Specialized Diverge STR tested at Big Sugar Gravel
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- čas přidán 25. 10. 2022
- How does this new bike feel to race on chunky gravel? It's got a 20mm Future Shock up front and an adjustable 30mm Rear Future Shock in the back. I headed down to Bentonville, Arkansas to find out.
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Solid and honest review of the STR. Although I appreciate innovation, Specialized seems to have over engineered the bike and created a solution to a problem that was small to begin with. As for the price, that speaks for itself. I’m not hating on Specialized as I own several of their bikes but this is a hard pass for me.
Couldn’t agree more. Riding the „old“ diverge I love the front suspension but the rear needs no suspension, perhaps just a flexibel seatpost which I put in for 200$ and my ride is more than smooth enough with the long and flexy carbon post.
They created more problems then solved here.
Nobody has that much travel. I don't think it's overdone. You just have to be a person that wants that much travel.
@@veganpotterthevegan I never implied it was pointless or there wasn’t a market. But I suspect (and I admit I’m no authority by any stretch) that market is a small number of clients compared to their regular diverge.
@@LifeCycle1978 the Diverge was never a regular bike. It's always been an oddball and this doesn't really change that at all.
Really good review. I appreciate your honesty, this is what the regular rider needs - no BS, just honest opinions.
Thanks Ben > one of the few Bicycling Journalists/ vloggers that just doesn't rely solely on the Manufacturers byline hype.
Thanks so much for this sober analysis without all the hype! Really appreciate the honest, down-to-earth style.
Thanks for the input, for those of us that are considering high end gravel bikes, this is the best input yet!
Thanks for the honest review. Now we need a race report! Love your narration style.
Really appreciate the thoughtful and honest review
i rode the pirelli shakeout ride with you and was ready to see your review. i definitely appreciate the very honest review. hope to see you in bentonville more often
Great video as always. Honesty above all is the key. You find that here. Cheers from Tokyo.
Great, honest review @BenDelany. Really glad you’re finding your niche post VN. Good stuff.
Yo Great Job! I loved your honesty! Made your review so on point.
Appreciate the honest review. Keep up the great content.
Thanks for a great review! Got a suspension dropper on my Diverge Comp Carbon which also has the Future Shock 2.0. Plenty of chatter soaking for ~1/3 the price. Diggin it!
Great follow-up to your first-look video, which confirms for me that while none of us really enjoy the jack hammer effect you so well described, there is something delightfully purist in gravel riding when relying on conventional tyre and frame compliance, good old rider line-selection and those suspension elbows and knees. As for your tyre woes, I could feel your pain 😅, although surprisingly free of expletives.
I own a Lauf Seigla and have to use a 36T with a 10-52 for the mountains in NC and I love it. Thanks for the honest review of the STR. I'm going to stick with my Lauf!
Solid singing skills - and while pedaling! Hope to see a future encore performance :)
I love the great attitude even after multiple flats.
Gravel is the one segment in cycling where tech innovation and design has been at its most significant and exciting, in recent years. It is great to see, and I have been lured in and succumbed to parting with cash for some of the new tech myself. This one does not float my boat. I think your comment of “too many complexities…” and the trade off from that (maintenance and higher risk of warranty claims or repairs) was spot on. My philosophy for gravel and comfort is bigger tyres 😁
Well said. I love seeing the tech but this one is a “pass” for me.
Thanks, Ben, for testing bikes and gear in popular gravel events and getting back to us with the results. I've enjoyed learning about this Specialized gravel bike, but that price tells their off-road fans that gold is required to ride gravel. And we all know that ain't right.
Thanks for the honest review Ben!! Can’t agree enough that Bentonville should be a destination for every bike enthusiast. Did Lil’ Sugar this past weekend, suffered plenty but loved every bit of it. Can’t wait to go back and take the mtb. Not sure if this is in your lane for review, but tires. Kind of surprises me that you had so many issues. I’ve been using Teravail tires for years now, multiple DK/Unbound, Mid South, BWR Kansas, and now Lil Sugar without flats. I’m moving much slower which maybe allows for line choice benefits but would be interested in real world test/review content. Cheers!
I also did Little Sugar last weekend on Pathfinder Pro tires; no punctures for me.
