The Bike Stop

You’ve seen the look. The, are-they-really-about-to-ride-that-on-a-hardtail look. Well, get ready to get it a lot more aboard the Epic Hardtail. Fast and light meets confident and capable in a bike that’s been bred to redefine what’s possible on a cross-country speed demon.

Working towards the lightest bike possible has long been the race within the race, but at what cost? The battle of the grams certainly hasn’t been without its casualties, with hardtail XC race bikes coming to stand for a harsh, twitchy ride at the expense of capability and versatility.

But who said fatigue from fighting against your own bike makes you any faster? Instead, recognizing that the fastest bike is more than simply the lightest bike, we said out with the jarred-to-death tail, the measure-your-posterior’s-sorrows-by-the-yard tail and in with the avant-garde tail. The ridiculously capable, mystifyingly comfortable, head-shakingly light and all-around fast, Epic Hardtail.

Sure, we optimized every inch of the Epic Hardtail frame to achieve the lightest production hardtail frame in the world anyway, but we also prioritized our commitment to creating an Epic Hardtail that’s as capable as it is comfortable with aggressive singletrack-inspired geometry, increased tire clearance and a frame obsessively engineered for increased vertical compliance, all while creating a bike that lives and breathes the fundamentals of fast.

A RockShox Judy Gold fork and SRAM drivetrain highlight the build, effortlessly balancing both value and performance to impressive results.

THINK FASTEST: The Epic World Cup is the fastest XC race bike in the world on smooth to moderately technical courses thanks to its unmatched combination of efficiency, control, and light-weight. World Champ Christopher Blevins said it best, “This thing gives me everything I could want from a hardtail, plus the control and capability of full suspension.” All it took to create this speed machine was a totally integrated development approach, inventing a radical new shock, and four decades of off-road winning experience.

FRAME OF REFERENCE: To deliver maximum speed through ruthlessly efficient power transfer and precision handling, our engineering team set and achieved new standards in torsional rigidity and BB stiffness. This feat required an integrated development approach that merged a structurally superior double diamond layout with its shock cradled inside the top-tube, and finished off with the most sophisticated composite layup in Specialized history.

SHOCKINGLY FAST: The Specialized Ride Dynamics team conceived of and invented a revolutionary shock technology for the Epic World Cup that gives the rider the efficiency and snappy response of a hardtail PLUS the control, capability, and momentum-carrying of full suspension—all with a simple setup. Co-developed with RockShox, the SID Deluxe WCID shock utilizes a unique independently adjustable positive and negative air springs to deliver the sought-after hardtail “snap”, combined with terrain-devouring forgiveness, and the ability to easily personalize set-up for a specific course or tune for rider preference and feel. Set it firm and it rides like a hardtail or open it up and you have a chunk-squashing ripper. But you aren't just limited “open and closed,” the simple nature of its setup allows the rider to set on a spectrum of firm to soft.

PUNCHING ABOVE ITS CATEGORY: The Epic World Cup’s 75mm of rear travel delivers control and capability of a much longer travel bike. Because it’s designed to be ridden at or close to topped-out, it yields the same positive travel as a 100mm travel bike set up with 25% sag. To further optimize suspension performance, the Specialized Ride Dynamics team tuned the spring-rate to be relatively flat through the mid-stroke to handle the majority of bump forces like a longer travel bike. Due to its large size, the custom Mega Jounce Bumper is an “industry first” and plays a crucial role in smoothly managing bottom-out on the biggest impacts.

HAVE WE LOST OUR MINDS? SORT OF: While the new, and groundbreaking SID Deluxe WCID shock provides the unique blend of support and compliance in the rear, the BRAIN is still alive and well in the fork. Its Position-Sensitive technology allows riders to sag into the fork 15mm for a balanced ride, providing supple small bump compliance and a firm pedaling platform without the need for a remote lockout or levers to flip.

