I dont get what the benefit of classified hub is for XC? I rarely use my eagle or 10t. Why do I need even more range.
I guess itâs a quick way to dump or grab a few gears without backing off on the power. Not for me but I could see its usefulness, would probably enjoy having it if it was there.
I see the Classified hub making more sense for things like MTB bike packing. Keep the good of a MTB 1x but add in an extra low gear for climbs while loaded. I donât get it for typical trail or race use though.
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Transmission and shimano can do that already. I can also say the amount of times its 100% useful is so rare. Adding extra weight and complexity for a very specific gain that might needed maybe once on a race course. Downside is you have 700g extra to lug up on any climb which isnt insignificant.
My quick take without any real reading, is that this is an additional model in the Epic product line, not replacing the non-WC Epic.
Still waiting on the official S site page to link.
Filtered for âWorld Cupâ to have fewer to sort thru vs the link below:ProductListing | Specialized.com
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The bikes are on there though. just no main page ad
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Just updated Epic | Specialized.com
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After reading through a few articles looking at specs. Iâm really intrigued. First 66.5 headtube angle is crazy for an XC bike but it looks like thats the future. Also for such a small shock it has a lot of features including compression & rebound adjustment ability to tune it for each race. Almost sounds like Open is the default. Weird things I noticed despite a one piece handlebar stem you donât route the brakes through the handlebar which seems to give up that point and now just look messy. The sid fork looks to have completely different uppers so I guess we will we see a new one release soon. Wish they made the price lower for the frame only and didnât force you to buy the seatpost & fork.
As for the future of specialized lineup. I wouldnât be surprised if next year they updated the evo. Got rid of the regular epic and HT. Otherwise they have to many SKU in a limited XC race bike marketplace.
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First 66.5 headtube angle is crazy for an XC bike
This doesnât seem to be a sag adjusted, and since the rear suspension is supposed to be set up with very low to no sag it will probably be closer to 68 once you factor in sag for that 110mm fork.
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Yup, super quick tweak to my sketch and the original 66.5* Head Tube Angle goes to 67.2* with 15% front and just 1% sag at the rear, for one example:
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Good point 
. You have to wonder if they have thought of that.
On the classified hub, the extra dumb thing to me seems the inability to reduce the weight of cassette etc. You have to run their 12s cassette which is still relatively large range. It seems to me the only advantage is for bike packing, or people that need the teeniest gear.
Thereâs still the typical downside of 2x being that thereâs a bunch of overlap in ratios. The upside over a front der is obviously tyre clearance, chain slack/slap, and aesthetics.
Putting things in things in things on a bike is dumb.
Internal cabling is the worst. Bad enough on a road bike, but on a mountain bike that needs constant cleaning and service? Blech. I guess I should stop being poor and run AXS instead. 
And the cables through the HT? Get out of here with that nonsense.
Burrito boxes in the DT look cool, but I find them annoying for actually getting tools/tubes out in a hurry. When I race, all that crap goes in my jersey pockets or strapped to the frame somewhere.
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515mm reach, 684mm TT length, with a 70mm stem. something like this might fit me ok with a 90mm stem, but would be better with 100mm, which I had decided I never wanted to do again, ha.
Thatâs a big bike 
.
Haha, thatâs good!
One thing, Iâm assuming itâs because the Epic and Evo have had many comments about the top tube damage potential, but the Epic WC sure looks stark with the steep sloping top tube.
I think itâs a great idea, just obvious when you see the Epic and SuoerCal side by side.
Now we wait for whatever the new Top Fuel is 
? Surely has to come soon. Nove Mesto is less than a month away.
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Didnât they just redo the Top Fuel for 2022?
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Yes. I donât expect a change to the Top Fuel.
I do think we will see a revised Supercaliber per the video teasers further up the topic.
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I forgot the quotation marks âTop Fuelâ
I figure theyâre working on something closer to the old Top Fuel.
Just watched the PB Epic video
Great review, but I just want to see some riding footage/slow mo to see how the shock works. Frustrating lol.
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Lots of good footage riding and of the shock actuation here
Flow is quickly becoming my favourite xc bike review media source
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