This is my first "real" mountain bike. I've had several dept store types before and finally broke down and bought the 2015 Camber Comp 29er. I couldn't be happier with this bike. I raced (motorized) dirt bikes for many years so have quite a bit of experience riding all types of off-road. This bike can take anything - twisty single track, rough and rocky downhills, jumps, will climb virtually anything, I think it corners incredibly (think a lot of that has to do with the rider), the suspension is amazing and I'm just now starting to play with the settings. The gears hit like a dream and it shifts fast! This is a very comfortable bike to ride. I love the larger wheels. I'm about 210lbs and a little overt 6' and this bike fits me perfectly. The brakes stop on a dime with no failures or fading. The bike shop put some crap plastic pedals on the bike when I bought it. I broke one on my first lay-down in a gravely corner. I upgraded to some larger spiked, metal pedals and those make a huge difference. I'm going to get some lock-in pedals and custom biking shoes soon (never had those before). This bike is very light for its size. I wish the seat had a quick adjustment latch on it, but only has the allen wrench adjustment. They say this is to save weight. Please, it's just for them to save money. It's nice to be able to adjust the seat height quickly for different types of riding. That's probably the only thing I'd change on this bike. The dropper posts sound pretty cool, but also seem a little extravagant for the cost. The retail on this bike was over $2500. I got it for around $1700 new. I get a lot of compliments on the bike and I'm all smiles every time I look at it and get to mount it. I've had the bike for about 4 months and have put it through some serious paces as I'm quite abusive. What can I say, I'm in love with it! LOL

Could use a quick adjust seat post and possibly a little better quality rims, but I can live with it as-is. Get some good pedals right out of the box.

See my notes under 'strengths'. I don't think you can go wrong with this bike.

Brakes were excellent, drivetrain is descent for the price range.

Chainsuck, rear suspension has no true lockout.

Did a rental for a week on this bike in Florida. Rode the trails great for an entry level bike. Wheelset was sufficient for the bike and me @ 240lbs. Pedal bob was pretty bad. If I was looking into an entry level Full Suspension this would definitely be on my list for just 2k you get a lot of FS bike. I had to give two stars for the overall just because a 3,500 bike is worlds apart front the entry level 2,000 dollar price point. I would probably go for a hardtail with better components for the price vs the full suspension.

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Tallboy LT

Frame quality, welds are as near perfect as they can be, steering geometry, brakes and derailleur are great. It's a very stable, comfortable and enjoyable bike to ride, actually the nicest bike I've ever ridden.

Mediocre quality SR Suntour front fork. It's a bit heavy and not as comfortable as an air spring suspension fork. The SR Suntour isn't up to the quality of the rest of the bike, which is why I upgraded it. The 2015 model has a RockShox air. The rear cassette is the cheapest available and showed rust spots every time it got wet. Spoke nipples are aluminium and after a few months, they were breaking at about one per week. I finally had to replace them with brass nipples and many of the old nipples broke while removing them. Specialized considers that normal and doesn't cover it under warranty.

I've had this bike for about 6 months now, overall it's a really great bike, but the cheapness of the original front fork, constant rust spots on the rear cassette and fragile aluminum spoke nipples was very disappointing considering that this is not an inexpensive bike. Now that I've resolved the short cumming's, it's an absolute joy to ride. As the bike was breaking in, I had to do a bit of tuning as shift cables stretch and brake disks and pads start to set. The rear brake disk became out of true, but was easily corrected. The tires that come with the bike are tires that Specialized puts on most of their bikes, the Ground Control, but I opted to change them to The Captain Grid, that seems a bit quieter on pavement, which is where I ride most of the time.
The Camber 29 is the SUV of bikes and I believe that once the weak points are resolved and if properly maintained, it will last a really long time. the 2015 Specialized seems to have corrected many of the low points of their 2014. If I didn't already have the 2014, knowing what I know now, I would have preferred to get the 2015. The 2015 does cost more, but I've already exceeded that with upgrades. Because of all the things I've had to fix and upgrade, I'm giving this bike an overall rating of 3.

