Specialized Enduro Review!

Testing out a 2018 Specialized Enduro Pro 29! This bike is incredible. Gigantic Thank You to Matt from Bicycle Heaven for setting me up with this bike for a weekend. Check out his shop here in San Antonio! Check links below! https://www.bicycle-heaven.com/ https://www.instagram.com/bicycleheaven/ https://www.facebook.com/bicycle.heaven.9/ Check the Specs: https://www.specialized.com/us/en/enduro-pro-29-6fattie/p/129273?color=240149-129273 Today we are on the 2018 Specialized Enduro Pro 29er. I felt at home on this bike almost instantly, even without pedals, because after researching the geometry on this bike I discovered it’s nearly identical to the Jeffsy. Here they are next to each other for reference; the biggest difference of course being the frame materiel, suspension travel, and of course the wheel size. If you do hate 29ers, this bike also accommodates 27.5 plus wheels! To quickly touch on the specs it has an Ohlins RXF 36 fork and STX rear shock, SRAM X01 Eagle 1X12, SRAM Code R brakes which are a huge improvement over the Guide brakes, and basically carbon everything else. I’ve left a link in the description to all the specs and geometry. In getting the bike set up a feature I really dig is the auto-sag on the rear suspension. They got it dialed in for my weight at the shop before I even took it home. I appreciate this a ton, because setting up suspension is one of the least fun parts of biking. I wish all forks came with the sag markers like RockShox, but with this Ohlins Fork, I had to dust off my brain and do some math. I think I actually did a pretty good job setting up the fork however. I decided to test this beast out at Leon Creek because it’s a bit more technical than McAllister and I wanted to use the 160mm travel provided to me. I was instantly impressed at how this thing pedaled. I figured it wouldn’t feel that efficient with all that travel, but it was far more responsive than I imagined. The wheel size also blew me away. I was expecting to be wildly out of control on corners and threatening everyone else’s safety, but it felt right. It handled just as well as the Jeffsy, and didn’t feel as bulky as I had anticipated. One thing I could tell though was how much quicker it was…which I did expect. This provided plenty of smiles especially when pointed downhill. This bike just annihilates everything in its path and with all that travel makes rough descents feel like freshly paved tarmac. It also took any poor line choice I made and gave me a reassuring “I’ve got you” response while rolling its metaphorical eyes. Thanks Enduro! It was truly a majestic experience. Here comes the term again….Confidence Inspiring! I was feeling like a bad ass the first hour of the morning….until this happened. Luckily the only thing that got severely damaged was my pride, and my confidence descended faster than this bike. This happened early in the day, so I was lucky it didn’t end my ride. I came back later and redeemed myself on the same hill. I guess I uncaged those 29ers coming downhill and hit some loose gravel on the corner. Lesson learned. Anyways this bike handled well and I thought….dang this thing is pretty spectacular, but surely it can’t climb? Wrong again! While this bike weighed in at 31 pounds and I could feel that during climbing, the bike wasn’t hindered as much as I expected. With the 1 X12 in the granny gear I could definitely get up some steep terrain. Any climb I’ve done here on the Jeffsy I was able to do on this bike. Some other unique features on this bike include a multi tool stored in the headset which I actually used to adjust my saddle height while on the trail, the SWAT door so you can store some extra gear, and the saddle itself actually tilts back when the dropper is lowered all the way so you can get as rad as you want. I finally found the BMX track, but I just rolled it mostly cause I’m not that gnarly. Of the bikes I’ve demoed this has to be my favorite one. It felt satisfyingly familiar while outperforming all my expectations. I kind of want a 29er in my life now. As expected here I come to complain about the price…sort of. While this bike is $6,500, you could literally ride it for years without needing anything else. Not that you won’t want something else. I don’t think the term “Do-it-all” exists for any bike, but this thing is damn close. A huge thank you to Matt and the entire team over at Bicycle Heaven for letting me demo this over the weekend. If you’re in San Antonio please go visit one of their two locations. They sell Specialized, have everything you could possibly need to get riding, and also have a knowledgeable and friendly staff. They all treated me like a friend rather than a customer and I can’t thank you all enough for this!