[shapirob]

Just curious if anyone has any experience between these two. I have a friend interested in the Epic, which I understand is quite a nice bike, but I've been trying to sell him on the Mojo. He's looking for something for cross-country in So Cal - mostly dry and loose single track with frequent quick and steep fire roads and occassional technical sections. He's a clydesdale I believe - over 200lbs and 5'9" - 5'10" if that matters; kind of Lumberjack style.

 

[scarsellone]

I sold my epic comp to buy the Mojo. I wanted a more upright ride aswell as after a few hours of riding my back was killing me. Don't get me wrong i loved the epic, & was looking at a carbon epic. It was too costly, so a good friend of mine (Jason at Duke's on Queen) sugested before i buy anything, too come in & look at the Mojo frame.It was as a thing of beauty. I realized that the epic was more siuted for racing. I wanted to be able to do some 24 hr & some epic races & also go pleasure riding. As i found riding the Mojo so far I feel i have made the right choice. As Scot Nicol said it's the only Mtn bike you will ever need.

 

[shapirob]

Do you think its any less capable doing cross-country or single track in being more upright?

 

[scarsellone]

Not at all. Everyone is different. Another good friend that i ride with (Johnny Hairboy) has a Rocky Mountain ETSX 70. He let me try it in some Tech single track & i was hooked. I was very close to buying an ETSX 70, but the Mojo was a dream bike. I guess you could say that the Mojo ia an all around bike. I feel that its a cross between an epic & a stumpjumper. I have ridden them both. If you go to the Spec Forum you see all the people tring to decide between a Epic & a Stumpy.

 

[DIRTBURP]

upright....or uptight...

Do you think its any less capable doing cross-country or single track in being more upright?

I rekon i ride heaps better in a more upright possi, forward for power climbing, forward for driving corners, less back pain, easier to get behind the saddle for narly desending. I never have a problem with steep climbs, just bend the elbows and chest down-forward...I am starting to think the racer position is old school.

 

[C & D's Dad]

Epic vs Mojo

Just curious if anyone has any experience between these two. I have a friend interested in the Epic, which I understand is quite a nice bike, but I've been trying to sell him on the Mojo. He's looking for something for cross-country in So Cal - mostly dry and loose single track with frequent quick and steep fire roads and occassional technical sections. He's a clydesdale I believe - over 200lbs and 5'9" - 5'10" if that matters; kind of Lumberjack style.

I have the 07 S-works carbon and the Mojo and I will say 9 out of 10 times I will ride the Mojo because it climbs as well as the Epic, and it down hills alot better (more stable at speeds). I live in Socal and for me if he is going to be riding it on epic rides and as a trail bike get the Mojo hands down. But if he is a racer that is the only way I would give the nod to the epic over the Mojo. If he is hell bent on the big S I would point him to the Stumpjumper it does everything good just like the Mojo just with less travel.:thumbsup:

 

[BloorwestSiR]

I sold my epic comp to buy the Mojo. I wanted a more upright ride aswell as after a few hours of riding my back was killing me. Don't get me wrong i loved the epic, & was looking at a carbon epic. It was too costly, so a good friend of mine (Jason at Duke's on Queen) sugested before i buy anything, too come in & look at the Mojo frame.It was as a thing of beauty. I realized that the epic was more siuted for racing. I wanted to be able to do some 24 hr & some epic races & also go pleasure riding. As i found riding the Mojo so far I feel i have made the right choice. As Scot Nicol said it's the only Mtn bike you will ever need.

Funny, Jason from Duke's also sold me a Mojo to replace my Epic Marathon.

The Epic is the 4th FSR bike I've owned- 3 Spec, 1 Intense Tracer) so i've certainly liked the way they ride. As for the limited time I've had on the Mojo, I don't feel that I've made the wrong choice in any way.

 

[subliminalshiver]

I have the 07 S-works carbon and the Mojo and I will say 9 out of 10 times I will ride the Mojo because it climbs as well as the Epic, and it down hills alot better (more stable at speeds).

Whoa. An 07 s-works carbon AND a mojo? Is it thule or yakima that make a roof rack to fit the Rolls Royce? What are you, a freelance millionaire? Did you major in independent wealth in college?

 

[C & D's Dad]

Mojo vs Epic

Whoa. An 07 s-works carbon AND a mojo? Is it thule or yakima that make a roof rack to fit the Rolls Royce? What are you, a freelance millionaire? Did you major in independent wealth in college?

