The Specialized Enduro is the GOAT of mountain bikes, change my mind

 +1

Can't really argue with that. Each gen of the enduro has been rad (excl '99) vs. market competition since it came out ages and ages ago.

For me the GOAT mtb is always the one you currently own if it has brakes and suspension that work properly on a regular basis.

Gary Fischer rig.  Rigid 29er single speed with good xc geo.  In an era where shit didn’t work that bike did.  Regret selling my superfly ss that the rig eventually evolved into.  

Choosing the greatest bike of all time based on performance is a pointless task as it is impossible for anyone to have ridden a large enough sample size in the period of relevance to make such a declaration. From my perspective in order for a bike to qualify it must meet a combination of criteria that make it iconic and representative of its specific genera of mountain biking. This should include performance (represented by race results/market acceptance), impact on the direction of niche and the desire from the intended market. In my opinion the Enduro doesn’t meet the level required for greatest of all time. While it certainly has had some impact on market direction and all of its incarnations have generally been met with acceptance and good reviews it has limited podium level race results at the top level enduro racing and does not fall into the realm of “iconic” or genera defining bikes. I think that if you were to choose a Specialized for GOAT it would have to be the Stump Jumper for OG credibility, more EWS success than the Enduro and the current incarnation being one of the most progressive and versatile bikes in the game.

My personal list is focused on DH largely because I couldn’t think of a standout in the XC space and the AM/enduro/trail category is crowded with amazing bikes to ride that are not particularly interesting or iconic. 

Intense M1 - Iconic. Changed DH. One of very few models to be rebranded/blacked out and raced by non sponsored riders. Everyone interested in DH wanted this bike at the time.

Santa Cruz V10 - Ridden by iconic riders to iconic wins from the start. One of the winningest DH bikes of all time. The go to for generations of privateer racers.  Changed the game over night when the 29er version dropped. 

RM -7 - one of the bikes that ushered in a new age of MTB. Seen under the early icons of freeride in the biggest movies of the era. Representative of the shift that made MTB cool again and brought me back to the sport. Also the only bike on the list that I owned. Admittedly not the best riding bike. 

Trek Session - The winningest DH bike of all time. Not the most desirable in my opinion but the numbers don’t lie.

The category of favorite personal bikes of all time is much more fluid and has generally been the most recent incarnation of whatever trail bike that I’m currently riding but some honorable mentions from the last 30 years are my Smurf blue1993/4 Mantis Pro Floater, 03 Giant VT1 as the bike that gave me a glimpse of the greatness of trail bikes to come, full rigid SIR9 that I borrowed for a couple of years and the current generation of Trance Adv X 29 for its easy to ride versatility. 

Stumpy sorry, enduro might be 2nd

This discussion is moot.

In general, most bikes are really freakin good these days. You really don't need to pay out the nose for a Specialized, Santa Cruz, Ibis or Yeti. All other legit brands have bikes that perform equally well or better.

Also, the Specialized Enduro does that thing where the frame actually has some pretty bad engineering flaws causing it to crack at the head tube under heavy load. And at the BB. And the seat tube. And the upper rocker link. Seriously, never saw a frame with that many weak spots.

But when Specialized eventually manages to figure out how to build reliable bikes, I'm sure the Enduro would be a decent performer.

Funny enough, I'd probably agree it's the GOAT. Between a number of us (10 or so), 4 are on Endruos now including myself. We came from Rocky Mountain, Santa Cruz, Commencal, Giant, etc... We all agree that the Endruos is hands down the best bike we've ever ridden. It climbs like a hardtail and descends like a DH, nothing better.

The Enduro rides fantastic but there are far too many cracked frames to even consider it as the GOAT. 

And these are cracked frames from mild-mannered consumers too, mind you.  I personally know of 3 people who aren't even in the top 20 of their categories who have cracked frames.

From a historical perspective, I'm on board with the Enduro being the GOAT for enduro type bikes. It pretty much brought the Enduro bike to the masses and was consistently big-brand trend-leading each generation. Except for maybe XC-focused triple crown fork version. Head angle on the 2006 generation, reach on the 2010 gen, and first at getting 29er right on long travel. 

Loved my 2006 and 2010 versions, but they also taught me a big bike sucks the fun out of not big bike trails. So definitely not the GOAT of all mountain bikes.

