Specialized 2013 Camber Comp: On Test- by Guitar Ted
Last spring Grannygear got the chance to head out to the mountains of Utah and see what Specialized Bicycles had in store for fans of 29″ers in 2013. One of the bikes that impressed him was the Camber Comp. In the six bike line up of the Camber series the Camber Comp sits below the four offered in carbon fiber. You can read what Grannygear thought about his brief test ride here.
2013 Specialized Camber Comp in Gloss White and Red
While Grannygear tested the Gloss Black and Lime version we got the Gloss White and Red version in for a long term test. The Camber fits into the type of bike that many riders are looking for: A good, all around, high performance scoot that can handle a long weekend ride with your crew or go race the local 100 miler or endurance race. At 110mm travel front and rear the Camber cuts a line across the XC and Trail segments. It also fits into the realm of bikes I have focused on throughout the year. Bikes in the 100-ish millimeter travel range with a bent towards the Trail side of the equation.
So, I’ll fit some pedals to this rig- 
– and I’ll get to riding this sharp looking scoot. In the meantime, look for an Out Of The Box post where I will detail out this entire rig for you.
Note: Specialized Bikes sent the Camber Comp for test and review at no charge to Twenty Nine Inches. We are not being bribed, nor paid to do this review. We will strive to give our honest thoughts and opinions throughout.
What are your thoughts on cable routing? Seems many bikes are now putting all the cables under the down tube, whereas in the past they were along the top tube. I personally find it mainly to be a pain to clean my bike with downtube routing, but thankfully don’t have any damaged cables from such an exposed location.
@Motivated: Typically there are three things one should never discuss in public: Religion, Politics, and Bicycle Cable Routing.
Seriously, I do see your point here. I have a ’11 Salsa Cycles Mukluk with similar routing. Functionally, it is great, aesthetically it is merely “okay”, and in terms of overall maintenance it is a pain.
From the looks department, the way the Specialized cables are sort of “hanging there” looks odd. It just doesn’t quite fit the overall look of the bike. Then- as you alluded to in your comment- cleaning the frame is sort of a pain due to those cable runs being in the way, and that in a spot that gets lambasted with dirt and mud.
That all said, functionally it works well. With the convoluted way the frame’s top tube area is formed in order to give us low standover and support for the suspension, it makes sense to run those cables where they are.
So, I don’t care for the lesser important consequences of having the cables run as they are, but in terms of performance, it is hard to argue Specialized’s choice. Hope that makes sense.
Full run cable housings have gotten so good at performance and weather sealed-ness that I really don’t care where they run them. It’s not a cyclocross bike…
Poor Man’s downtube protector!
Seriously, I predict that 2014 Specialized bikes will have internal routing for aesthetics (but still full length housing, please!).
To the bike: I liked my 2012 Camber a lot for trail riding and endurance racing. Then — long story — I ended up with A CTD rear shock, and I LOVE it. That extra firmness in the C position is invaluable for racing.
The only down mark I give the bike is that it really, really needs platform to pedal well. Much more so than my Sultan, with the DW rear suspension.
Cables also protect the frame when they are sitting there which is nice on carbon frames.
I have a 2012 Camber and the down tube cable routing is really not that bad when you look at how far the cable loop hangs down when it goes around the bottom bracket shell.
It doesn’t extend past the chainrings. So unless you are doing some crazy all mountain boulder climbing, the cables are safe from harm. You are going to smash your chainrings before the cables.
Is it possible to get something snagged on the cables due to their location? Sure, but that is true for a lot of places on a bike regardless of make or model.