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Specialized
S-Works FSR XC M4
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Submitted by
Steve
a Weekend Warrior
from Manitoulin Island
Date Reviewed: September 17, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$2600.00 | | Strengths: | Epic comp disk is the best bike I have ever owned. | | Weaknesses: | after 950 km of primarily gravel road riding the seat stay developed a bend in it (a kink). Specialized would not warranty this obvious defect in its tubing. After spending thousands they would not replace a $140 part! so i agreed to pay for the replacement and it was returned to me. However they installed the wrong part. It was the wrong colour and had v-brake mounting bosses despite the hydralic disk brake calipers that were still bolted to the damaged bike. Specialized has the worst warranty record in the business! | | Similar Products Used: | Kona Kula Delux | | Bike Setup: | Stock.... low-rise bar | | Bottom Line: | Specialized warranty sucks. Keep their warranty record in mind if you want to buy their products. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Paul Hadgett
a Cross Country Rider
from Great Britain
Date Reviewed: January 30, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | Cannock Chase | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$3000.00 | | Purchased At: | Various shops | | Strengths: | Very well made with excellent geometry. It handles really well and feels stuck to the ground. Easy to set the suspension up. | | Weaknesses: | Cost! | | Similar Products Used: | GT LTS Team. Bought the frameset, as I have done with my last 3 bikes. Fitted all out with top componentry ie XTR Syncros etc. Had a Zaskar before. Best hardtail ever. Period. | | Bike Setup: | Psylo Sl's.XTR mechs.XT shifters.Hope Mini Mono discs with 180 rotors.Awesome stopping power.XT crank arms with Middleburn Slick Shift Hardcoat rings. Azonic bars.WTB Laser saddle.959 Spd's. I also have the BETD linkage fitted. Made in good old England and its awesome. Get on their website and check them out. | | Bottom Line: | This is the first bike I have "fully" kitted out. All the finishing details are done. Middleburn self extracting crank bolts, alloy chainring bolts, Gore gear cables etc. The bike is very light and goes uphill so so eay and isn't a slouch down either. All day rides are a pleasure.My LTS was more "freeride" but this feels like an off road Rolls Royce. Well done Specialized. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Ernest Sanada
a Weekend Warrior
from Gardena, CA. USA
Date Reviewed: September 17, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | Sullivan Canyon | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$2500.00 | | Purchased At: | Supergo, Santa Monica | | Strengths: | 2001 S-Works FSR, plush uphill, plush downhill, excellent stopping power. | | Weaknesses: | Get chain suck going downhill when trying to downshift. Tubeless tends to leak, front tire only. | | Similar Products Used: | None, other bike 1994 Specialized Stumpjumper. | | Bottom Line: | All around excellent bike, like to feel suspension working going uphill, absorbs small ruts or running over small rocks. I don't think I like the new brain because it locks out going uphill. I think I'd rather have the suspension working uphill. Maybe if I were racing the bike, I'd rather have the brain setup. I am just a weekend warrior who would rather have a plush ride uphill or downhill. I'm out to relax and enjoy riding. Ride on! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Art Baril
a Racer
from West Roxbury
Date Reviewed: June 30, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | Foxboro | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$2400.00 | | Purchased At: | Belmont Wheelworks | | Strengths: | Beautiful fast ride before the suspension begins to degrade. This bike rides like you're on rails and goes wherever you think it should go. | | Weaknesses: | The suspension linkage is absolute junk. Customer service is terrible. Specialized blames the rider for their products lousy engineering. Although I was given no manual, Specialized acts as though I was supposed to follow some rigorous maintenance schedule. I've ridden this brand for 10 years, their behavior is a real slap in the face to a loyal customer. | | Bike Setup: | Stock | | Bottom Line: | I loved the ride, but I bought it to race and It can barely complete a race without falling apart. This company stole my money. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
mike
a Cross Country Rider
