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Specialized 29er Epic – Xterra Champ Conrad Stoltz’s Bike

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conrad stoltz xterra world champion specialized epic 29er full suspension mountain bike 2010

Besides Ned Overend’s race 29er Epic, Conrad Stoltz had his Specialized 29er on the workstand.  The Xterra World Champion had some interesting parts spec, like some virtually square chainrings a la bio-pace shapes.  Seriously, they’re crazy, and they look like they’ve seen a ton of wear.

Hit “more” for lots of photos and some more views of the frame.  For the “official” run down, check the video from our other post…

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Click on any of the images to enlarge.  Check the chainrings:

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These are O Symetric.  Funny, because I thought the Specialized team had a sponsorship deal with Rotor.

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SRAM XO twister shifters, Avid Ultimate levers and Titec bar.  The Specialized / RockShox fork is the same as the other bikes we’ve covered.

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This part is a little concerning…having the cables run along the bottom of the BB shell and hanging so far down seems like a recipe for disaster.  I did see some R&D looking folks talking about this and mushing the cables around as I photographed, so perhaps this will change for production models…although given the number of frames on demo, my guess is they’re pretty much just waiting around for the SRAM XX stuff to start shipping them.

conrad stoltz xterra world champion specialized epic 29er full suspension mountain bike 2010

The front derailleur mounts to the swingarm.

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Both Conrad’s and Ned’s bikes had “Epic Comp” on the top tube.  Our conversations indicate the Marathon will be the top of the line Epic 29er at launch, though Specialized’s marketing guy Nic Sims did indicate there will likely be an S-Works trim level in the not-too-distant future.  Considering these won’t really get into the retail stream until just before Interbike, the S-Works model may debut there for release early next year.  If the Marathon ships with the carbon-crowned fork and SRAM XX, though, there’s really not going to be much else to top it short of a carbon frame. Hmmmm…..

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Note the recess in the seat tube to give the front derailleur room to move forward and back with the rear wheel’s travel.

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Whit Zirkle
Whit Zirkle
14 years ago

Is the bike going to be put into production? Specialized needs a faster 29er bike.

mike
14 years ago

Price Est? for both marathon and HT Carbon I want one but not for over 4500 usa.

Thanks

J2
J2
14 years ago

Too bad they did not have enough forethought to do fox/specialized inertia valve technology for the front shock to make it a well balanced out rig. Most of your unwanted bob comes from the front. Also, to do a carbon s-works model. The front brain and full carbon body would make this a remarkably competitive entry into the new carbon dual suspension 29ers coming out from Santa Cruz and Fisher.
As it is….not so much.

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