Been looking at one for general trail use,days out in the hills,an uplift or two and trips to Europe,are they any good?

My riding buddy has one, loves it. He’s on his second after the first got stolen at the end of the London to Brighton off-road. He uses it for everything (as I do with my canyon strive) we ride locally, trail centres, peaks and did 3 days in morzine making the most of the lifts!

IMHO it’s a good frame with reasonable components, his new one has formula brakes rather than avid, which time only will tell if they’re any good- tbh they’d have to try hard to be worse than elixirs.

Wheels and finishing kit are specialized along with the dropper, similar price to my canyon but obviously not as we’ll specced- you pays your money, takes chance etc etc. dropper is better this year as the clamp design on the old one was crap and kept slipping.

Only other thing I can think to note is it has a matt paint job; which looks great when new but really scuffs up easily.

I’ve got one
I very nearly sold it due to health reasons but kept it
And I’m glad I did

Really good all rounder , yes it’s a bit hefty for Xc
but when you point down you’ll appreciate the slacker
Fun handling

On my 2012 I’ve made a few changes
Sram clutch mech and bin the chain device
Wider rental bars
Gone tubeless
Hub failed and replaced no hassle by Spesh witha DT 350
I got the 36t ratchets from the 240 and rebuilt the wheels
Amazing Hub 😉

Avids will be Changed for hopes in the spring

I’d buy another , prolly right on the money for what u need

( tested a camber evo at the weekend , that was pretty good fun )

Oh also, despite being only 10mm less travel than the enduro I’ve heard (from another owner of both bikes) that it pedals much better, at the expense of some stability going down the rough stuff.

I have one, a plastic one. I’ve had it since July and am very happy with it. I needed one bike that could do everything from XC races to weeks in the Alps and it was one of few that fit the bill (I also pondered a Cube Stereo). I live and ride in the Peak District, will be taking it to the Lakes and Scotland reasonably regularly and playing in the big mountains.

I’m very pleased with it- I took it to Andorra and got down the WC track that Cam Cole broke his back on in the wet. Both I and the bike survived. I’ve not raced on it yet but it feels great for that sort ot thing (I’ve got a set of Rocket Rons, a 100mm stem and narrower bars for when the time comes).

Mine is custom specced- I bought the frame second hand for £900 and almost everything else was new. Total cost was about £2600, so the price of the stock Comp. It weighs 25.5lbs, I run 160mm Pikes with a 60mm stem and 785mm bars. Zee 1×10 drive train with 11-36t cassette, 32t ring on a Sram carbon crank and ridiculously ugly Easton wheels.

It’s very nimble, and climbs very well off road, though on road the FSR suspension is pretty inefficient. I don’t miss having a granny ring on it, while on the 32lb Five it replaced I occasionally did. I know it’s fast downhill- all my Strava times have gone up quite noticeably. However, compared to the Five it doesn’t feel fast- there seems to be a lot less going on, probably due to the suspension, which to me makes it feel a little dead, but to others may be a benefit. I’ve grown to appreciate it’s toned down style of descending, however. It’s very good at properly technical stuff too. I’m still at the “clipping pedals” stage of transitioning from another brand to Specialized’s low BB though.

It’s currently very grubby and I sorted out the knitting below the BB.

are they any good?

I would say yes.

Mines a 2011 Expert with a few changes from stock (bars, stem and tyres). As a trail bike it’s fantastic – pedals uphill very well considering it’s travel and handles most trails with ease. Pedal strikes were an issue for about 30 minutes – but you soon ride round that. It struggles a little on rough DH runs when pushed, but as it’s not a DH bike this is acceptable and nothing that a set of beefier forks wouldn’t fix (or go a bit slower until you can save up the cash to upgrade). Now that i’ve semi got my head round the air suspension, it jumps well too and is a real hoot to ride. Corners are more fun than ever as it’s easy to force a controlled slide (i think the kidz call them cutties) but i find it a bugger to manual for long distances. Imo it’s a great play bike and a terrific all rounder.

All-rounding

Playing
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK7gDXwiChk[/video]

Cheers for the replies,Munro biker that’s a tasty looking bike,the Pikes look really good! TBH I’ve been struggling with whether to go for a Stumpy Evo or an Enduro but it’ll have to be whatever turns up s/hand!

I’ve got a 2011 version (nicer wheels and cranks over the 2012, but then it was £3,000 new rather than £2,500 or whatever) and swapped to Revs and 1×10 shimano with XT brakes immediately. It’s an awesome bike and defo a keeper for me. Probably weighs in around 28 pounds so perfectly acceptable for XC jaunts or just razzing round the woods which is what it mostly does for me.

It’s an excellent bike. I just sold mine on a whim and I’m going cold turkey without it.

Things I didn’t like were the Avid Elixir brakes with the slack and floppy levers. The Fox forks for being flexy with weak damping. Not to mention, Satan’s own PF30 bottom bracket. I just couldn’t live with it anymore so I’m waiting for a YT wicked.

2013 stumpy evo here. Had it since april. Broke a rear mech, chain, front hub, spokes, dented rims (Don skenes reckons its toast lol) and killed a BB.

I think i ride pretty quick and im 18 stone so i expect to break things, plus i live in south wales. Having said that i absolutely love the bike, i swapped to zee 1×10, 780mm bars and a 45mm stem and its awesome. Its way better than i will ever be.

I was going to ask what are they like on consumables,linkage bearings,BB’s etc . Was planning on getting a frame and fitting a pair of new Pikes and using my existing M4s and Hope/Flows wheels,not sure about drive train yet.

I had one built up fairly burly with Lyriks and it was a great bike, a real all-rounder. The only real issue I had with it was the lack of shock options, I found the RP23 got overwhelmed pretty quickly on DH stuff but I’m not sure if the newer CTD’s are better.

It did get me to 15th at the Fort Bill Endurance DH race and was more than happy doing 50km XC rides in the Pentlands so they are damn good bikes.