from new mexico
Date Reviewed: March 13, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | plush trail in the zuni mts. | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$2500.00 | | Purchased At: | local bike shop | | Strengths: | light mainframe, proven suspension design, | | Weaknesses: | definitely the bushings, air shock has short life | | Similar Products Used: | 95 s-works fsr | | Bike Setup: | frame converted with mrp link,shock replaced with a fox vanilla r coil over,king hubs and headset,x vert single crown fork, raceface turbine lp cranks, mavic 517 ceramic hubs, xtr v brakes and front der., halfpipe 9.0 sl shifters and rear der. | | Bottom Line: | this bike rode awesomely from day 1. after two years of really heavy use the bushings went as well as the rear shock. the mrp link and dropout bearing kits transformed it into a stiff, smooth bike again, and the vanilla coil over has made the riding ultra buttery.it weighs a whole lot more than when it was new, but the beefy fork and rear suspension are worth the weight in durability if you're not a racer.the acceleration is snappy because of the stiff cranks and the really light wheels, and it bombs through rough stuff no problem. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jeffrey Robill
a Cross Country Rider
from Southington
Date Reviewed: April 5, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | any | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$1200.00 | | Purchased At: | Bikers edge | | Strengths: | Light weight, durability, suspension design, lots of standover | | Weaknesses: | a little flexy, no disc brake tabs | | Similar Products Used: | Ellsworth Id, GT idrve 1.0, | | Bike Setup: | Sid100 fork, Crosslink rear wheel, Crossride Front wheel, Avid sd7 brakes and levers Syncros stem, Lx Groupo, Ti bottom bracket, Thomson elite seatpost. | | Bottom Line: | THIS BIKE IS FOR SALE $1750!!!!!
I used this bike for cross country riding for about 3 years. I haven't had a single problem. It's an awsome bike and its very light(25 lbs). Nothing has ever broken on it. This is definately one of the best Fs Xcountry bikes out there. It handles awsome on the singletrack but is still an awsome fireroad banshee. Climbs excellent and descends readily. I say it was worth every penny I put into it. I have since moved up to an Id. This bike is easily worth 2500 in its current excellent condition. It is just sitting in my basement. If your interested in buying this sweet machine E mail me. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Marcel Frenk
a Cross Country Rider
from Nijmegen, The Netherlans
Date Reviewed: June 19, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | Rijk van Nijmegen, Cristalp | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$1450.00 | | Purchased At: | Fietssport Vincent Ede | | Strengths: | Light (mine is a size XL, this frame weighs 2520 grams incl. the Fox Float RC, beautifull black anodized finish, comes with a high quality seatpost. | | Weaknesses: | Flex (allthough this appears to have no ill effects on the speed you get for your efforts), way to many stripes and stickers on the frame (fortunately you can easily remove them), short top tube (At 177cm you shouldn`t have to buy the XL size in order to get enough top tube length. For 2001 Specialized has lengthened the top tube by at least an inch, so they woke up obviously). To counter the bobbing you have to set up the suspension quite hard (at 74kg I use about 13/14bar of pressure in the shock with the rebound three clicks from closed).
But the strengths are much stronger than the weaknesses are weak. | | Similar Products Used: | `99 Stumpjumper FSR-XC (on loan from my dealer, this bike made me decide to buy a new bike), `94 stumpjumper fsr (steel frame, my friends called it "the Tank"), Klein Mantra (bobbing when you didn`t want it, no suspension at all when you stood on the pedal which was nice when sprinting but bad when decending), Gary Fisher Sugar (too much bobbing for it`s travel, short travel too obvious), GT I-Drive (nice drive, for a tank) | | Bike Setup: | King headset, many many many goodies from tune (www.tunecomp.com), Rond Quake Air 70 with integrated Magura hydraulic rimbrakes, Bontrager Race Lite Ceramic rims with Sapim CX-Ray spokes, SRAM Half Pipe shifters and ESP-9.0SL | | Bottom Line: | You can build a great bike based on this frame. It`s not for heavy dudes, not for freeriders and other wild jumping folks, but it is superb for cross country rides or races, no matter if they are short and furious or long and epic.
