Spotted: Did Specialized Just Soft-Launch a New Epic?


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In a recent Instagram post from Specialized Factory Racing, it shows their team rider, Sina Frei, on what appears to be a new Epic Evo. The bike in question looks to have a complete cross-country race setup and is even using non-Blackbox Rockshox Flight Attendant suspension, which could mean the SID Flight Attendant is on its way to production.

In the Instagram post it also shows Sina’s teammate, Victor Koretzky, riding the current Epic World Cup, which doesn’t feature the Flight Attendant SID suspension. Given the size of the Flight Attendant SID shock, a new frame design may have been necessary for XC-race scenarios.

The current Epic Evo uses a flex stay with a rocker link-driven shock whereas the Epic World Cup frame is a single pivot suspension design with an in-line shock.

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The most noticeable change is the larger head tube/down tube junction and cross-section of the downtube, likely to create room for SWAT storage. There’s also a very low stack height and a top cap that is recessed into the top tube, possibly allowing for internal headset routing.

When asked for more information, Specialized referred us to their Project Black statement:

bigquotes Specialized relies on feedback from professional athletes in both developing and testing advanced pre-production products in real-world applications. With this top-level feedback, some of these design elements and products eventually show up in future retail product offerings. We call this Project Black.— Specialized



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