The 2020 Specialized Epic HT - The Lightest Hardtail In The World

Back in June this year, I was invited out to Lake Tahoe in the US for the Specialized Summer Camp. We were there to test out several new bikes, one of which was the brand new 2020 Epic HT.
Before the start of the presentation on the Epic, I noticed a blacked out carbon hardtail frame sat on top of a table with a set of fish scales next to it. Scales at a product launch are a sure bet that weight is going to be one of the main talking points of a new bike. And in the new Epic hardtail, weight most certainly is one of the talking points.
There are actually a load of other significant changes over the previous Epic, all of which are designed to make this a more comfortable and capable race bike for taking on modern World Cup XCO courses.
We'll get onto those nitty-gritty details shortly, but first let's take a closer look at that stunning carbon frame and the headline-grabbing weight figure.
Now the previous Epic S-Works frame wasn't exactly a heffalump, given it only tipped the scales at 845g. Not content on resting on one's laurels though, Specialized decided it could do better.
How much better? The new 2020 Specialized Epic S-Works frame comes in at a claimed weight of just 775g (+/- 15g) for a medium. Yup. Seven hundred and seventy five grams. At the time of writing, the new Epic is (as far as we're aware) the lightest mass-produced mountain bike frame on the market.
Believe it or not, that weight figure is actually a bit conservative. According to Specialized's carbon whizz, Peter Denk, about 50% of production frames are actually coming in at 760g. That is insanely light, particularly when you factor in that the new frame is quite a bit longer in the front end, and it's still hitting all of Specialized's strength, fatigue and stiffness targets.
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