Great rear-end design! It felt great over the roughest terrain.

Front fork was a little screw up. Of course, this is a demo bike frequented by multiple user. Told the shop that the fork should be rebuild. Still, it hold well over fast downhill.

Rock Shox Lyrik IS 2-step fork didn't function well, needs rebuild but held up pretty good.

The seat height adjuster controlled via handlebar switch is a wonderful accessory. I have one myself and will intend to use it on my next bike, as long as it fit the frame’s seat post. Stand up pedaling, click the switchgear and the seat goes up to set optimal uphill pedaling power while seated high enough. There’s a steep downhill, stay on saddle, click the switchgear, and seat goes down using your heavy butt. Nifty.

Specialized Adjustable-on-the-fly seat post! NIFTY!!

The front end designed by Specialized is somewhat wonky. I can assume that the stem’s short, 60mm long. Maybe an 80mm stem will solve it. The guy at Mike’s Bike shop in Berkeley said that the most expensive fork, the Fox Talas 36 is a better one since you can set it to a low 135mm travel for better uphill climb. That’s ideal and probably would solve the wonky turning at very low speed.

Would I buy this bike? Probably not only due to it’s front-end design and a tight cockpit. I was sitting up right all the way uphill, not an ideal position. I still have a few demo rides to test out. Will post them on my blog next time.  You could say I could go to Sea Otter and try most of the mountain bikes there but there are too many people and I am not in a mood to be crowded out and lose focus on any of the bike itself.  I got three more bike to test out before buying the right one. As I’ve said on my twitter, “One Bike to Rule All”.  To add, I am so retired from riding the ass-rattling hard tails nowadays. Modern suspension bike are already sorted out. That is, no more bobbing while pedaling up hill.

Anyway, here’s a photo gallery of the bike.