I used a USWE (same one you have) for steamboat and loved it. Was able to carry a few spare bits and enough water to skip a few stops which helped my slow butt make up some time.
Yep - love my USWE as well. Everything Ben said and easy access to fill, and great with the quick disconnect hose.
Thumbs up! Detailed and unbiased review as ususal.
Specialized made a cobble gobbler seat post - cost $200 and carbon. I have one and it works fantastic. Really smoothed out the bumps, just heavy. Good vid and I agree whole heartily about the price and the bike. My 2018 diverge with tiagra gears works perfectly good for me and I only paid $1,100 for it brand new.
Good honest review. When you were talking about the mini pump etc in the pack I was thinking, "hasn't it got S.W.A.T?", one feature that does make sense 👍
Thanks. It does - and honestly I should have put a pump mount under one of the bottle cages. Doh!
really appreciate the honest review
Solid. Really enjoyed it. Thanks Ben,
Thank you.
Thanks for the honest review. It’s nice hearing a perspective from a cycling journalist that doesn’t just regurgitate the marketing that bike companies advertise. There seems to be a lot of that these days… just saying.
Appreciate your vids, Ben. And good running into you on the square the day before the B.S. Two comments: (1). Last year at B.S. I, like you, had multiple "flats". Five. Like you, never could find a puncture. I was riding hookless rims. I recalled how many severe hits I took on the gnarly gravel/rock shelves and thought, "maybe I just burped my tire". Anyway, this year with hooked rims, not a single loss of pressure despite the big hits again. (Not to say it can't happen with hooked rims, yours were hooked I think). This area has the toughest gravel I've seen, and the hardest to figure out the right combo of tire and pressure. For this year's B.S. I ran a 60 tpi tire, as opposed to 120 or higher, with beefier sidewalls. Also cheated up a little on pressure. Yes, it made it more uncomfortable and fatiguing. But it seemed to reduce the tendency to bottom out the tires (and pop the seal?) on the big chunk. I'm also a big believer in inserts for this gravel.
And (2). that stream you stopped and washed your face in? Be careful. There are LOTS of cows grazing out here. I imagine the E. Coli count is up there.
Hey Mark. You were right about the rocky roads! And yeah, burping was a potential, but I didn’t get that single loss of pressure, just a slow leak.
Thank you for honest opinion.
Love your honesty. Keep up the great work. 🚴😃👍🇦🇺
Thank you, sir.
Love the channel Ben. Great work.
Thank you.
I have a Trek Checkpoint with Iso Speed rear and Redshift Suspension stem, I can't really feel the rear moving as far as anything that annoys me, yet a friend who was riding with me said he could see it moving (surprised me). What you say about the suspension stems rotating the wrists feels natural to me, if you think about it the lower your bars are the angle of the wrist naturally changes as the bars are further away/down and never even thought of it as detrimental. I like the Redshift stem and have a 450km road ride planned in a weeks time and fitted a spare Redshift stem to my Cannondale Synapse just for the added comfort over that distance. I spend a lot of time with my forearms on the tops (puppy paws) and it really mutes a lot of the bumps.
Great info in this comment! Thank you!
Thanks for the review! I just gotta throw out there, for people who can ride aluminum frames, the Diverge E5 Elite (GRX 10 speed build) is still offered as a full-rigid (no future shock), and for people interested in experimenting, I'm pretty sure it's possible to build a full-rigid carbon Diverge, using the headset and top cap from a Sirrus 4.0 or Vado 4.0 and a carbon fork from one of those E5 Diverges.
Thanks for being honest on your review. Bike prices are ridiculous.
To be fair, $14k is the S-Works top shelf model, I just bought the STR expert for my fiance which retails for $11.5kNZ, so somewhere around half in USD of what's being talked about here. She loved it and said it was a game changer.
Cool. Glad she likes it!
I have the lastest Diverge, FS2, and I would say it takes the "jackhammer effect" from a 10 to a 5. Previously on a Ventum GS1 and the Diverge is drastically more comfortable on bumpy surfaces.
may I suggest a Fumpa Ben. One of the greatest gadgets I have discovered in the last few years.
