Spesh Enduro 29er owners, talk to me.

Been having dirty thoughts about an enduro 29er. Been on a 29er for a year now and doubt I’ll ride anything else.

Owners thoughts would be nice.

I picked my frame up yesterday, so can’t really comment on how it rides yet, but it is a wonderful thing and I have been fondling it lovingly.

I don’t think there is anything else that quite matches it for angles and travel, and all the reviews basically drool over it. But it is kind of disappointing that such an expensive frame has an alu rear triangle and doesn’t have internal routing.

I have one… i came from a couple of years on a Bandit 29er which I flipping loved.

I am starting to love the Spesh now.

It has a pike upfront and a CCDBAcs.

It is a good climber, not amazingly efficient but a better pedaller than the Bandit yet still quite active, I like this as I enjoy technical climbs.

Trail wise it handles great, it is a big bike so needs some aggression to get the best from it.

Descending it is fantastic, it eats rough ground and super fast stuff and again, some oomph sees it through tighter stuff well.

Overall it is going to serve me well as a all rounder and is a bit more capable at the sharp end than the Bandit.

Hmmmmm …. where to start !

I bought a new enduro carbon expert 29er and had issues from the start, chain snapped after 2nd ride and as it went through specailized warranty and it took 2 weeks to have it replaced.

IR Post malfunctioned so it was sent off again to specailized and was sent back only to find it was STILL broken so then then sent me a brand new one ! all this took 3 weeks so no riding !

BB bearings and jockey wheel bearings all seized up !? it had never once been pressure washed only washed down with a hose pipe so again lost the bike for another 3 weeks so they could test all the bearings and found then all to be faulty and replaced all !!

I might be unlucky but its all very friccin frustrating as its an expensive bike and too many problems considering I’ve only owned it a short time and now its away to the LSB to have new Hope wheelset and brakes and headset and chain guide fitted as I’m away to the alps soon and I don’t think the standard parts would last a hammering.

If I had the chance again I wouldn’t have bought it and gone for the bronson instead 😥

Oh on a positive note, when it does work its great on decents 😮 the harder you push it the better its performs so not all bad 🙂

To be fair, apart from the ir post all the other faults were non specialized parts, you could have had those same problems with a bronson.

I would rather the frame been a little cheaper and not come with the seatpost, I will swap it for a reverb asap.

ps, and aren’t the standard spesh wheelset hubs actually dt swiss, without knocking hope (that’s what will be going on mine), dt swiss are a higher quality hub, i would have had some other rims built onto them.

We are running two S Works Enduros, both with the IR Command posts along with five normal Command posts on other bikes, not had a problem with any of them. Also running two sets of Roval Traverse EL wheels which have performed faultless throughout the years including Alps trips and winters in the Peak.
We also smashed two frames in the Alps last year. Both were replaced with 2014 equivalent frames very quickly under their crash assist policy.

Cant fault them. We would buy the same again.

Hmmmmm …. where to start !

I bought a new enduro carbon expert 29er and had issues from the start, chain snapped after 2nd ride and as it went through specailized warranty and it took 2 weeks to have it replaced.

Couldn’t you have just rejoined the chain or fitted a new one rather than being without your bike for 2 weeks .

The chain was knackered and it was under warranty so let them sort it

Love mine, after saying I was sticking to 26er I eventually decided to try a 29 and was hooked, mine was a frame up build so I specced everything except shock and dropper, must admit I preferred my previous reverb stealth but am getting used to the command post..

Looking nice bud

I’ve had a 2014 Comp model for around 8 months and think it’s actually pretty darn good after getting the ride position sorted..ie swapped the oem bars for Renthal 30mm rise carbon bars. Changed the brakes to XT and the front tyre to a 2.4 Ardent when it’s dry but a 2.4 Magic Mary Trailstar at the moment ( fantastic tyre ). I’m running it 1dip with a 42 range expander on the rear. It loves to be pointed down and I’ve ridden it at the Ardrock enduro last year, Cwmcarn, BPW, Nant y Arian, Llandegla, Aston hill, FoD, Swinley Forest, recently the Climachx trail and the Antifreeze event at Coed y Brenin. Takes it all in its stride & It suits my riding. Don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Had my Enduro comp since June last year. Great climber and really good in nadgery stuff. Really took time to adjust to being more physical to make it do what you want at speed.

I was close to selling it as I struggled with the amount of umph needed but seem to be getting there now.

Frame bearings died in November and January on main pivot.Others only changed once. Tried warranty and got offered discounted bearing set…qqa

Oh and the headset is pants but the BB has lasted.

SRAM mech and Formula brake smashed on a OTB dropping down to Ulswater shore. Not really a problem with the mech but the brake seemed weak and a crap design. Shimano on now and its much better.

Clearance at the back is tight for chunky rubber. Maxxis 2.3 is the limit on Flow rims for me. Did have Hans Dampf 2.3 but it would rub on front mech bracket. If you break a spoke or bend a rim there is far less margin than on other bikes I’ve had.

Should get mine back today in all its new trimmings so I’ll try and figure out how to put some pics up on here 😮

Awesome awesome bike, I love mine.

Have you watched this?

I have tried one and really liked it but went for a banshee prime in the end, similar numbers, frame only and will take chunky tires. Had it for about 8 months and really like it. The enduro is a bit lighter though.

I’ve had a ’14 comp version since last August. It isn’t quite standard – fitted a reverb, XT brakes and some lighter wheels (superstar tactic). Also a couple of carbon bits here and there and I’ve put an offset bushing in the rear shock, so its probably running maybe 66.5-67 head angle.

Its a big bike, but rides light. It isn’t massively efficient but in “climb” mode on the fox shock its fine. The bigger wheels offset some of the weight in terms of technical climbing.

It really shines going downhill though and it is way more capable than I am. The way it builds speed is pretty impressive but what it equally as good it how nimble it is. The short rear end means you can hustle it like a smaller wheel bike and it will happily manual, pop and jump quite nicely.

I’ve ridden mine on big days out, trail centres, a couple of enduros last year and it blew me away at Antur Stiniog a few weeks ago. It was up for sale but after Antur I decided to keep it, as it really would be hard to replace.

As above, it doesn’t like massive tyres on the rear – a 2.35 magic mary rubbed on mine.

I’m going to keep mine for a bit, set it up 1 x 10 to save a bit more weight, put some carbon cranks on it. I’d be tempted to then keep the parts, flog the frame and get the s-works frame. Would imagine that, built up to about 12kgs or so, would be an absolute weapon.

so beauty, I like

Really miss mine. It was the fastest bike I’ve ever ridden.
Had a offset upper shock Bush and 6mm machined off the shock and link mount giving 66deg HA.

Ah bigjim, is that Yeti off the shopping list?

I saw they had a medium TLD s-works frame going (relatively) cheap at bikescene yesterday

yeah I’m all in a tizz over her leaving yeti. just keep crying and shouting “whyyyyyyyy” at the moon

a old bloke I know has just clicked buy on the last xl in the country… 😀

I bought the last xl frame available in Germany 😀