reminded me that changing one thing on a bike will have a knock-on effect elsewhere, and nothing is truly independent. He might look like a land-locked viking, but he knows his numbers. Could it be that by pushing the front wheel out further in front of the bike I’d unsettled the balance? Next run I dropped the flip-chips into the low/ long setting, lengthening the back of the bike too. The result was better balance front and rear, and greater confidence in the steeper, rougher stuff.

After a day of messing around I know a few things. I know the Kenevo SL is best in the low setting, and that works well with the middle head angle for Surrey riding. I also know it’s a really easy trailside fix to change between the settings. Also the Specialized geometry finder app (bit.ly/kenevogeo) is a great tool if you don’t know where to start.

WHY IT’S HERE Diet e-bikes: the best or worst of both worlds?

Changing the head angle only requires a hex key

Minor tweaks result in major ride alterations

THE RIDER JAMIE DARLOW Position Front section editor Mostly Rides Surrey Hills Height 6ft 1in Weight 82kg THE BIKE ■ Lightweight e-bike, splitting the weight difference between the full-power Kenevo and regular Enduro ■ Less than half the power of a full-fat e-bike, with 240W and 35Nm of torque, and a small 320Wh battery (with optional 160Wh range extender) ■ Entry-level Turbo Kenevo SL gets Fox Performance suspension, Fox Rhythm fork and SRAM GX drivetrain, but retains the full carbon frame ■ Progressive geometry and sizing makes the Kenevo SL a full-blown enduro bike