I have the Ergon seatpost, the one used by Canyon. It consists of two leaf springs and is supposed to have 20mm of travel and is designed so that the seat angle stays constant. It makes the ride on my hardtail mountain bike slightly more comfortable.
I'm a big, heavy rider and these Ergon/Canyon seatposts offer a LOT more compliance than any expensive frame widget. I have them on all of my bikes (road/gravel/MTB). Just be *very* careful tightening them (use a torque wrench), as it's *very* easy to crack them if they are overtightened (yes I speak from experience)
Same here. Love this seat post
I rode the Little Sugar portion of the event last weekend. There were some pretty rough sections. At a sharp left downhill turn at Mile 85.6 / 34.3, I went wide to allow a faster rider by who went on to hit something in the decent; rider stopped to inspect wheels; never saw this rider again. I suspect the rider may have broken a rim due to the 4 inch plus rocks on the path that I luckily avoided. In spite of the wind and rocks, I really enjoyed the event and the NWA area.
Thank you for your review. I currently ride a few bikes but 2 primary gravel bikes. 1 is a Lauf True Grit which I love and is comfortable, but a little slow. I can feel a tiny amount of push down when I am standing and grinding. It is one of the original True Grits so I am sure it's probably better now, but still a great gravel bike. The other is a Diverge Expert Carbon. I truly do love that bike but it is before the "future shock". It has the iso speed decouplers on the fork legs. While I doubt that offers much benefit, I will say the bike itself is snappy and quick. My Canyon Endurace is only a couple mph faster but the diverge really feels good to me. I am thinking about racing some next year including in Hico and I might think of upgrading to a newer Diverge and as you said, adding the cane creek seat post suspension system. It's a hard decision and I recently took out a demo Canyon Grizl and really liked that bike. Thanks for the review and good to see you testing and reviewing bikes.
Thanks, Tony. I hope to see you at Gravel Locos.
Subscribed for more flat tire blues songs... solid review.
I agree, Big S is just feeling out how much the market will bare... We will see how long this model lasts....
I have a Diverge with the front shock. I have to say that I am on the fence about suspension. If you are running narrow tires, it is nice to have and reduces fatigue, but on the other hand, you can get bigger tires and negate most of what it does. Then you have a substantial weight penalty for having it, not to mention maintenance issues. I don’t think I have ever said that I wanted rear suspension in addition to the front Future Shock. The other issue is that the Future Shock and bike design limits the front geometry to endurance only and it is difficult to get into a more aero position. The later affects speed more than anything even if you are doing more casual events/racing. The price increases of the Diverge models also puts them out of reach for just about everyone.
You can remove the spacers and adjust the height of the future shock. Once you have done that, just use a stem with more drop, and you can get pretty low.
I must say this depends on size, smaller riders will not be able to get as as someone on the bigger frame sizes, and with a long stem.
Thank you for keeping it honest
"Ben, please talk more about the race! The bike? Ok, you can also talk about that." :)
Hehe! My friend Michael keeps saying I should do two videos at each event- one on the bike, and one on the race. What do you think?
@@TheRidewithBenDelaney the races are dynamic. Each race has its own story, the hiccups, things that went well, wrong, that stuff. I enjoy seeing more of that content.
Yes! A separate race recap would be great. I did the Lil Sugar and loved the course! It definitely required your full attention. I appreciated a few pavement stretches where I could briefly give my brain a break.
Hey Ben, loved the deeper dive and your candor about the STR system. Excellent insight as always. Glad you enjoyed my college stomping grounds. Were you also able to take in the mountain bike scene in addition to the gravel? The Ouachita Challenge is an epic 60 mile race or tour held every spring that has loads of climbing and many hating the granite rocks. It provides a true backwoods trail experience.
Love seeing the cross-pollination that's happening from the mountain bike world to gravel and road. Not everything works or makes sense, but like that companies are willing to explore the possibilities. In my mind, tubeless wheels/tires, thru-axels, disc brakes, wider tires and geometry tweaks are all improvements. I can see where 1x drivetrains benefits full-suspension bikes, but see the benefit in 2x or 3x systems on rigid gravel/road bikes in mountainous conditions since you don't have to account for suspension movement/linkage design impacting the front derailleur.