In the magazines they complain about the pivots, but as long as you maintain them (clean them with a cloth, then apply a layer of Krytech wax lubricant) you won`t suffer any wear induced play. The same goes for the shock, clean it after every ride, then apply a bit of teflon oil onto the seal which you wipe again after the teflon oil has dried.
I decided to buy a framekit instead of a complete bike because I wanted some things to be different from the spec that Specialized supplies on the complete bike. However, the complete bike gives you a better value for money then when you have to buy a stock of separate parts.
If I were to buy the bike this year (2001), I would buy it complete, since Specialized has upgraded the bike`s spec (better wheels, better pedals, better fork). I would have replaced the weak stuff later. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Fritz L
a Cross Country Rider
from Carrboro, NC
Date Reviewed: November 3, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | CHHS trails | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$1299.00 | | Purchased At: | Franklin St Cycles | | Strengths: | Very light( large weighed in at 5.5 lbs.), very agressive handling, don't need to use lockout, suspension as good as top performing suspension bikes, seems to be tuff, relatively cheap for what you get, short top tube | | Weaknesses: | Rear end has flex, bushings (Risse 4" kit eliminated most of the bushings and drastically improved suspension performance), disc brake adapter is so-so | | Similar Products Used: | Large Ellsworth Truth, Mountain Cycle Moho CXS, Lightspeed Pisgah | | Bike Setup: | XTR S/L 8sp, Z2 Atom 80, Avid Mechanical disk( also XTR V brakes for summer), XTR R.Derailler, DT/Swiss Onyx disc hubs w/ bontrager mustangs, pro taper bar, King headset, race face cranks | | Bottom Line: | For the money this bike is hard to beat, unfortunately the heavier you are the flexier the rear end. This frame is smaller than my Ellsworth, but the rear end is flexier. Fortunately, I have not felt a performance loss in terms of climbing(I can't explain it, but it is efficient). Definately one of the quickest handling bikes I have ever owned and the 4" travel kit is a must for this bike, it really transforms the suspension performance, the rear suspension is as good as any full suspension bike I have ridden, with the exception of the '01 Ellsworth Truth which is slightly better(but this bike costs twice as much, you have to ask yourself is it worth it?). Stock suspension setup only gets you about 2.5" and feels really harsh, like a hardtail to me. The whole point of F/S is to be smoother and in control, so you can go faster and reserve more energy by not taking a beating or standing up as much over rough terrain. I could not do this without the 4" kit. Oh yeah, it also improves the braking, you can wait really late going into a turn before hitting the brakes, make sure no one is behind you on a hardtail though, they will not be able to stop as fast.
On the warranty stuff, only a Specialized dealer can warranty a Specialized product, the company does not deal directly with customers like some smaller companies. So if you do have a problem take it to a dealer, don't try to deal direct with the company like some of the people in other posts I have read. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Drew
a Cross Country Rider
from Missoula, MT
Date Reviewed: August 8, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | The M Trail | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | very light, tuff, agile, looks awesome,eye catcher. | | Weaknesses: | almost to light. | | Similar Products Used: | Specialized Stumpjumper Pro | | Bike Setup: | Sid SL, Spinergy Spox M1, Every component XTR ,Cris King Headset, Race Face next LP cranks, azonic ORC stem, ritchey Pro lite bars, Onza pro cut bar ends, Nokian Boazabeana tires, | | Bottom Line: | The best frame on the market, and i seriosly sugest this bike for serios mountain bikers, its to must to spend for those who go for looks, but this bike is the best, i have taken this bike as hard as i can and its heild up perfect. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Stumpy
a Racer
from Middletown,Conn
Date Reviewed: May 24, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | any | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | Nice Black Ano frame, light overall weight | | Weaknesses: | needed E-Type Derailleur | | Similar Products Used: | none | | Bike Setup: | Shimano XTR/XT, RockShox SID XC, Thompson Seat Post, etc | | Bottom Line: | Nice bike...haven't really gotten out on it yet but form just ridding it around the front yard and on one little jaunt...THIS BIKE ROCKS!! I'll update later on the ride characteristics when i get my fat ass out there and ride. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jon
a Cross Country Rider
from Boardman, OH, USA
Date Reviewed: April 3, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Snowshoe | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | Light and fast on both climbs and descents. Instantly makes you a better rider. | | Weaknesses: | More pivots = more maintenance than a hardtail or single-pivot FS bike. And if my riding buddies ever take away my FSR-XC, they might find out I'm not such a great rider after all. | | Similar Products Used: | Stumpjumper FSR-XC Comp, GT Avalanche | | Bike Setup: | 2000 FSR-XC frame, Z2 X-Fly, King headset, Kore Elite stem & bars, King/517 wheels, RaceFace/XTR drivetrain & brakes, Thomson post | | Bottom Line: | This bike rocks! Once you get the suspension dialed in, you'll climb and descend faster and with more confidence than ever before. Specialized has some less-than-stellar house-brand components, so I built the frameset up myself with better parts rather than buying their full bike. Some other reviewers have complained about the chainstays on FSR-XC's breaking, but the 2000 models have redesigned stays that fix this. I've had no durability problems so far, though I only weigh 145 and don't slam off huge drop-offs or anything.
