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Haley Batten of the Specialised Manufacturing facility Race Staff rode to victory on the Shimano Supercup Massi Banyoles final weekend on what seems to be to be a brand new Specialised XC Race Bike. Bikerumor reader, Joe Curran, despatched us a video of Haley motoring previous on Lap 2, when Haley had already established a lead. Regardless of the muddy situations, the video does reveal a body sock hiding what’s prone to be a rear shock that’s, given the tight spacing, prone to be considerably built-in into the highest tube.
Is that this the 2023 Specialised Epic XC Bike?
Specialised’s high tube sleeve reminds us very a lot of that point we noticed Jolanda Neff aboard a prototype Trek on the 2019 the Nové Město World Cup. It’s plain, there are stark similarities. In fact, any shock-frame integration carried out by Specialised will doubtless be fairly completely different to Trek’s Iso Strut if solely to make sure no patent infringement happens. And not using a glimpse beneath the quilt, we’re banished to the world of untamed hypotheses.
Specialised’s present XC Race Bike is the Epic, a 100mm journey carbon body benefiting from versatile seat stays; it was final up to date in 2021. Our in-house XC professional, Jordan Villella, has spent a not-inconsiderable period of time aboard the aforementioned, so his guesses are pretty much as good as anybody’s. Over to him!
The Specialised Epic has been my go-to race bike for a few years, so I used to be excited to see what the most recent mannequin would give us. The up to date Epic design we see in race photographs from the Shimano Supercup Massi Banyoles seems to be jam-packed with new choices from Specialised. The body seems to be to be a shock, much like the Trek SuperCaliber, so we’re guessing this bike may have wherever from 65-80mm of rear journey.
The place’s the Mind? We’re considering that the Specialised signature race function may very well be hidden beneath the quilt, and in that case, it’s a way more compact design than up to now.
Why much less journey than the present providing? The Epic EVO will nonetheless be within the Specialised lineup as an endurance or marathon bike. Christopher Blevins simply posted an Instagram photograph dropping off a gnarly rock on the Epic Evo with a Rock Shox SID distant fork and rear lockout…
In case you look intently, you’ll discover some cool new Roval one-piece carbon bars. In case you add in a brilliant mild mountain MTB-specific carbon seat put up, that can spherical out Roval’s MTB choices. In case you look nearer on the photograph above, you’ll discover no brake hose traces are going into the body externally. They give the impression of being to trace alongside or inside the brand new Roval one-piece bar and thru the headtube. Will brake producers have brakes designed particularly to route internally with one-piece bar/stem combos, as we noticed on Lars Foresters World Cup race bike at Snow Shoe? Solely time will inform, however we’re extra excited than ever to see what’s coming from Specialised.
A have a look at Haley Batten’s Instagram reveals us that the body isn’t the one newness she was using final weekend. Given the additional machining we will see on the RockShox SID fork crown, we’re prepared to guess that’s a brand new, lighter mannequin. Additionally, it’s fairly clear from our reader’s video that Haley’s bike can be benefiting from what seems to be to be that SRAM Eagle Direct Mount derailleur we uncovered particulars on final September.
