Specialized Diverge FACT 8r carbon, Future Shock suspension, threaded BB, internal routing, 12x142mm thru-axle, flat-mount disc. Cycling Weekly is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. The same is true on gravel bikes. Using fenders, though, does reduce tyre clearance slightly: to a still-generous 700 x 42 or 650B x 47c. We believe travel by bicycle has the power to encourage conservation, inclusivity, and respect for all people and cultures. Which, incidentally, is where it differs from the Sequoia. Total: 1,746 grams. Pros. Were personally going for aggressive performance. This, in combination with the increased offset of the fork, should improve the overall stability of the bike. At $2600, our test bike the 2016 Diverge Comp DSW X1 Comp sits somewhere in the middle of the pack. Create a personalized feed and bookmark your favorites. I seem to find myself between two frame sizes and spent a lot of time fussing with my position while not the easiest on the front Future Shock system, it was mostly just a matter of swapping stems and removing any spacers. I enjoyed it even more once I got rid of a certain component . Nothing too crazy: a mix of mainly loose gravel over a dusty, hardpacked surface, and a nice amount of tarmac to get a feel for the bike out on the road. And more impressively, the same tyre clearance is provided with the more affordable alloy frames, too. The only problem I can see with it is its something else to go wrong, especially if youre a rider who takes on marathon adventures that take you to far-flung places over multiple days. Reply. On day one we used the all-round 50/50 road/gravel rubber of the 38 mm Pathfinder Pro. You need to be logged in to use these features. It's not recommended that you mess with the rebound speed too much, but it can be adjusted with a hex key through a hole in the base of the top tube. Even if the bike is a total marketing coup, it doesnt mean that producing something like this isnt a risk. Taking full advantage of the bikes voluminous down tube, the SWAT box offers a lidded storage area near the bottom bracket. I suspect this new bike may very well take sales away from the Roubaix. However, for a bike that I feel sits more at the faster, race-orientated end of the gravel spectrum as opposed to the more endurance-based, multi-day-exploring end these additions have me wanting to know how it really performs when loaded up and out in the wilds for days on end. Doing a quick comparison, we notice that Diverge Expert E5 EVO price it's 41.83% higher than the average cost of a Gravel bike. And when traffic encroaches and the path less traveled calls, its stability emboldens extended forays away from pavement. Gone is the SWAT box that sat at the base of the main triangle above the bottom bracket. Sign in to manage your newsletter preferences. After decades of bike riding, getting out of the saddle to respond to and absorb bumps or tricky terrain is almost second nature. How it holds up for gravel remains to be seen. Published 3 March 23, Newly formed Denver Disruptors and Miami Nights NCL teams will make their debut at Tucson Bicycle Classic and tackle a full season of NCL and domestic racing, By Anne-Marije Rook Speed, control and confidence - Future Shock technology is ideal for the gravel rider. Good carbon frame . The stack height is simply too tall for my liking and the Hover riser bars don't help there. . DT Swiss G540 rim, 24mm internal width, tubeless ready, 24h, Specialized full sealed bearing thru axle hub, centerlock disc, DT Swiss Champion 14G stainless steel spokes, DT Swiss brass nipples: Reifen: If you haven't tried a road bike with hydros, you're . Its more than stiff enough, and its predictable, nimble and positive when cornering. The head angle has also slackened by roughly one degree compared to the outgoing model, ranging between 70 degrees on the smallest size up to 71.75 degrees on the largest sizes. In fact, I was surprised to see what speeds we actually hit out on the roads when I was back at the hotel and checking out my ride data. Ritchey Speedmax WCS Tubeless Gravel Tire. The geometry is said to be directly-inspired by the Epic. After a long day in the saddle, the rough terrain has less of an impact on the lower back and arms, which means fever aches and generally a more joyful ride. Personally, Id have liked to have tried it with a set of Compass supple-walled tires, like the Bon Jon Pass, over which randonneur riders enthuse so much about. Compared to a traditional road bike, its the width of the Diverges tires well, in roadie terms at least that stands out most initially, in keeping with a growing trend of running roomier, lower pressure rubber