This frame is light - definitely not for big freeriders - but it hooks up and climbs like a goat! Anyone looking for a light, quick-handling cross country bike should ride this one! 5 chilis overall, though only 4 for value because the price is getting up toward "boutique" territory. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
TOM NUGENT
a Cross Country Rider
from GRAND HAVEN, MI USA
Date Reviewed: April 3, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | PORC | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | Light and quick | | Weaknesses: | Poor quality, fragile welds, The worst customer service I have ever dealt with....PERIOD! | | Similar Products Used: | GT LTS & STS; GIANT NRS | | Bike Setup: | All XTR with SID and Cross Max | | Bottom Line: | It had a bad seat stay, bad bushings and a bad Fox shock out of the box. It took 3 months to get the wrong seat stay (Stumpjumper version). I had to go direct to Fox for the shock and I never did get the bushings fixed. Finaly, after dicking around with Specialized for 7 months the chain stay broke while I was climbing a short uphill, I stripped the frame bare, took it back to the shop, got a full refund and swore I would never, ever purchase another Specialized product as long as I am sane. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Brian
a
from Orlando,Fl
Date Reviewed: March 26, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Comfortable Ride, Fast | | Weaknesses: | Company customer Service Sucks.....My frame broke into two pieces and they will not warranty or fix it | | Similar Products Used: | many | | Bike Setup: | Marzocchi,XTR, King hubs and headset | | Bottom Line: | Bottom line is I fell in love with this bike and 4 people I know bought the exact same bike as mine after riding mine and going on my recommendation. My frame snapped into two pieces, causing me to take a nasty crash at 24 mph during the last race of the season. I had won everyone up until this time, this was the 8th race I had ridden this bike in. The Specialized rep was a jerk and would not get my bike warrantied, would not even offer a crash replacement that I offered to pay for. Bike is great until it breaks, then company abandons you and won't help. My advice is stay away from this company.....buy a bike from a company that will stand behind their products and offer good customer service | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Ferry Bervoets
a Cross-Country Rider
from Elst Netherlands
Date Reviewed: October 14, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
All over Europe | | Duration Product Used: |
more than 3 years | | Strengths: |
Super stiff rear, long lasting shock (service interval 2 years) | | Weaknesses: |
A little bit heavy frame 3.5 kilo | | Similar Products Used: |
Several AMP lookalikes | | Bike Setup: |
Marzocchi Z1 front, drivetrain all shimano '99 9 speed. L&M cranckset, magura brakes | | Bottom Line: | Ultra strong crosscountry / freeride frame | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
sean mcilraith
a Racer
from minneapolis, mn
Date Reviewed: March 25, 1999 | | Duration Product Used: |
3 months | | Strengths: |
Super agile, good components | | Weaknesses: |
broke my frame after 6 rides! | | Bike Setup: |
stock | | Bottom Line: | Fast and frail | | Overall Rating: |
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