THE WEIGHT IS OVER: With a frame weight of just 1,915 grams (painted with shock and all hardware), the Epic World Cup edges out the lightest of competitors. This translates to faster acceleration, more efficiently climbing, and more agile handling. And all of that adds up to speed. We achieved the featherweight and monster stiffness of the Epic WC by applying what we learned in the development of our Aethos, the lightest production road frame ever made, specifically the advanced composite layup and tube shapes.

THE BIGGEST FLEX IS NO FLEX: The Epic World Cup sports the full suite of Roval Control SL components: 1,240-gram wheelset, 180-gram seat post, and 250-gram integrated cockpit (70mm x 780mm). Each boasting peerless light-weight, stiffness, and control on the World Cup today.

THINK FASTEST: The Epic World Cup is the fastest XC race bike in the world on smooth to moderately technical courses thanks to its unmatched combination of efficiency, control, and light-weight. World Champ Christopher Blevins said it best, “This thing gives me everything I could want from a hardtail, plus the control and capability of full suspension.” All it took to create this speed machine was a totally integrated development approach, inventing a radical new shock, and four decades of off-road winning experience.

FRAME OF REFERENCE: To deliver maximum speed through ruthlessly efficient power transfer and precision handling, our engineering team set and achieved new standards in torsional rigidity and BB stiffness. This feat required an integrated development approach that merged a structurally superior double diamond layout with its shock cradled inside the top-tube, and finished off with the most sophisticated composite layup in Specialized history.

SHOCKINGLY FAST: The Specialized Ride Dynamics team conceived of and invented a revolutionary shock technology for the Epic World Cup that gives the rider the efficiency and snappy response of a hardtail PLUS the control, capability, and momentum-carrying of full suspension—all with a simple setup. Co-developed with RockShox, the SID Deluxe WCID shock utilizes a unique independently adjustable positive and negative air springs to deliver the sought-after hardtail “snap”, combined with terrain-devouring forgiveness, and the ability to easily personalize set-up for a specific course or tune for rider preference and feel. Set it firm and it rides like a hardtail or open it up and you have a chunk-squashing ripper. But you aren't just limited “open and closed,” the simple nature of its setup allows the rider to set on a spectrum of firm to soft.

PUNCHING ABOVE ITS CATEGORY: The Epic World Cup’s 75mm of rear travel delivers control and capability of a much longer travel bike. Because it’s designed to be ridden at or close to topped-out, it yields the same positive travel as a 100mm travel bike set up with 25% sag. To further optimize suspension performance, the Specialized Ride Dynamics team tuned the spring-rate to be relatively flat through the mid-stroke to handle the majority of bump forces like a longer travel bike. Due to its large size, the custom Mega Jounce Bumper is an “industry first” and plays a crucial role in smoothly managing bottom-out on the biggest impacts.

HAVE WE LOST OUR MINDS? SORT OF: While the new, and groundbreaking SID Deluxe WCID shock provides the unique blend of support and compliance in the rear, the BRAIN is still alive and well in the fork. Its Position-Sensitive technology allows riders to sag into the fork 15mm for a balanced ride, providing supple small bump compliance and a firm pedaling platform without the need for a remote lockout or levers to flip.

THE WEIGHT IS OVER: With a frame weight of just 1,765 grams (painted with shock and all hardware), the Epic World Cup edges out the lightest of competitors. This translates to faster acceleration, more efficiently climbing, and more agile handling. And all of that adds up to speed. We achieved the featherweight and monster stiffness of the Epic WC by applying what we learned in the development of our Aethos, the lightest production road frame ever made, specifically the advanced composite layup and tube shapes.

THE BIGGEST FLEX IS NO FLEX: The Epic World Cup sports the full suite of Roval Control SL components: 1,240-gram wheelset, 180-gram seat post, and 250-gram integrated cockpit (70mm x 780mm). Each boasting peerless light-weight, stiffness, and control on the World Cup today.