Specialized Epic World Cup Pro Deep Lake Metallic/Chrome

Epic World Cup Pro 2023 | Mountain bike

Faster than expected: The Epic World Cup is the fastest cross country race bike in the world thanks to its unrivalled combination of efficiency, control and low weight on easy to medium difficulty courses. World champion Christopher Blevins put it best: "This bike offers me everything I love about hardtails, plus the control and possibilities of a full suspension bike." All it took to build this speed machine was an absolutely holistic development approach, the invention of a radically new shock absorber and four decades of experience in the off-road sector crowned with countless victories.

New frame standards: To achieve maximum speed through ruthlessly efficient power transfer and precise handling, our engineering team set and achieved new standards in torsional and bottom bracket stiffness. This feat required a holistic development approach that combined a structurally superior double diamond layout with a top tube integrated shock and included the most sophisticated carbon layup in Specialized history.

Shockingly fast: The Specialized Ride Dynamics team has developed a revolutionary damper technology for the Epic World Cup that gives you the efficiency and snappy response of a hardtail plus the control and performance of a full-suspension bike - all with a simple setup. The SID Deluxe WCID damper, developed together with RockShox, uses a unique, independently adjustable positive and negative air spring. This provides the coveted snap of a hardtail and absorbs difficult terrain, maintains your momentum and forgives riding errors. The setup can be adapted to different courses or tuned to your preferences. If you set the Epic WC hard, it rides like a hardtail, in the softer setup it clears the chunks out of the way. Not only do you have the option to open or close the compression, the simple nature of the setup also allows you to ride with or without sag.

Extremely responsive for its category, the Epic World Cup's 75mm rear suspension offers the same control and capability as a bike with much more travel. It's designed to be ridden mostly in or close to the topped-out position, giving you the same positive travel as a bike with 100mm of travel and 25% sag. To further optimize suspension performance, the Specialized Ride Dynamics team tuned the spring rate to be relatively flat in the middle of the stroke and to handle most bumps like a longer-travel bike. The size of the Mega Jounce Bumper, the special bump stop damper, is a first and plays a critical role in smoothly handling bottom-outs on big bumps.

We've lost our minds: While the new and groundbreaking SID Deluxe WCID shock without BRAIN provides the unique blend of support and compliance in the rear, the BRAIN is still built into the fork and is still very much alive. The Position Sensitive technology with 15 mm sag gives you a balanced ride and offers smooth compliance on small bumps and a rigid pedaling platform - without a handlebar remote control for the compression stage.