Specialized 29″ers: Epic Marathon 29″er- Mid-Term

Epic Marathon wrap-up:
Editor’s Note: Grannygear chimes in with his Mid-Term Report on the Specialized Epic Marathon 29″er. He has had wonderful riding conditions in Southern California, (well…in comparison to mine!), and will continue to ride till our final review coming later. Look for my updates later in the Spring after the riding season kicks in.)

By Grannygear:

I have around 25 hours of riding the Epic Marathon 29er on typical So Cal trails and roads and I think I have a pretty good feel for the bike as a whole and in part. When I first took delivery of the Epic Marathon, I was very curious to see if it could replace my Lenzsport Leviathan 3.0 as an all around XC FS ride. The answer to that will come later. As we have written about in the out-of-the-box article, the Marathon is equipped with a pretty high end parts list, mostly SRAM XX, a Rock Shok Black Box fork, and some Roval wheels. I want to break out my thoughts into a few categories as I think there is enough here to talk about individually.

The frame and fork: The M5 manipulated aluminum frame looks well made and seems to be quite stiff enough. I mounted a Captain Control 2.2 on the rear wheel and I still have enough clearance at the asymmetrical swingarm/BB shell area for my needs. The understated color is nice if you decry flashy, blingy looks. The flip side? It does not look like a $6k bike in many folk’s eyes. The dropped top tube is sweet for stand over. Very nice. However it barely allows for one water bottle location and that requires some fiddling to get a bottle past the shock. In fact, there is only one WB braze-on on the frame so it comes with a set of adapters to mount a bottle on the back of the extended seatpost. It seems a crime to limit the H2O carrying capacity of a bike so well suited to long XC endurance rides. It came to me as I was assembling the bike that, if you rearranged the cable housing fasteners under the downtube, you could have them do double duty as WB bosses as well. Just a thought. The overall look is unmistakably Specialized Epic.

I had wondered how the lack of a thru axle would affect the front end stiffness, but that does not seem to be an issue as I have never felt any wandering or vague steering from the Epic’s Custom SBC/RockShox Reba S29 Carbon with100mm travel, a one-piece tapered carbon crown/steerer tube, Rockshox Reba Team lower, titanium motion control damper and lock out with floodgate adjust.

Now, you may remember that, across three rides on three different Epic Marathons, I had felt a strange and scary sensation in the front end when braking hard and turning in a downhill corner. Now that I have had time on the Epic, I figured it out. It was the set-up on the Reba that was freaking me out. Compared to the settings and behavior of the classic Reba on my Lev, this particular Reba needs to be treated differently. I was getting way too much brake dive and the fork was just blowing through its travel, even with the air pressure where the sag seemed to place it for my weight. I ended up increasing the PSI by 10 pounds pos and neg compared to the old Reba. From there, with the compression damping all the way open, I set the rebound till it came back fast enough for my taste. Then I closed the compression damping all the way, set the Floodgate to where it opened up on a moderate bump, but was pretty well resistant to movement, then opened the compression damping about 3 clicks. That set up was perfectly balanced to the rear end and completely did away with the diving feeling. I had been thinking that the Epic needed a Fox fork but now I have come to appreciate the versatility of the Reba.

The Brain shock went through teething issues in earlier generations, but with Fox shocks taking over the manufacturing and QC, things look bright and cheery. The Fox/SBC remote Mini-Brain, inertia valve, w/ Brain fade adjust transforms the normally soft and sometimes too compliant FSR rear suspension into a XC delight and can provide the closest thing to a hardtail like feel to out of the saddle pedaling and yet still give you 100% suspension travel when needed. That is hard to beat. The biggest negative I can see is the slight ‘clack’ feel that can be heard-felt when the Brain lets go and the issue of the proprietary design. It needs that Brain to be what it is. Sometimes the rear suspension can feel a bit odd compared to the typical Pro Pedal feel. On my Lev, using Pro Pedal on the RP23 basically gives the bike a very muted but linear feel to the travel. So, while I may not get all the travel and it is not plush, it feels very predictable. Most of the time the Brain is pretty seamless, but every so often the on-off characteristic of the Brain will result in feeling firm, then let go on a compression dip and sink far into the travel. It feels kinda’ odd when that happens. I think I will keep playing with the shock pressure as I do get full travel pretty regularly, perhaps too often.