That's a good one I'm just a little ol roofing contractor who has good conections with the local LBS and the Specialized rep. :thumbsup:

 

[shapirob]

Anyone else with experieicne between these two (mojo vs. epic)? I just rode an 06 epic and lioved it up the hills and on singletrack, although the tail was a bit firm. I kept switching it out with my partners same-size stumpjumper and hated that bike! I could NOT get up anything steep and loose without lifting the rear. Both were rental bikes, but there was a big difference. In the middle of the ride I took all the spacers out of the stumpjumper - it still had a 1.5 inch riser - and dropped the talas fork to 100mm. It still sucked on the ups and the front would slip out on the downs even after dialing in more length. Plus it felt so ineffecient cmpared to the Epic. The Epic was way better overall (it did have a straight bar). I am 5'7" with a long torso and both bikes were mediums with what appeared to be 90mm stems (could be 95mm), if that matters.

I have my heart set on a mojo, but minimal riding experience. After hearing the above post that the mojo and stumpjumper ride pretty similar, I am a little considered however.

 

[spokeywheeler]

I don't think the mojo and the stumpjumper have a very similar ride quality. I'm sure dw could chime in on this one, but the stumpy's design is inherently very active especially when one's weight is shifting back and forth while pedaling. That means you need to stay REALLY still and pedal soft, perfect circles to keep the rear shock from activating while pedaling. As a fix to this inherent characteristic, the brain shock was devised. So now you have a fs bike with the suspension turned off most of the time. What is the point of that? I find the suspension working for me virtually all of the time on my mojo, even when climbing. I can honestly say that I climb faster with the suspension active and in nearly all situations with the propedal switched off as well. Why buy a fs bike if most of the time it feels like a hardtail. If you want that feeling then buy a nice hardtail and save some weight and some cash too.

 

[scarsellone]

I agree with sessionrider! I have a Mojo & my wife has a Stumpy. Lucky for me i could ride her bike if needed. I was waiting for some parts & took the stumpy on a good ride & there is no comparison to the Mojo. I ride the Mojo with propedal off. It is sooo efficient that i am riding faster. I also owned an epic. As sessionrider said why have a FS bike if its off half of the time.
If you plan to race, & you are an agressive rider the epic is a grate bike. I'm sold on the Mojo. I did'nt even test ride it. If you buy a Mojo & don't like it. I bet you can sell it for what you buy it for.

 

[shapirob]

Thanks for the responses .... we had actually rented bikes because I was assuming I was going to purchase the stumpjumper in the futuer. I was really suprised how much i did no like it, espeically going up hills. The front end felt way too light. Perhaps I didnt fiddle around with the propedal - Im not too familiar with dual suspension bikes. I did ride a mojo in the parking lot several weeks ago and it feel like a rocket in comparison. Its hard to commit to buying something if you dont ride it on the trail, as I bet if I had ridden the stumpy in some bicycle store parking lot it would have felt fine!

 

[[email protected]]

both are good at what they do

live out west and ride similar conditions.
have owned 3 fsr's starting in i think around 99 and progressing forward until 04 then tried a blur. liked the blur more, but hated the creaks and pivots. went to a blur xc, felt it was not stiff enough in the head tube area, changed to a giant trance with dw like characteristics. climbed better than the fsr, fsr's want to compress in the big ring and are less stiff torsionally in the rear end, the trance takes square edge hits better and is stiff as hell!! pedals better to me also. owned the epic and trance for 6 months. i like the epic too, but not the rear end weight bias, think disc caliper, rotor, cassette, and rear dear., and the on/off abruptness was a little bothersome, but that is nitpicking. so, was thinking about trance advanced as it would be perfect. but to much for too little. blam! mojo appears, demoed one and am now selling every hardtail i own as there is no need to have one anymore. will race it, short track, exterra, endurance, everything and have a great trail bike...mine is being built as i speak. just my lousy cents...

 

[getbusyliving]

I agree that the Epic and Mojo are really not very comparable, with the Epic being more of a pure cross country rig, and the Mojo being much more of an all mountain bike. The Mojo is better if you ride or plan to ride a variety of different terrain, and MUCH better if you are only going to own one FS bike (unless you really plan to do only cross country riding, and want to ride that CC hard and fast). The Stumpjumper is more comparable to the Mojo, but it has less travel, less efficient pedaling AND it is quite a bit heavier.

