Even with the $1,675 Comp build, Fuse 29s are the kinds of hardtails you should buy if you want a hardtail. The new Fuse emerged fully formed and ready to shred. But for most, this is not a gateway bike. Especially from a brand like Specialized, which sells its bikes in actual bike shops and not consumer-direct, you’d be spending several hundred dollars more for rear suspension. That’s not to say you wouldn’t save a buck. And to match its extra thrashability, the once plus-sized-only Fuse is now available with 29×2.6-inch Butcher and Purgatory tires.Īt $2,150, the Fuse Expert isn’t the kind of hardtail you buy to save a buck over a similarly intentioned full-suspension bike. The bottom bracket technically went up a few millimeters, but the fork increased its travel by 10 millimeters. The reach increased by 20 millimeters and the head angle leaned back up to a degree-and-a-half. Namely, (wait for it…) a long and slack position. Want something more aggressive? Buy something with full suspension. Want something less aggressive? Buy the Epic Hardtail XC race bike. The previous generation Fuse used to be Specialized’s version of that one kind of hardtail. Mainstream brands are realizing there’s not just one kind of hardtail rider, and there shouldn’t be just one kind of hardtail. But recently, we saw Marin release the San Quentin and Diamondback the Sync’r. It’s brands like Chromag and Commencal that are cooking up bikes like the Doctahawk and the Meta HT AM, respectively. They’re being staged from our industry’s equivalent of beat-up Winnebagos parked in empty lots on the edge of town. However, the sheer weight of the thing is really hard to ignore. A combination of factors such as the big rubber, dropper post no doubt contribute to that figure but the real culprit is likely to be that attention-grabbing groupset, which might leave you better off looking at rivals that seem less attractive on paper.Most of the experiments in hardtail spec and geometry are happening only on mountain biking’s distant outskirts. The adjustable dropouts are a nice thing to have should you want to play about with geometry and gearing too, but that's very much a personal choice. The geometry might not be new-skool radness, but if you want a bike that'll tackle some steeper and twistier natural trails without killing you then it does the trick and retains a bit of steering verve on flatter stuff. The RockShox Recon fork is arguably the weakest link in the build, but it's not too bad all things consideredĪt the heart of the Fuse, there's a really nicely made frame with great detailing throughout. That extra range is great and all, but if the side effect is you needing to use it all the time then it seems somewhat moot. SX Eagle might have all the features of SRAM's higher end groupsets, but the penalty is weight and lots of it, especially in the NX level cassette. ![]() The rear wheel, complete with cassette and (tubed) tyre, tips the scales at 3.36kg, which is a lot. Of course, this is where all that extra range of the SRAM SX Eagle group that this bike has and those don't should come in useful - and it does on prolong steep climbs - but the groupset is partially to blame for the high overall weight. The sheer bulk means it's not exactly raring to pick up speed, with the momentum killing properties of that extra mass very apparent when you hit a sudden rise in the trail. ![]() It's well over a kilo heavier than the £1, 300 Sonder Transmitter NX we tested and that was a kilo more than the £1,400 Vitus Sentier 27 VRS. The SRAM Level brakes are a bit chunky and clunky but there's acceptable power and modulationĪt 15kg, this is a heavy, heavy bike. The fact that the bike comes dressed in Specialized's new, more aggressive own-brand Purgatory and Butcher tyres in a chunky 2.6" diameter gives you some idea that this is a machine with pretentions beyond trail centre blue run bimbling too. Up front, it's got a 130mm travel RockShox Recon fork with a proper tapered steerer and Boost hub spacing and through axles front and rear to boot. That gets you a lighter frame as well as adjustable dropouts that allow geometry tweaking or the ability to run it as a singlespeed, should you hate knee cartilage. The Fuse Comp 29 sits in the middle of the three bike lineup and it shares both 29" wheels and the high-end M4 aluminium frame with the more expensive bike.
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