on wider rims. For Issue 08, we invited several contributors to return and pick up where earlier trips and ideas left off and also feature a handful of first-timers whose perspectives weve long been eager to share Issue 07 Issue seven is a celebration of courage and discovery of what were capable of when we dont let others expectations define us Issue 06 examined a diverse range of topics, including embracing aloneness, rekindling a sense of adventure, grappling with failure, and many more After a few months with the Specialized Diverge both full throttle down desert blacktop and along meandering New Mexican dirt roads we find out if this All Road rig is true to its names dictionary definition. The Bikepacking Journal is our biannual printed publication. Here in New Mexico, its introduced me to the potential of connecting quiet desert roads with the dirt and gravel tracks that meander between them. When pressed on what category the Diverge Evo lives in, Specialized a brand that, by its own admission, likes to name everything insisted it still very much sits within the still evolving spectrum of gravel. Gone is the old CBG seatpost (a name we will all miss, Im sure) now theres a new, more normal-looking 27.2 mm carbon seatpost that flows from a road shape to a flattened setup near the saddle. Old school mountain bike? Though the initial set of tyres the Diverge was specced with were unfortunately not road-tubeless compatible. DT Swiss G540 rim, 24mm inner width, tubeless ready, 24h, Specialized full sealed bearing thru axle hub, centerlock disc, alloy freehub body, DT Swiss Champion 14G stainless steel spokes, DT . As for chainstay length, thats been lengthened. With a near encyclopaedic knowledge of cycling tech, ranging from the most esoteric retro niche to the most cutting-edge modern kit, Jack takes pride in his ability to seek out stories that would otherwise go unreported. To account for all the frame sizes and a variety of rider weights, Specialized has produced nine different frame posts, each with a different carbon layup for varying stiffness. 4 interest-free payments of $9.24 with Klarna. It ticks plenty of the boxes Im looking for in a well-rounded gravel bike. When the dark clouds rolled in and the rain came pummeling down on that initial ride, the bikes responded well to the change in pace as we sped toward cover. Years in the making, the engineers at Specialized realized that while the front-end Future Shock did a great job isolating riders from the bumpy surface below, the bike no longer felt balanced. It is also only designed to smooth out rough roads and trails, reducing upper body fatigue, rather than taking big hits on rocky descents, like a mountain bike suspension fork. As mentioned, its a full FACT 11r carbon frame with a mix of SRAM Red eTap AXS shifters, a 42T chainset and brakes, mixed with a SRAM XX1 Eagle AXS rear derailleur and XG-1295 Eagle 10-50T 12-speed cassette. Cycling Weekly's North American Editor, Anne-Marije Rook is old school. On one end, you've got companies like Ridley, 3T, Cervelo and Scott with their speed-first, aerodynamic race steeds that stay true to their road origins. While all of this is potentially true, talking about the Diverge Evo is exactly what Specialized wants you to do. Future Shock 1.5 comes as standard on both the EVO Comp and EVO Expert. Would you like to receive offers, updates and events from BikeRadar and its publisher Our Media Ltd (an Immediate Group Company)? Prior to the world going into lockdown, Dave Shoddy Everett attended an exclusive launch of the new Diverge to learn what it was all about and how it rides. I received my 2021 Specialized Diverge Comp Carbon (size 52) two weeks ago. DT Swiss G540 rim, 24mm internal width, tubeless ready, 24h, Specialized full sealed bearing thru axle hub, centerlock disc, DT Swiss Champion 14G stainless steel spokes, DT Swiss brass nipples . There's a small lever on the top tube that provides three levels of compression damping that you can toggle between while riding. The one on the downtube even features three eyelets, so you can run an Anything Cage too. With a little bit of dampening to take the sting out of the rougher roads and help you stay in control, and room for 650b x 2.1 or 700c x 47mm tires, there are few trails this bike won't be able to handle. No adhesion of any kind is being used. While this yoke adds a touch more weight, the brand says it developed this to avoid using a raised or dropped chainstay, which are commonly used on gravel bikes to improve clearances. The Pathfinder . The headline news from this launch sees top-tier versions of the new Diverge adopt the same hydraulically-damped version of the Future Shock as used on the newest Roubaix. Maybe theyll call it mountain biking? 