Good overall bike
Light

Great at nothing

A good bike but you won't get the whole Specialized experience.
A bike like you could find anywhere else or near.
There is quite a few that will provide the same performances.
That bike tries to bridge the Epic with the Stumpjumper - bridge are for dentist !

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Stumpjumper SW 2014 29er
Cannondale trigger Black 27.5
Seven Sola SLX (sold)
Moots Divide 29er (Sold)
Moots YBB (sold)

Handles Great, Good Component Spec, Solid Wheels. Very versatile bike.

None that I've found so far.

This is my first 29er. I did have a 2010 Enduo expert that I loved but found that it had a bit too much travel for the local stuff I ride. Some friends told me about the Camber as they all thought it was one of the best bikes specialized made. I'm happy with my decision. It was everything I needed. The 2013 camber comp is spec'd with solid suspension and for all intent and purpose I think that x7 and x9 stuff is almost as good as x0, just cheaper and heavier. I like that the bike is poppy and makes you pick a line rather than just rolling over things. Make for a fun ride and the 29er part makes for longer days in the saddle less of a beat down.

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Tried a Stumpjumper, had an Enduro

Very active suspension, smooth feel, agile well balanced ride and stiff rear end with great responsivness

a touch heavy, and really needs a dropper post as standard equipment, seat doesn't fit me that well.

I've been riding and racing MTB for over 20 years, worked in the industry for most of that. Now that I'm older and the kids are old enough to let me go for rides I decided to get a new FS Rig and landed on this model. I've always been a hard tail rider (or short travel FS) and still ride a SS 29er so was a little unsure how I would like this squishy bike... IT Rocked my world!

when I bought this "entry" level (I use entry level loosely) Camber I thought I would get a few rides out of it before I start replacing everything (like Brakes, fork, post and wheels) but after about 2 months on the local trails here is Socal it shined like a diamond! Everything works perfectly, the fork has great feel, travel and the minimal adjustments I prefer (like a lock out, rebound and pre load) I prefer sprung forks over air and its going to be hard to want to waste money on a fork just to take weight off over this one!

The brakes... come on really? these big rotors feel good, stop on a dime, and minimal pump out on long descents! Again the only reason to change is if I want to save weight.

Drive train runs like a champ. shifts great and geared perfectly for socal trails, not gonna touch it till it starts to fail from abuse and miles.

The rest of the squishy design is amazing, climbs like a goat, super comfortable cockpit and of course the 29ers roll over everything... I'm even doing drops I typically wouldn't do to save my wheels and frame! the lock out on both shocks is so easy to use and quick, so no need for any more gadgets.
the bike is overall not to heavy and realistically shaving anymore weight would just be to try and keep up with the racer types... its very agile and when you lower the post (I recommend getting a dropper post!) the suspension gets real active and responsive... just what I expect from the best most reliable suspension design on the planet!

Don't believe me? let me put it in perspective for you, after two months I took it as my only rig to Moab about two weeks ago for a 4 day adventure and right out of the gate we shuttled the "whole Enchilada" which is 33 mile ride 27 of which are hardcore rocky DH starting at 11000 feet (in the the La Sal mtns) to 4000 feet with tons of step up/step downs, rock gardens and high speed rollers and tons of trail that wants to break your bike... and after almost 5 hours of riding I came off the trail tired and smiling like a camel on Wednesday (hump daayyy!) not only did I out descend my buddy on his 6" travel Giant Trance 29er! he had fork issues, dropper post issues, dropped his chain and got some scratches!
I came out with only getting a flat tire which almost every rider did as well...btw there were about 50 other riders that shuttled up at the same time we did... it was like an Enduro race for the first 2 miles!
2 more days of heavy riding and being strapped to the back of a Toyota landcruiser four wheeling on gemini Bridges during a rain day... and all that happened was some rub marks from the racks

Bottom line this is an awesome FS Design and I am a specialized fan and have been for a while (although my last employer wouldn't allow us to own Specialized) with having a 10' Epic Comp 29er before this... its a real trail bike!

