Specialized Dealer Event in Keystone, CO

by Tani Walling, founder and operator of The Path Bike Shop

Brian Blair and I spent all of last week in Keystone, CO for the Specialized dealer event.  We were there to get our first look at the 2011 Specialized product line up, and to ride as much as possible.  This was my first time to Colorado, and I was beyond impressed - big beautiful mountains with great road, mountain and DH riding.



Tani with Mike Sinyard, founder and chairman of Specialized Bicycle Components

The highlight of the trip for me was riding the 2011 Demo 8 on some of the longest and sweetest DH runs that I have ever done. The primary changes to the Demo are adjustable geometry, a wider foot stance, and a shorter head tube (which lowers the bars). Specialized also lowered the leverage ratio for the rear shock, and added more stand over clearance.  I feel that these are all solid improvements.  In the low geometry setting, the key handling numbers (BB height, head angle, chain stay length) stay the same as the 2010 model.



Brian test riding the future 2011 Demo 8

There is a lot of other exciting new stuff.  The entire new Evo series of bikes is going to be perfect for the kind of mountain bike riding that we do in SoCal.  I was particularly impressed with the Stumpjumper Evo.  I did my very last DH run on this new breed of Stumpy, and I felt right at home.  This bike is going to challenge my custom El Ciclon for this type of riding.  Perhaps the most impressive thing we saw is the new S-Works Epic 29, which is around 21.5 pounds with no pedals.  Yes, this 29er full suspension race bike is lighter than last years' 26 inch wheeled counterpart.  Some of the other product highlights include the Roval wheels with tubeless compatible carbon rims, a whole new trail bike called the Camber (available in 26 and 29), a brand new Roubaix SL3 with internal cable routing, and a women's specific Myka 29er.



2011 S-Works Epic 29er

Thanks to Specialized for being a great host.  As always, it is a blast hanging out with Mike Sinyard and his awesome crew.