The XX drivetrain/Avid brakes: When it first debuted, the SRAM XX stuff made a lot of waves with its no compromises engineering shown in parts like the 10 speed cassette almost completely made from a single piece of billet steel. It also came into the market as a dedicated 2X10 set up with a 39/26 front chainringed double crank drilled in a new BCD to improve stiffness and shifting combined with the blingy 11-36 rear cassette. So what do I think overall? It is quite frankly, better than anything else I have ridden on in overall shifting performance. It spoils you. You can really hammer the up-shift on the crankset and it will just move the chain up to the 39T ring with little complaint. I can see the appeal of 2X10. I have been running 2X9 for quite a while now, but I just removed the 42T ring and kept the 22/32 and the 11-34 rear gearing. That shorts me on a top gear every now and then, but it has been very, very good for my area and my fitness level. For me, where I live, the 26/36 combo is not quite low enough. I get by on fireroad climbs, but slow, techy trailwork just bogs me down and saps my legs. However, I am not you. If you are very strong or do not have the type of climbs I do here, then it could be all you need. Other parts like the low q-factor carbon crank and the BB stuffed with ceramic bearings just do what they are supposed to do.

The Custom Avid Elixir R CR MAG brakes have been 99.99% fabulous and it would be 100% if it were not for a light pulse in the rear brake. That could just be a matter of cleaning the rotor and I have been lazy about getting around to it, but I have had issues with that on other Avid brakes sets in the past and I do wonder about the consistency of the thickness of the rotors. Other than that, they have been smooth, quiet, fade free, and simply a pleasure to use, especially with the 185mm front rotor that Specialized specs on the LG and XL versions of the Epic 29er.. They are a huge improvement over the Juicy brakes travesty that inspired the dreaded turkey gobble noise. Good job, Avid.

The Roval Control EL XC Wheels: When I first saw the Roval front wheel and the radial lacing on the non-braking side, I thought “well that is a dumb thing to do.” I also shook my head at the lack of any thru-axle option on the fork. However, both of those things have not been an issue at all and I have been pretty impressed with the overall performance of the wheelset. For one thing, the hubs are made by DT Swiss and that is a good thing. The rear hub has an alloy free-hub body and is smooth and quiet, especially compared to many of the more popular buzz bomb hubs like the Hopes, Kings, and I9s. I have not tried to take it apart, but I am told the hub is comparable to DT Swiss S240 model and if so, should be a snap to maintain and service and uses straight pull spokes. The front hub has end caps that are easily removed and can convert to 15mm and 20mm thru axles. To compensate for the lack of a thru axle in the stock set-up, the end caps for the 5mm QR (made with a Ti skewer) hub have 28mm OS faces on the area that meets the fork dropout. That seems to be a nod to the ‘suspension hubs’ of yore and it is effective and light. The rims come with blue rim tape installed and tubeless valve stems to go the full monty and toss the inner tubes. The stock tires are good to go tubeless but I ran into some issue with the conversion. I did get the front rim to seal finally after I re-taped it and I suspect that it was the supplied valve stems combined with a fairly oversized hole drilled into the Roval rim that were giving me issues. It is not quite Schraeder, but it is larger then the Presta drillings in the Stans rims I have.

I recently obtained some compelling information on the OS end caps and how they compare to a 15mmQR thru axle, the thoughts behind the radial lacing, and including numbers from the lab that may surprise you. Watch for an article about this wheelset in the future.

Are they comparable to a high end, pro built wheelset? Well, I think you would need to compare them to a set of DT Swiss hubs on Arch rims (or a nice Mavic rim), assuming that the normal DT Swiss hubs offer the flexibility of the Roval front hub’s conversion potential and the 28mm OS end caps that is. That would not be a cheap wheelset to have built, so although the Stan’s Arches are dead simple and proven in the tubeless world, the Roval wheels seem to be a contender.

Bits and Pieces: The bars are 660mm (26”) wide and I like wider bars. This bothered me, but I also liked it on very narrow trails so some give and take there. The grips are Specialized Thick lock on grips. The Specialized stem is kinda neat in that it has an insert between the stem and the steerer tube that can be flipped to give different rises to the stem. That could save you from buying a new stem or handle bar to get the fit you want. The seat post is a Thomson set back post and there is none better for reliability and value. The Specialized Phenom SL BG saddle was quite a surprise. I am a dedicated WTB saddle user (Pure V) and I have been tortured by some saddles lately by Bontrager and fizik. The Phenom saddle was a bit thin in padding (apparently it is the ‘thin padding’ model), but I have logged a 5 hour day on it and never even considered it to be anything but comfy. It looks light, too, with its Ti rails. The tires are S works versions of the Captain 2.0 front and Fast Trak 2.0 rear. They make sense as a choice for this bike, but I swapped to a WTB Wolverine 2.2 front and a Captain Control 2.2 rear combo for more flotation. I have learned to love the Captain tires as an all rounder, but I still cannot warm up to the Fast Traks. Not terrible, but they lack traction compared to something like the Conti Race Kings.