Good Job guys and keep it up, I might even fork out the cash for the Carbon Roval Wheels to make up for my fat slowness! But it will be hard to talk me out of Chris King LW built so we'll see.

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Specialized Epic Comp

Great components, wheels are tubliss ready, nice fork and shock, 2x10 gearing, auto sag, fun to ride, and very cool looking.

Feels heavy, not great at making tight switchbacks, fork recommended pressures are way off if you want full use of travel, and tires seem just okay.

My review is for a 2013 camber comp model. I am 5'11 and the large fit great. The bike is a blast to ride and truly seems like a do it all trail bike. I had the shop remove the tubes and make it tubeless and it looked super simple for them to do. I am 195 and I am only riding with 100psi instead of the 135 or so that rockshox recommends. It is now soaking up bumps with ease. The autosag rear shock worked perfect. Overall this is a great bike. It looks like the component spec gets worse for the 2014 model. Mine is x7 and x9.

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Trek fuel ex

Fox fork and shox. Avid 7 brakes, components.
Can go over almost any terrain. This bike is like 100 times better than my trek 6000. I is very nimble and i is quiet a very good overall bike for xc to all mountain. I have been using the camber for almost 6 months.

The stock pedals need to be changed. The weight of the bike can be a problem. It is a little bit too heavy. They should have given the bike a little bit of a longer travel maybe 120mm. The wheelset has to be changed.

This is overall a very good. I is value for money. I have had the bike for 6 months and recently change the groupset to xtr brakes to sram xx fork to fox 34 float 120mm and the seatpost to the fox doss.If you have the extra cash you should upgrade the bike to take it to it's full potential.

Great on downhills, good climbing, little bobbing when you pedal

Rear shock

I have owned this great bike for about 1 year now and I love it. This bike will tackle pretty much anything you throw at it, and will definitely better your riding. This bike is exceptional at climbing, and descending allowing you to take it everywhere.

First, descending this bike is good at this due to a good fork, great brakes, and the large wheels allowing you to ride over anything. The recon fork moves through its travel in a very smooth way, and this fork also has a lockout function which is very useful. The breaks on this bike are pretty good, but they take a while to be worn in to get rid of noise. The 29 inch wheels allow you to ride over a lot more than a 26er. The only problem with descending on this bike is the rear shock. I weigh about 190 pounds and I broke some internal part of the shock on a 4 foot drop. I have also blown 2 seals on this shock, and I will be replacing it shortly.

This bike performs well on climbs because of the suspension lockout, and the 29 inch wheels. The lockout function allows you to maximize your climbs, by increasing your pedalling efficiency. Also this bike has superb traction allowing you to climb anything.

Thank you for reading,

Best wishes
-Justin

Climbs like a cat and desecends very well at the price point. Platform is excellent, especially with upgrades.

Stock crankset and cassette are heavy. Front fork is good for price point.

I bought Camber Elite used on Craigslist from someone who had ridden it less then 10 miles (so as good as new). Purchase price was very good at $1k. After riding stock for a short while, I decided quickly on upgrading the cranks and rear cassette, but since this was 9-speed stock and Shimano is no longer making 9-speed in the high end, I decided to do entire drivetrain in XT 3x10. After shopping around, I bought xt shifters, Front and rear DR's, Crank, Chain and Cassette for less then $400 total. Total price in with installs about $1500 for a SMOKING bike. The XT crankset and BB make all the difference in the world. Never expected to feel this different and now I'm in love with the bike. I will continue to play with dialing in the suspension and will probably upgrade the fork in the future, but the platform for me is amazing. Ride the Camber if you're test driving bikes! Climbs like a cat and descends with the best of them. This is my first 29er, and for me - I won't look back!