24.08.2022. tubeless ready, 24h, Specialized full sealed bearing thru axle hub, centerlock disc, DT Swiss Champion 14G stainless steel spokes, DT Swiss brass nipples. Come the second day I was lucky enough to have the staff on hand swap out the dropper post for the new carbon post. The dual Future Shocks do a good job absorbing the vibrations, and turning a jarring ride into a comfortable cruise. All in with the full rear Future Shock system, an STR frame will weigh almost 400g more than a standard frame, but that includes the headset, SWAT system, and hardware. When it comes to weight, the top dog S-Works model with Specializeds FACT 11r carbon, in a 56 cm size fully painted, is claimed to sit under 1,000 g. Drop down a level to the Comp, Expert, and Pro models that use FACT 9r carbon and the weight increases by 100 g. For the Base and Sport models that use the FACT 8r carbon, youre adding another 200 g but also losing the addition of the hidden SWAT box. Fork. Then there are two additional models which bear the name Diverge EVO. Specialized diverge in beautiful pearl white and red. Yes, they add weight over the caliper brakes of traditional road brakes. The rear Future Shock is effective. Officially, the frame has clearance for 35mm tires with room to spare. Theres space for up to six cages: two inside the front triangle, one on the underside of the downtube, two on the fork legs and a set of bosses on the top tube. The frame post itself is said to have an infinite lifespan and the whole system in general is protected from the usual gravel grime and should last a long time. Finding your fit and ideal ride feel is a little different on the STR than any other gravel or road bike before it, and Specialized does recommend getting a bike fit if you haven't had one yet (or in recent years). Increasing reach while reducing stem length means that riders are less pitched over the front wheel, improving control in steep terrain. Gravel+? Uphill the lightweight build came into its own. thus killing a number of birds with one stone. Pdalier 40d GXP et cassette Sunrace 11-42. For anyone that has been following trends in contemporary mountain bike geometry, this will all be familiar stuff (with the exception of the higher bottom bracket). (And luckily these things are carried over into the new Diverge STR!). Stability added. On the first day I almost felt like 16 degrees of flare was too much and too wide for the road and tame gravel. Frame - Specialized Diverge FACT 9r carbon, SWAT Door integration, Future Shock suspension, threaded BB, internal routing, 12x142mm thru-axle, . Specialized's Diverge Pro Carbon is an adventure-ready bike, hungry for road, gravel, single track, and more. It'll support up to 46T rear . Again wheels are from Roval: this time the Roval Terra CL in 32 mm wrapped in Specializeds 38 mm Pathfinder Pro in a very fetching transparent/tan sidewall. The Expert model gets a gorgeous paint job in a fetching Gloss Raspberry/Redwood/Black/Chrome/Wild Ferns design, which is well worth checking out. We reviewed the new line of Specialized's gravel bikes with front and rear Future Shock. You also lose the new carbon seatpost in exchange for a pretty standard-looking single-bolt carbon post. This changed on the second day with wider tyres. She holds a degree in journalism and started out as a newspaper reporter in print! You can, of course, drop the range down a notch by swapping out the chainring for one thats 4-6 teeth smaller probably without even needing to adjust the length of the chain. Secondly, the two days of riding I did at the Diverge launch turned out to be the last real-world riding Id do (and have done) in over two months now. A new name and one significant new face made the headlines as Ian Boswell took the . you'll be looking at about an 8kg build for the Diverge S-Works, set up tubeless. With the dropper installed on the first day, the rear end felt almost harsh, or at least not as smooth as Id expected. It takes a shed load of the sting out of the front, and when climbing, especially seated, you dont feel the bob that youd expect from a device you cant fully lock out. Diverge: to separate from another route and go in a different direction, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. though it's a shame the wheelset that comes stock with this model isn't tubeless ready. The slight motion isn't off-putting per se, it's just new and takes some getting used to. Subscribe to Cycling Plus from just 13.50 and get a Lezyne Pocket Drive Pump, worth 29! Tubeless tires contain a sealant to protect against small punctures and also allow riders