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just a bunch of bike fans :D

Totally unrelated, but I just realized how positive of an environment the vital comments section usually is. I wonder why that is..sure would make social medias more fun if it were more often like this.

Honestly, I don't know why I felt what I felt from the rear of the bike. The usual suspects are absent when looking at the kinematics. Maybe it was the wheel path, but I've ridden other bikes with very similar wheel paths without noting this sort of anemic-ness (its a word) from the bike's suspension action. Realize, it wasn't "bad", it just felt like less travel. Harsh for a 140mm bike. About what you'd expect from a 110-120mm bike. I know I'm supposed to be reviewing a dead stock bike, but for a period of time I had the opportunity...

I weight 180 and race Masters 40-50, but would have been 4th in Expert at my last race. Have been top 5 at National Championships in the recent past. Also top 5 on almost every Strava segment locally against fast Pro's. I live in San Diego which has a crazy amount of high speed chunk on the local trails. Chris Powell in the Jeremy McGrath video posted up a few days ago is one of my teammates and I am usually 5-10 seconds behind him on DH segments for comparison. The trails in that video are some of the smoothest...

This is such a great comparative review. Thanks Mr. Brines!

Jeff - I ride the mountains of northern Utah mostly, with some southern Utah desert riding thrown in a couple times a year for good measure. Lotsa pedaling, lotsa searching for fun dh lines. I demoed plenty of bikes last year and the 140r/160f(ish) 29ers are my sweet spot. I'll do the occasional race for fun but on the dh am just racing myself and my crew, no stress. I currently ride an XL 2017 stumpy 29 with Topaz rear and dual position Lyrik (160-130) up front and am digging the steeper STAs and slacker HTAs on the newer bikes...

Lets just put it this way, I own a Sentinel, I don't own the Evo. 'Nuff said eh? The Sentinel is a 140 bike that feels like 140 (or maybe more with a good damper). Its also designed around a 160mm fork, which is a plus and the BB is more reasonable. Which shop do you like better? Where do you ride? Do you race?

Great review! I own a S3 Evo 29 and I'm curious how a more weight/pedal friendly spec'd build would change your mind on it being an "Enduro Race Weapon"? Also, did you run the Evo in High or Low mode? Although the stock build is excellent for the price, it leaves a lot of opportunity to cut weight and tweak to your liking IMO. It took me a bit of time to mesh with the bike out of the box. Let me add the disclaimer that my last bike was a 28lbs 2016 S-Works SJ 27.5. So with the geo...

FWIW, this is something I really did want to do to the bike but for obvious reasons I wasn't allowed to do. Like I said, I had to omit the whole BlackBox shock from the review, so long shocking with a coil *absolutely* would have been out. (though I have a suspicion this is what Jared and Curtis are doing) Specialized doesn't want people long shocking the thing as it obviously voids the warranty. That said, for the price, I'd absolutely buy the bike, push the fork's travel to 160mm and then pickup a coil in the dimensions you suggested...

Curious, what do you weigh? What class are you racing? (not trying to be a dick, I think both of these matter from my experience)

Great info, Salespunk, thanks. You are one of those I was referring to above that is having a very positive experience with the Evo.

I own both of these bikes right now plus a HTLT. My builds are a little different since I have the SWorks SJ and have put XO1 on the Evo along with SC carbon wheels so take my comments with a grain of salt that it is not an exact comparison. My experience is that the Evo SLAYS steep rocky sections a "mach chicken" with the stock suspension. I ride a lot of these types of trails and the Evo is by far my favorite bike I have ever ridden for those types of trails. I have set PR's on...

“Charging into new, gnarly terrain at mach chicken...” nice one, Brines. The evo is such a unique bike for the money. It’s actually pretty unique regardless of the price. Specialized really did well with this one and there are a lot of guys with these bikes on the mtbr forum that are loving them. In today’s market, how can you argue with such a cool ride at such a reasonable price? But alas, I am all about charging into new, gnarly terrain at mach chicken, often alone, deep in the back country of SW CO, far out of cell range...

I agree 100% on integrated HS. We lose so much geometry flexibility with integrated, it sucks. I think a longer travel fork with the rear in the High position would make a big difference in BB height. Could probably gain close to 10 mm. Can't wait for the carbon version in the next month or so, hopefully they raised the BB on that setup.

I'd wager I am more critical of bikes than most testers. The funny part is this review was literally supposed to take place over one week in the desert and turned into an entire spring, summer and fall. Which was good. It really let me suss out performance of both bikes, and compare them to other bikes like the Transition Sentinel, Trek Slash, Canyon Torque (I know, totally difference) and others. Few things to realize... 1) I still pretend to race pro, and I'm not light. This is important as the speed I'm trying to carry and the net impact...

First off great review. I have both of the bikes tested plus an HTLT as well and would echo your experiences in climbing. The Evo is very underrated in this area and it absolutely crushes the climbs. I find that the steep seat tube means that I don't have to fight to keep the front wheel on the ground which takes a surprising amount of energy and core strength. I constantly laugh at people that say slack bikes can't climb well. It is all about the SA, not the HA. Regarding descending, my experience does not mirror that of Brines...

Put a 170 fork and run it in the high position with a 55 stroke shock and you will have a long travel weapon with a higher BB

210 eye to eye is the same as factory so static angles are unchanged. 57mm stroke means the back end just compresses deeper, but even in low there is safe clearance at bottom out, obviously there is even more clearance in high mode so you could run a longer stroke still for maybe 170mm travel. From memory there isn't much space to run a longer eye to eye if you want to steepen it up, someone below has mentioned they are running 216 with a 3mm offset, so 213mm total length, but in low mode. Not sure if it fits...

Came here to see if anyone has tried a a coil! Good to hear it improves the Evo. Is that longer stroke shock also longer from eye to eye; does it raise the BB and steepen the HTA?