Overall thoughts: The Epic models, both the Marathon and the Comp, raise the bar in the XC/Endurance racing-riding category. The Brain shock is the real deal and allows for a fabulous pedaling response without losing much else in the process. Pro Pedal, see ya’ later. I won’t miss you at all. The Epic is a dead aim at the all day riding XC crowd and seems like it would make a fabulous endurance platform. As a trailbike, it could be all you need if 100mm/90mm of F/R travel is all you require. If in doubt about that, perhaps a light build on an FSR Stumpjumper 29er is the best choice or even a Tall Boy, something that lends itself to a 120mm fork if desired. On trail, the Epic is quite steady and not at all flighty. It will handle everything I ride in my area and is more agile than my Leviathan in its current form while giving me the same or slightly more travel.

The Marathon, for all its high end parts, is kinda’ heavy. Where is all the pork hiding?: I have no interest in stripping down the Epic’s frame to get it weighed, but I bet the M5 aluminum frameset is not a lightweight, especially compared to the carbon fiber FS frames like a Superfly 100 or a Santa Cruz Tall Boy. But, there are some advantages to a bit of weight in the right place and I think there needs to be some perspective here. The Epic frame looks well built and not at all wimpy or speculative in any part I can see. I would bet that the Epic frame would shrug off a hit to the chassis that would kill a lighter weight carbon frame. It is stiffer than the old model JET-9 I rode, especially in the rear triangle. You may remember that the JET-9 was called out as being too heavy to be a race bike as well. We shall see how the new JET-9 comes out, but I think the same person who would like a JET-9 would love the Epic Marathon.

Is it a pure XC weapon? I guess it could be, but frankly that is what the carbon Stumpjumper hardtail is. Where the Epic would come alive is on a 12 or 24 hour race when the chassis is providing an efficient but forgiving ride and you feel fresher than you might with a 2 lb lighter hardtail. I bet there is a carbon Epic Marathon in the future.

Is it worth the money? That depends. This is an expensive bike, but the carbon Reba with Ti goodies, the XX suite…it is nearly a showcase bike in many ways and that level of componentry will never be cheap. Value is in the eye (and wallet) of the buyer. However, you have to hand it to Specialized to spec a bike like this and roll the dice that folks will see the value and write the checks for the XX package. This is not typically the price level I would jump into. XT or XO is more my style….but….I have ridden some very nice XT 9spd equipped bikes lately and frankly they pale in comparison to the XX stuff. Sometimes good things cost more and I think you do get standout performance out of XX. If you want a very high performance parts package that represents the cutting edge of today and you don’t want to assemble it yourself, then maybe the XX stuff is the ticket. It is exclusive and it works very, very well. And, some parts like the custom Reba are not even on the aftermarket.

So, in some ways, the Epic Marathon is a bit of a conundrum: A bit heavy for a pure XC race bike, a bit lightweight in travel for a take it nearly anywhere trail bike. However, it runs the middle ground of those two extremes very well. The slight hit it takes on the weight scale feels like less of an issue rolling down the trail. It fits my needs overall, despite some of the component choices. What might I do if I was a product manager for the Big S? Keep the Comp as is, make the Marathon an XO platform with a non-carbon fiber Reba, keep the nice Roval wheels and drop the price way down. Pair the carbon/Ti Reba Fork with the frameset only offering. Then, when and if the Carbon S Works Epic 29er gets ready for market (I have no special knowledge that it will), replace the Marathon frameset and complete bike with a carbon S-Works version. Then let the buyers bling it out as the best of the best with XX if they so choose. Oh, and I think this bike would rock with a Specialized platform fork of some kind….just sayin’.

The Epic 29ers were first a rumor, then a promise, then something many riders were impatiently waiting for. I think it was, with a few reservations, well worth the wait. And to answer the question of whether it could replace the trusty Leviathan as my FS bike? Yeah. It sure could, and that is high praise indeed.

Grannygear and I will be doing longer term testing on this and the Stumpjumper Carbon Expert. Stay tuned for further updates.

Note: These products were provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for reviewing. We are not being paid or bribed for this review. We will give our honest opinion or thoughts through out.