to use lower inflation pressure without the risk of damaging a tube from impacts. insisted it still very much sits within the still evolving spectrum of gravel. Breaking down the numbers, the reach of the bike has grown by around 10mm across all sizes. On day two we tackled more challenging terrain with the 47 mm Tracer, a bigger volume, knobblier and more off-road orientated tyre. Die hard roadies will no doubt quibble over its weight, compared to a dedicated asphalt machine. DT Swiss G540 rim, 24mm internal width, tubeless ready, 24h, Specialized full sealed bearing thru axle hub, centerlock disc, DT Swiss Champion 14G stainless steel spokes, DT Swiss brass . I ran this wheelset tubeless with Trigger Pro 38 tires before changing to a different setup. This becomes even more apparent as the spec gets slightly heavier down the collection line. The new Diverge has plenty of options for racks and bottle cage mounts. As for protecting both your friends and your clothes from the elements, Specializeds Plug and Play Fenders are designed to work. Although this lightweight 1x drivetrain caused no complaints in terms of its slick, fast shifting and offers the promise of easier maintenance than a 2x setup its a gearing thats likely to be on the large side for bikepackers heading into more mountainous topography. And MSRP prices being what they are, I discovered that if you were to buy the Diverge STR frameset and build it up yourself with the same components as offered in the S-Works model, you'd still spend around $13,100. On the second day, though, just like with the gearing, the bars came into their own and that extra width was appreciated. But as much as this idea that smoother is faster makes sense to me, I didn't really feel very fast. The 2021 Specialized Diverge range encompasses 11 bikes and one S-Works level frameset. Specialized Diverge FACT 9r carbon, SWAT Door integration, Future Shock suspension, threaded BB, internal routing, 12x142mm thru-axle, flat-mount disc . Are specialized tires tubeless ready? Racing down one of the longer descents in the area, it was immediately noticeable how much confidence they imbued in my riding, especially carving hard into corners. . Every other build is based on a carbon frameset, with the grade of carbon and included features rising as you go up through the range. The new Diverge range is extensive. At the end of the day, its just a damn fun bike to ride. I guess that comes down to the individual. The new Diverge gains the SWAT down tube storage spot. Happy Riding! It's a subconscious reaction. The stopping power of SRAMs Rivals is, well, unrivalled. Wheels are DT Swiss G540. Were personally going for aggressive performance hybrid. Across the six sizes available, its now a universal 425 mm, an increase of 4 to 6 mm depending on size. Because I thoroughly enjoyed the bike. E-Road Gravel News Review Road . Thanks! All of that can be slotted into a slim bag that slides into the opening of the frame. Frame. Unique, hydraulically dampened suspension, Great tire clearance - 700c and 650B compatible, The fit and ride feel takes some time to set up. The Diverge encourages out of the saddle climbs and makes sprinting along paved roads undeniably fun; in the way that it seems to transfer every iota of energy into propelling you forward. Each issue features a collection of inspiring writing and beautiful photography. Its direction of travel is equal and opposite to the wheels path. It's quite simply the fastest most capable - and just maybe the most fun - bike we've ever made delivering a ride that's quick and lively under power but stable and confidence inspiring when the . Theyve introduced slacker head tube angles across the board (0.5 degrees slacker). Neither road nor mountain, cycling's gravel category takes the best of both worlds . Yes, its almost as if flat bars make sense for improving off-road control. With this setup, your sagged riding position should be consistent with a rigid bike. The Diverge Elite E5 utilizes our premium E5 alloy frame and a full carbon FACT fork for a fast, confident and comfortable ride on road, in the dirt, and over thick gravel. But the extra bells and whistles may not be everyone's cup of tea and the $7,000 to $14,000 buy-in price is preventative for most. Sounds good on paper, but how does it ride? Roubaix Pro 2Bliss Ready. The flexible rear with its dropped seat post clamp and seat post deflection does achieve a good amount of rear-end compliance, but it reached its limits with the increasingly rough terrain common in today's events. Specialized says it decided to launch the bike after seeing a number of riders converting the previous-generation Diverge to flat bar.