Thanks, David. I was able to get out for a bit on a mountain bike, thanks to Outerbike going on there on Sunday. So sweet to be able to be on trails within a few minutes of downtown.
Love the skratch bottles
Good review across the board. What percentage of riders have the talent level to match the price tag and capabilities offered? Regardless, Well done to Specialized for moving the design and innovation forward which will eventually impact lesser builds across the industry.
A saddle with thick foam padding is all we need 😁
Nice review! This bike makes a 10K dollar custom titanium gravel bike look like a hell of a deal! I really like your idea of riding this bike back to back against a standard frame with an eesilk. Or maybe a soft tail???
Nice follow-up, BD. If you like loose gravel and sand, come to Utah. :)
Honesty, Thank you!
Based on this review I'd imagine my cane creek eesilk is actually both a more lightweight and more comfortable solution. It weighs 300 grams, so about 100 more than a normal carbon post and you do not feel it while riding, because the saddle keeps the same position. The only time you it is very noticeable is when you use a different seatpost right after to compare them.
The issue I see here is that both the suspension systems here change the geometry of the bike. Your reach and stack will keep changing. Same as the seatpost angle. Not sure that is a great idea for a gravel bike where you are probably worried about your bike fit. Maybe this is good for some applications, but I doubt it is a great idea for most.
Wondering if the Pathfinder would have fared better with the sharp rocks. Still up in the air on the STR. I really like my Crux.
Yess! BD is correct - Redshift shockstop is not/not an equivalent to the Future Shock. FS stays level whereas the Shockstop tips forward when activated.. the feeling is quite different. Decide what you prefer, but they are not the same.
Dylan Johnson’s dropbar hardtail with shorter travel gravel suspension fork seems like a cool setup for chunky routes like Big Sugar.
Lael Wilcox ran a dropbar modified spec epic for her last unbound. I predict when we see a proper 2x mtb groupset built for dropbars, there's going to be a contraction in the breadth of the gravel market. I think more people would be riding XC frames in these events if they could get the drive train loadout they want with drops
The more I see designs like these the more I'm happy with my steel frame gravel bike with a suspension stem that cost a tenth of what this one featured here does..
The longer I waited for the Diverge to come into stock over the pandemic, I would hear more and more of futureshock warranties in the forums and with friends, As soon as the Crux came out I immediately jumped on that, Haven't looked back since and the development for the STR is just another f win for the crux over Diverge purely for simplicity. Tire volume and pressure imo and heck if you want that much boing, as Ben says check out Canecreek and Redshift for extra squish,
All of these devices that are located at the seatpost or handlebar ultimately just moves more instability closer to the body. If your tire is taking all the shock absorption, less disturbance will travel to the saddle and bar where your body will expends energy trying to stabilize the movement.
try the Red Shift seatpost... phenomenal... they also have a stem.
I agree with your review, although the price tag is for the S-works version. In this case, it is the price for ANY S-Works, regardless of suspension. There is an Expert version that is almost 50% cheaper. I personally prefer the CRUX, but that's entirely personal :-)
Yeah, good points, Sebastien. Sorry for not being more clear on the models!
I'm thinking I might need to find another gravel presenter. One who doesn't get as many flats. 😀
$14K? Kim Il Sinyard should give you 2 or 3 of these things for that kind of loot! Well-done and honest review though - BRAVO!
Great review. I was really thinking about the $7500 version but got a $4500 checkpoint with basically same groupset (and lighter, with just basic aluminum wheels). Also, could try tire inserts, run 3-5 lbs less pressure, and have a better overall ride quality?
@TheRideWithBenDelaney Good review! 👍👍
Quick thought: how would these gravel suspension mechanisms compare to something like a Brooks Flyer saddle?
Honestly I wonder what those systems bring when compared..
Also am a big fan of the USWE. I'm a former Camelback Chase user.
Ben, you should not bring a Schwalbe Aerothan inner tube into contact with tire sealant. It will damage the polyurethane material. Even a tire which was previously run with sealant is a no-go because there will always be dried-up sealant in the tire.
It might be different with Tubolitos though.
Camera behaved today 😀 ... as with the rest of the comments its a pleasure to hear the honest reviews!
