Specialized Enduro 29 Details



• Rear wheel travel: 165mm

• Wheel size: 29'' (27.5+ compatible)

• 66º head angle w/ 160mm fork

• Threaded bottom bracket

• Boost hub spacing

• SWAT door on carbon frames

• Compatible only with 1x drivetrains

• MSRP: $3,000 - $8500 USD (complete)

• S-Works frame w/shock: $3,500 USD

• www.specialized.com

• Rear wheel travel: 165mm• Wheel size: 29'' (27.5+ compatible)• 66º head angle w/ 160mm fork• Threaded bottom bracket• Boost hub spacing• SWAT door on carbon frames• Compatible only with 1x drivetrains• MSRP: $3,000 - $8500 USD (complete)• S-Works frame w/shock: $3,500 USD Specialized Enduro 650b Details



• Rear wheel travel: 170mm

• Wheel size: 27.5''

• 65.5º head angle w/ 170mm fork

• 2.6" tires front and rear

• Threaded bottom bracket

• Boost hub spacing

• SWAT door on carbon frames

• Compatible only with 1x drivetrains

• MSRP: $3,000-$8500 USD (complete)

• S-Works frame w/shock: $3,500 USD



What's New?

All models with a carbon front triangle are equipped with Specialized's SWAT downtube storage system. Internal cable routing and a revised frame shape gives the new Enduro an even sleeker look.

Internal cable routing?

Threaded bottom bracket?

Oversize bearings?

SWAT box?

Metric shock sizing?

150mm dropper post?

A carbon rear end is in place on the S-Works and Pro models. There's Boost spacing at the front and rear, and all of the suspension pivots now use the same size bearings.

Geometry

Enduro 650b:

Enduro 29:

The new Enduro had no trouble floating off the well-sculpted jumps in the Coast Gravity Park

Rumors about the new Specialized Enduro have been swirling about the internet for months, fueled in part by the emergence of a what looked like a photo of a bike based on the same radical one-sided design found on the Demo 8 DH bike.As it turns out, Specialized had nothing to do with that cleverly manipulated image, and in fact, although they considered it, they never even made a one-sided prototype. Instead, the new Enduro uses a slimmed down version of the familiar X-Wing frame design, but there have been a host of updates to ensure the bike maintains its relevance.There are a total of four models for both the Enduro 29 and the 650b: the S-Works and Pro, which have full carbon frames, the Elite, which uses a carbon front triangle and an alloy rear end, and the full-alloy Comp. The number of sizes has been increased, and both bikes are now available in S, M, L, and XL.With the new Enduro, it's almost as if Specialized made a list of all the "constructive criticism" that riders had about the previous design and set off to address every single gripe. The result is the most refined iteration of the Enduro yet, the culmination of nearly seventeen years of evolution. Although the latest version might not look quite as futuristic as some may have hoped, there are still plenty of details that will have likely have riders nodding their heads in approval.There are now full-carbon version of both bikes, and the Enduro 29 can also be called into action as a 27.5+ bike with up to a 27.5 x 3.0” tire for riders interested in going that route. In North America, even the Enduro 650b comes with 27.5 x 2.6" tires, a width that's getting pretty darn close to plus-bike territory. The amount of travel has been increased to 165mm of rear travel on the Enduro 29, while the Enduro 650b now has a whopping 170mm of travel front and rear.Check. The tangle of brake and derailleur housing that previously looped underneath the bottom bracket is gone, making for a much tidier looking frame.Check. PressFit 30 may look good on paper, but in the real world it's proven hard to keep those bearing from creaking; the return of a good-old-fashioned threaded bottom bracket shell is a welcome one.Check. All of the Enduro's bearings are now the same size, whether you're talking about the chainstay pivot or the main pivot, which will make it more likely that a shop will have the one you need in stock.Check. The ability to store tubes and tools in your bike's downtube may seem a little gimmicky, but it's actually a clever use of space, and makes it even easier to hit the trails without needing to wear a pack. There's no SWAT box on the aluminum-framed Enduro, but it's a standard feature on all of the other models.Nope. Although we're seeing more and more bikes being released with metric shocks, the Enduro's shock stroke and size remains the same as last year. Specialized's AutoSag feature, a secondary valve that makes achieving the right amount of sag as quick and easy as possible, remains a standard feature on all models.Ok, so this hasn't happened yet either. Bummer. The new Enduro comes with a 125mm version of Specialized's Command Post IRcc on the M, L, and XL sizes, but there is a detail that suggests something else might be in the works: that dropper has a 30.9mm diameter, while the new frame has a 34.9 seat tube (a shim is in place to take up the extra room).The Enduro 650b now has 170mm of rear travel and a 170mm fork up front, but despite the bump in travel the head angle remains unchanged from the previous version at 65.5-degrees. The seat angle has been steepened to 76-degrees, and the reach has been lengthened by five millimeters.The Enduro 29 also has more travel than before, with 165mm in the rear and a 160mm fork up front. The head anglechanged on the 29er – it's a degree-and-a-half slacker than before, and now checks in at 66-degrees with a 160mm fork. Like the 650b version, the seat angle has been steepened, and the reach has increased ever-so-slightly.Specialized chose to launch the new Enduro on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast, which just so happens to be the location of the Coast Gravity Park. I was able to spend one day shuttling laps in the park aboard the Enduro 650b, and the next on the 29er exploring the network of amazing trails outside the small town of Sechelt.Both bikes felt familiar right off the bat, which makes sense considering that neither one underwent really radical geometry changes. The biggest difference I felt was with the Enduro 650b – those 2.6” tires have an immense amount of grip, and it took me a bit to get accustomed to the way they handled on the hardpacked berms in the bike park. That extra width, especially in the rear, made it a little harder to really get the tires on edge. They felt best on rougher, more natural sections of trail, where they seemed to smooth out everything in their path, and made it easy to carry a ridiculous amount of speed. Personally, I think I'd run the bike with a slightly narrower rear tire, something in the 2.3” to 2.4” range, which would make it easier to find the side knobs while still maintaining the traction and control provided by all that rubber up front. Even though the Enduro 650b now has 170mm of travel, it hasn't forgotten its manners, and the easygoing nature present in the previous version still remains. It's still an all-mountain bike through and through, rather than being a mini-DH bike that's almost solely focused on downhill performance.The Enduro 29 has a well-deserved reputation for being an excellent descender, and its downhill prowess has only been improved by the slacker head angle and additional travel. The loop we rode had several steep and rough sections, but they were rather short, which means I never felt like I was able to fully open it up to see just what the bike was capable of (I have a feeling the answer is "anything," but we'll have to wait for a long-term test to see). It was the big-wheeler's climbing capabilities that ended up being a pleasant surprise – I was able to easily navigate through a few tight and tricky section of trail that at first glance I hadn't expected to clean. The climbing position is very comfortable, and even in the fully open position the Monarch Plus shock was free of any excess movement. Speaking of suspension, the S-Works version of the Enduro come with Ohlins suspension front and rear, and the Pro models come with the Ohlins STX shock – we'll hopefully be spending time on those components in the near future to find out how they stack up.My initial impressions are that the new Enduro doesn't push the design boundariesfar, but the updates do bring it right in line with its contemporaries, where it's ready to take everyone from weekend warriors to elite racers as far as they'd like to go.