If you care about cross-country racing, or just enjoy watching the weight-weenie arms race escalate to increasingly absurd levels, this is worth paying attention to.
The headline claim: a 1,589g frame weight (medium, with shock, hardware, seat collar, axle, and water bottle bolts included), which Specialized say makes it the lightest full-suspension XC race frame in production. That’s 129g lighter than the nearest competitor, and 179g lighter than the Epic 8 it replaces.
To put that complete bike weight in perspective: the top-spec S-Works Epic 9 Ultralight LTD tips the scales at 8.5kg. For a full-suspension mountain bike with 120mm of travel front and rear, that is an extraordinary number.
The savings came from full-frame finite element analysis optimisation – essentially stress-mapping every gram of carbon to work out where material wasn’t earning its place. The biggest single saving (110g) came from removing the SWAT in-frame storage that featured on the Epic 8, replaced by an external bolt-on box. Whether that’s a pragmatic weight decision or just Specialized giving up on an idea they should have abandoned earlier depends on your view – but the result speaks for itself. The rear triangle shed 37g, the seat tube 17g, and the main pivot hardware another 15g.
It’s not just about the weight, though. The suspension kinematics have been revised to reduce friction by 11% compared to the Epic 8, with a lower leverage rate at sag to improve pedalling efficiency. The three-position damping setup – Wide Open, Magic Middle, Sprint-On-Lock – returns. The geometry is close to the Epic 8’s modern XC feel, which was well-regarded, with minor adjustments to head angle and stack.
The Epic 9 also simplifies the range: it replaces not just the Epic 8, but also the Epic World Cup and the Epic Hardtail, folding everything under one name. Pricing runs from $7,500 USD for the Expert build up to $15,200 for the S-Works, with the Ultralight LTD landing at $15,250. UK pricing to be confirmed. Christopher Blevins — who won both the XCO and XCC overall titles in 2025 on the Epic 8 — will be on the new bike when the World Cup season kicks off in South Korea this weekend.