I don't want to jinx myself but.... I hope I have that sorted. Gah! Cheers.
Thanks Ben. Appreciate the thoughtful, respectful review. It sure does appear to be an ultra expensive, complex solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist? Nonetheless, you needed better tires any way 😝
Front futureshock I'm on board with...good stuff....rear sus though is the wrong approach to make a gravel bike more capable. Salsa knows this with the cutthroat. Slacker geometry and bigger tires will take you much further than rear suspension. There's a reason hardtails are still used for trail riding...no rear sus required.
Thanks for your honest assessment. I suspect there is still a lot in the way of compliance to be had (without weight penalties) by bike companies really working on the seatstay design, carbon layups, and seat post design. It is too bad so many companies want their gravel bikes to also be cross bikes (crux), as this gives us longer seat posts, such that the frame can be easily shouldered. Give me a sloping top tube frame, with a short seat tube and longer seat post, with dropped seat stays (as the angle between the chain stays and the seat stays decreases, vertical compliance increases) engineered to give a bit of flex and you can even save some frame weight while providing more compliance. Looks to me like the Giant Revolt is a lot closer to this approach, and offers great value across its line of models as well. Currently on a Santa Cruz Stigmata, which is a fine frame, but could offer a little more compliance in my opinion.
Met a rider on a Santa Cruz Stigmata last year who said he rode a Giant Revolt and said if felt like driving a truck as far as handling goes, I don't know as I've never ridden one, just what he said.
@@gregmorrison7320 Was that the old Revolt? The new version, 2022, has a much steeper head angle (72 degrees), which sharpens up the handing. See Ben's review, worked for him at SBT GRVL! The new Revolt appears to have everything I want vs. the Stigmata: slightly longer reach and wheelbase, lower BB, more compliance (shorter sea tube) but with the still pretty steep head angle.
@@barrowsworm1226 Yeah it was the old Revolt, there have been reports of the new one cracking around the seat tube. Might be worth an internet search to see what you can find out about that.
Agreed 100%
The men’s winner was riding a Specialized…and it was a Crux. It isn’t going to be the racers choice, but has a use case among those seeking comfort with very deep pockets.
My thing on it is to keep it simple. With full suspension it requires more maintenance and I could be riding. Wider tires/rims, long carbon seatpost will do just about the same thing.
great channel! you’re just like us regular folk but better. 4 flats on one ride is quite an achievement. is it just me or is anyone else wondering whether you ever found the flat and it’s cause? if you’re ever searching for future topics, i’d be interested in equipment and approach for race day flats. i’m always frantic about losing time so a flat is a “time trial event”. and of course this is stupid because i’m already so slow it doesn’t make any difference. in retrospect, should you have taken more time and “solved” the first flat? or do you just do your best and move along?
It was quite the achievement! Haha. Nope, never did find a cause for the slow leak. The tube was just a snakebite puncture, I believe. Anyhow - good shout on race-day flat idea. In general I'm a fan of having a Dynaplug Racer and a co2/breaker close at hand; I normally have those in my bib pocket. After failing with great pizazz at Unbound one year (22min stop - seriously); I've subsequently got it down to under 60sec for holes I can plug.
As for 'solving' the first flat - I wish I could have! But I was stumped. I just could not find the cause.
I don't think it's dumb to worry about losing time. The key is to stay calm and be prepared. (Something I fail at often!)
Love your honesty. Keep up your great work. 🚴😃👍🇦🇺
Gravel is the segment of cycling where I care most about simplicity and reliability. In long rural rides/races I want something that reduces the chance for mechanical issues, and this rear shock is just another question mark that could go wrong. Maybe in a couple years after it has proven itself, and hopefully comes down in price(probably not).
Spare parts will become a problem eventually.
I have a 20 year old Cannondale XS800 cross bike with a Headshock. It's been wonderful, but the local Cannondale dealer doesn't even have the tools to service it anymore, let alone the parts.
this bike is preety insane, i would got for it and its just super comforatablke in ggravel road.