The GOAT all around mtb is hands down the Nicolai G1. Super versatile, ajustable suspension, ajustable geometry, allows for both wheelsizes and mullet. It's solid and is backed by a 10 year guarentee that if you break it or need parts for it Nicolai will make them. You can run a dual crown on it  without issue. It also available in sizes all the way up to 550mm of reach!

As mentioned above, the current version is a bit too fragile to call it hand down the best bike ever, but if we are talking about the enduro over time being the best bike I think I would agree.

I had a friend who back in the day had 2 ~2006 enduros one built up with light components for trail riding and one with beefy components for shuttle days, both bikes were sick.

Mostly, I bought the first generation Enduro 29er back, that bike was a huge leapfrog over the competition, they were 5 years ahead of the competition, we are now 10 years on and if the bike were a touch slacker and longer it would still be competitive!

I very much agree with this take, but I have a question: shouldn't we regard the M1, taking into consideration the M3, M6, M9, M16 and M29 as well? Intense kept changing the name of its top end DH bike, but the others didn't.

Otherwise, from the historical perspective some mentioned before, I think the StumpJumper beats the Enduro easily. Why?

- it is the original MTB for the masses and it has been around for the longest time, therefore it has an advantage nobody else has
- it made MTB affordable in its incipient phase and then kept reinventing itself, so it remained relevant in every era
- it has always been versatile and remains this way

All of the above considered and I still don't think it't the Greatest Of All Time, as it lacks a certain fascination factor. It is pretty much the Toyota Corolla of mountainbiking and if you talk about something as a GOAT, it needs to be aspirational. Have you ever heard someone raving ”Man, I wish for a Corolla SO SO bad!”? Neither have I about a StumpJumper or Enduro, which, by the way, at times has been good, but never exceeded what the others had to offer.

I believe the talk about this should be about iconic bikes and iconic bikes are never boring. The Enduro is, sorry!

What we are looking for is a correspondent of the McLaren F1 from the auto world, as it seems most car experts agree that it was a pinnacle never reached before and still relevant.

So what are/were aspirational models that reached iconic status through the years? These are a few I can think of:

- Intense M1 and Santa Cruz V10, as well mentioned above
- Sunn Radical Plus 
- Orange 222
- Klein Attitude
- Fat Chance Yo Eddy
- Yeti C-26
- GT LTS/STS
- Santa Cruz Heckler
- Cannondale Super-V
- Gary Fisher Supercaliber
- Santa Cruz Nomad

I believe that the bike above that carries the spirit of the McLaren F1 the best must be the Sunn Radical Plus.

Mx

The Enduro really wasn't the first bike to get the "long-travel 29er" formula right. That title goes to either the 2018 Scott Ransom or the 2018 YT Capra. Both were the first ones among their competition to pair 160mm+ travel with decent kinematics and geometry that doesn't look completely out of place even today.

I would say that it used to be the best but specialized haven't kept up with the times on it sadly. They could have added a mullet link as a aftermarket purchase like they did for the stumpy evo to make it more versitile and open up the mixed wheel market people but they didn't for some reason. 

2016 Enduro 29er was the first "good" 29er Enduro wasn't it? I remember this as being the model that was one of the first good 29ers, a couple years before the YT, Scott and lots of other bikes.

65 HTA

450 Reach (large) 470 (XL)

622/636 stack

430mm seat post length

352mm BB

The Enduro has been my daily driver for many years and as of today, I can't think of anything else I would like to ride. It is incredibly versatile.  I build it with reliable components (XTR, Fox), nothing exotic, electronic, or lavish just a really good functional tool. I love to ride it but I think its lines and esthetic are horrible.. many better-looking bikes out there. In my case, it is the GOAT of modern bikes. It's a rational bike to buy if you are unsponsored 30-40 years old.. 
Sure, there have been more iconic or successful bikes in history but today which bike would you want to buy to pedal in Squamish, climb some trails in Finale Ligure, and then maybe some laps on Kong in Virgin.

GOAT ??

Heavy frame,especially for one that cracks so much

High leverage ratio (high psi/heavy spring needed) and from my personal experience mediocre at best suspension performance.

Too many bearings (20 ??)

One cs length for all sizes

There really are no bad bikes these days,but dont think the Enduro deserves GOAT status...

You can’t claim GOAT for any range that includes the 2014/15 29er, which might just about be the most disappointing bike I have ever ridden. And I’ve ridden some pure shite.

 I rate hightower quite high.

first proper trail 29er, still cutting edge with the current model. Cruz has great service and durability.