When I was doing my pre-Mojo purchase bike shopping research, in the end I was looking at both the Mojo and Stumpjumper Expert. I put a medium SJ Expert on the scale, and it was 29.5 lbs. Specialized run small, so I would have had to go to a large at 30+ lbs. I fit a medium Mojo, and even with the heavier/low-end (SX) Mojo build (which is comparable in price to the SJ Expert), it weighted 27.8 lbs. I'm no weight weenie, but two pounds makes a difference. And you can get Mojo down to 24 lbs if you want to shell out the cash. Not to mention that with those two fewer lbs you actually get MORE travel and better pedaling efficiency with the Mojo DW link (and let's face it...more "cool" factor and better aesthetics). I went Mojo all the way and never looked back.

 

[shapirob]

Thanks for the input. I guess i have concerns as I really did not like the stumpjumper at all and if the mojo is closer to that than the epic, perhaps I would be better off with an epic for So Cal singletrack and occassional forays up to mammoth, utah, and other more rock and rough spots.

 

[talkshow-host]

... I guess i have concerns as I really did not like the stumpjumper at all and if the mojo is closer to that than the epic, perhaps ...

I think the Mojo is the first bike I've heard of that is too good for its own good.

You have those that bought it without riding it, or maybe not even seeing it first hand, (me and lot of other owners it seems) and you have those that are considering not purchasing it because they can't get enough seat time on it. Despite the rave reviews by riders that have tried the bikes on all the shopping lists. I guess eventually the Mojos will become more available and people will get to fall in love with them firsthand. I have yet to hear something bad about the bike, even the 'carbon isn't for mtb bikes' crowd will know what perfect weapon the thing is once they try it.

I understand the fear of commitment for a big ticket item (no matter how good a deal it is), I didn't major in wealth management in college either. Shops can't keep them around and owners almost need to stash a tazer in their camelbacks to fend their friends and bike mechanics off. I still feel a bit snobby when I'm riding and a fellow rider wants a go. I'd love to convert them, but the thought of watching someone ride off on my Mojo while I stand there with their ... (in order to avoid offending someone's ride the sample name has been deleted) bike ... is just too painful to bear.

If I could just find some way to get an orange one as well ...

 

[[email protected]]

it is not like the stumpjumper

the wheelbase's are different by 1.3cm's, and they have completely different suspension designs. both are very good, but the DW inspired mojo is just an excellent one and a better design period, imlo
owned the fsr stumpy expert and rode it side by side with the epic and sold the stumpy.
the stumpy 4 bar design is super plush and bob's., even if you raise the rear shock psi, by a lot! the design lends itself to being super active and is a great climber in steep and technical terrain. but, on the flats and rollers it just eats up your energy unless you ride with a very conscious pedal stroke.

the mojo on the other hand, also has great climbing abilities in technical terrain, and just smokes in the flats and rollers; even on pavement, if you dial the front Fox shock to its blow off setting, you can get out of the saddle and sprint really well.. the epic will sprint better, but not by enough that it will cost you a podium or anything and going down, side by side with equal riders, the mojo will just become a dust particle in the distance, the front distance that is by miles..
hope this helps..

 

[Speedub.Nate]

Interesting discussion.

Any way you cut it, the Mojo is a bad-ass performer. Anyone who is uncertain should seek one out to demo.

Another suggestion to inject is the dw-link Azure, which is a slightly more racer-oriented implementation of Dave Weagle's suspension. My wife rides an Azure as a trail bike, and its geometry is a bit less "twitchy" than previous XC bikes she's owned.

Also consider this: Giant dumped their NRS, which I've always equated with the Epic (I'm comparing generalities, they were both race-oriented platforms, and shared some performance traits I didn't appreciate), and replaced it with a dw-link knock-off (you could call it an Azure knock-off).

Back when I traded in my NRS for a dw-link Hollowpoint, I thought immediately that I made a mistake, because the suspension actually moved. However, I quickly appreciated that the suspension was actually working for me, and made me a better climber because of it.

 

[BunnV]

Suspension that works

It is funny that some manufacturers make such an issue about the suspension being "locked out" when inherently suspension is supposed to move! Every review of the Mojo praises the suspension action as well as the standout aesthetics of the frame. I can't wait for my "Eddy Orange" SX to arrive at my LBS!