May return Specialized Epic
03-18-21, 09:12 AM
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May return Specialized Epic
I bought a Specialized Epic last week to minimize the abuse I experience mountain biking (I live 6 miles from the Potawatomi Trail and have been riding a rigid frame MB for years). I like the full suspension of the Epic but still want to use my gravel bike for gravel riding. The gravel roads I ride are horrible with a lot of potholes and washboarding. My current Cannondale Topstone doesn't have front suspension so how about a new Topstone Lefty? If I get a lefty, I'll return the Epic and go back to my Specialized Crave for MB. Any thoughts??
03-18-21, 11:03 AM
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Maybe thought of that last week? Good you have choices available!
03-18-21, 11:26 AM
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Have you ridden the Epic since you bought it? Is the shop you bought it from willing to accept it back as a return (whether you have ridden it or not)?
I'm all for over 'over-biking' and trying to reduce the herd to one bike but I also see the benefit of the right bike for the right purpose. Putting a lefty on a Topstone to ride MTB trails sounds like a lot less fun after the first couple of rides.
I'm all for over 'over-biking' and trying to reduce the herd to one bike but I also see the benefit of the right bike for the right purpose. Putting a lefty on a Topstone to ride MTB trails sounds like a lot less fun after the first couple of rides.
03-18-21, 11:33 AM
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Welcome to BF.
03-18-21, 11:41 AM
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What are you talking about, "abuse you experience mountain biking"?
[edit] Do you mean, abuse from the trail? LOL I was thinking abuse from other cyclists.
[edit] Do you mean, abuse from the trail? LOL I was thinking abuse from other cyclists.
03-19-21, 09:14 AM
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03-19-21, 09:18 AM
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Put the widest possible tires on the gravel bike and ride it at low tire pressure. Keep the Epic if you want to do more technical stuff.
03-19-21, 01:09 PM
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I bought a Specialized Epic last week to minimize the abuse I experience mountain biking (I live 6 miles from the Potawatomi Trail and have been riding a rigid frame MB for years). I like the full suspension of the Epic but still want to use my gravel bike for gravel riding. The gravel roads I ride are horrible with a lot of potholes and washboarding.
IF I HAD to choose only ONE bike (nightmare fuel right there), it would be a full squish mtb (with a spare wheelset for skinny slicks tires), since there's nowhere it can't go, and I wouldn't want to completely give up mtb, just so that I could ride road or gravel more efficiently. An mtb can be ridden on the road, but a road/gravel bike can't (usually) be ridden on technical mtb trails.
Last edited by Riveting; 03-19-21 at 01:16 PM.
03-19-21, 03:30 PM
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IF I HAD to choose only ONE bike (nightmare fuel right there), it would be a full squish mtb (with a spare wheelset for skinny slicks tires), since there's nowhere it can't go, and I wouldn't want to completely give up mtb, just so that I could ride road or gravel more efficiently. An mtb can be ridden on the road, but a road/gravel bike can't (usually) be ridden on technical mtb trails.
Modern Epics seem to have done away with the one thing that made them stand out.
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
