2nd Look: Specialized Enduro FSR Expert Carbon 26

Ride Quality

The Specialized Enduro is a light bike for the travel class it is playing in. The light wheels play a significant role in keeping the overall weight down, which is key since any weight shed in the wheels decreases rotating weight, and that plays a huge part in how the bike accelerates and handles.

While the light wheels make the Enduro an easy bike to get up to speed, there is a penalty for the weight loss. I found the wheels needed a lot of spoke tightening on my second day of riding and I dented the rear rim on day three. The dent wasn’t too surprising as it hit a rock reasonably hard, but the spoke loosening was frustrating and a surprise. I do not expect to have to re-true and tension in a nice wheelset after only a day of riding. Using light spokes and a lightweight rim can play a role in this, but build quality is the key factor. A good hand-built wheel constructed with care and some sort of spoke prep shouldn’t need any follow-up tensioning. It is always good to check your wheels after a few rides, but they shouldn’t need anything.

The Enduro is pretty long for a Medium, longer than the new Nomad, but shorter than the 17.5” Trek Slash. I was very comfortable on it. I’m 5’8”, but with the torso and arms of someone closer to 5’10”. The relatively generous length gave me room to move my body around, permitting easy adjustments to weight distribution between the wheels and keeping me from pitching forward if I ran headlong into an immovable object.

The RockShox Pike fork is nice, as always. It lacks a lockout, but I didn’t miss it. Instead, it just has a low speed compression adjuster. On both this fork and the top of the line Pike, I have been a bit disappointed with the low speed compression adjustments. When run wide open, the fork is supple and does a good job of minimizing hand fatigue. However, it dives a bit too much.

The diving is easily solved by adding a couple clicks of low speed compression, but the vibration feedback coming through to my hands goes way up. The fork still feels pretty supple, but my hands rapidly fatigue. It isn’t the amount of the compression damping that is the problem, it is how the adjustment effects change. It feels more like a change to preload on a blow-off valve than a progressive change in fluid flow.

This issue can be worked around with air pressure adjustments and volume adjustments and the fork certainly still leads its class. There is room for improvement, though, and I’m excited to see how RockShox keeps tweaking their charger damper.

The Fox CTD shock in the back performs well and, combined with the FSR suspension, is very smooth over rough terrain. However, it is definitely dependent on the “climb” and “trail” modes to provide acceptable performance on the ups.

Specialized put a really nifty feature on this shock; they worked with Fox to create an autosag valve. You fill up the shock to 275psi and then sit on the bike and press a release valve that lets air out until you hit the correct amount of sag. It accomplishes this with an orifice that is blocked once the shock shaft reaches a fixed point in its travel. Suspension setup is hard and has a huge effect on ride quality on a bike. Making this simpler by automating parts of it is a great idea. However, on the Enduro I found that the suspension was too soft for me when using the autosag feature.

The Specialized Butcher front tire was great, and handled like a Maxxis Minion DHF in terms of grip while it rolled more quickly than the DHF.

The Specialized Purgatory rear tire is fine, not great, but fine. For next year they are spec’ing the new Specialized Slaughter tire that has the same side knobs as the Butcher for great cornering grip, but will include a micro tread in the middle to optimize rolling resistance at the expense of braking grip (and less so, cornering grip).

Bottom Line

Most riders will get along pretty well with Specialized Enduro Expert. The rear end is exceptionally smooth and the geometry creates a nimble, predictable ride. Kudos to Specialized for sizing the bike appropriately. At 5’8” with a long torso, I should—and did—fit very comfortably on a Medium frame.

I’ve spent a bit of time on the 27.5” Enduro, and while it rolls just a bit faster and handles rough terrain a little better, it isn’t quite as nimble or playful.

Know yourself, your budget, and your riding style; if you like a more playful bike, don’t rule out the 26” wheeled version of the Enduro, especially since the used market is huge.