I can see why that system may be a bit annoying. I’m sorry but the seat moving back and forth doesn’t really make sense to me. It changes rider position. Probably not the best idea. Of course if I rode the bike, I may change my mind. I had a Roubaix with the original future shock and had no problems and I liked it. At $14k, no thanks! I can add a Sage Titanium hard tail to my Barlow and spend the same amount money and have two really nice bikes. I just bought a 2014 Toyota Corolla for that amount of money. I’m a Specialized fan but I think this one is a miss. Don’t stop making the old Diverge!
Honest review indicates to me that Ben is not posting this vid with a bias to promoting this bike. I use a Cane Creek previous generation Thudbuster ST ( about 35mm travel), on my flat bar gravel bike, teamed up with a Redshift suspension stem up front. Could not be happier with the feel and control when riding fast on coarse gravel.
Exactly what I thought
I enjoyed your review. I am looking at gravel bikes presently and the price tag for this one is a hard no anyway but that suspension in the tropics I call home sounds like a recipe for disaster in terms of maintenance!
suspension seat post makes so much more sense. 14k for a proprietary suspension that didnt work on mountian bikes years ago, it seems quite obvious this will not catch on.
I like my Diverge and miss the Future Shock when I don’t have it. I wish they had just refined the existing design and made it lighter. At least they could have kept it around.
Wow I can’t believe you said that.
Finally an honest bike review..
I'd agree with the "value add" criticism of the new rear shock - but then the total price should be compared to the old S-Works Diverge which isn't thousands of dollars different. And continuing the comparison with the previous Diverge, while this new tech does add to compliance, its by only 10mm. Is the added cost, weight and complexity really worth it just for 30mm of travel over 20mm? Plus Diverge Bikepackers using a frame bag (cough) loose out with this frame shape too.... A real miss by the big S in my opinion.
Great channel always liked your take on the old bike radar channel also. Have you raced/reviewed the specified crux yet?
Thank you. I tested the Crux for VeloNews: www.velonews.com/gear/gravel-gear/big-ride-review-specialized-s-works-crux-gravel-bike/ It's exceptionally light and I love the ride. Definitely minimalist on design and maximalist on price.
Specialized Pathfinder Pros. I ride the Sugar on 38's.
I really wonder what Future Shock adds compared to a allready proven solution like Cane Creek eeSilk seatpost.
Gravel World Champs should be the Big Sugar course.
Hey Ben great honest review. Another great video.👏👏 Can’t wait to get one of these in the fit studio🤦🏻 not😂
"So we're going to give you, um, a 'range' of fit coordinates...."
Thanks for the review Ben. Did you notice any inefficiencies in pedaling as a result of the suspension not fixing distance between seat and crank?
Something like that is impossible to know based on feel. As is knowing how much efficiency is potentially gained through staying in the saddle and pedaling when you might have to otherwise stand.
Bike review starts at .
If you also want to hear how cool this dude is, then start from the very beginning.
Just trying to add some context. But point taken - I'll try to be better about adding tables of content so folks can jump to the points that interest them.
Thank you for the review! What glasses are you rocking???
Goodr shades. They’re $45!
I'm thinking their in-frame rear sus, is not anywhere near worth it. You can get a suspension seatpost for a huge amount less - its not even a question.
Wow, So many flats Ben - maybe some cushcore or victoria foam inserts ?
Vecnum Suspension stems don’t change the angle, just FYI that those types of stems exist, too.
Yep, good point.
Do you suppose the Cane Creek seat post would counteract the saddle issue you pointed out?
Did you go to Boulder High? I was there in the early 80s and remember a Delaney. I think fatigue taking its toll on longer events full suspension is going too eventually make its way into the sport...
No, I grew up in Albuquerque. Born in 76. A comfortable ride is important, for sure.
Just to be clear, was it essentially one puncture and multiple flats from that, or do you think was there more than one hole? Some of us geeks read this reports like tea leaves or chicken gizzards trying to pick up clues about the robustness level of certain tires, and this one has the same carcass as the Pathfinder Pro, which usually is as reliable as a fast tire gets... so three separate punctures would be a potentially useful data point. Just one, and maybe a pinch flat due to having a tube in later, maybe not so much...
I *think* it was just one sneaky puncture that I couldn’t find, plus one tube that flatted when riding blind on a fellow rider’s wheel.
The annoying thing was that it was too small to find, but still wouldn’t plug with sealant. 🤷♂️