Specialized big hit

Working away in the shadows of the successful Specialized Demo line of downhill and black-diamond bikes is the Specialized 7, specialized big hit. The new BigHit frame features a tapered head tube.

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Specialized big hit

Specialized's original BigHit really was a big hit with the gravity crowd, but it was always held back by its oddball 26in front, 24in rear wheel arrangement. The new BigHit rolls on 26in wheels at both ends and the result is a superb race bike. The new back wheel size opens up far more options for upgrading rims and tyres, but it does stretch the wheelbase out, making this the longest bike here by over an inch. You still get 8in mm of travel from the Fox DHX 3. There's plenty of mud clearance too, even with the supplied 3in tyres. More neat forged sections provide maximum strength for the ISCG-tabbed bottom bracket area, the dropouts and seatstay and chainstay bridges. The dropouts are also slotted rather than clamped, which allows for fast removal if not maximal stiffness. The mm rear spacing means you have more hub options to choose from too. Big box-fronted hydroformed tubes make up the rest of the frame in Specialized's typical FSR interrupted seat tube fashion. There are a few inches of saddle adjustment before you need to saw the seatpost down, but freeriders will need a telescopic post for pedalling back up hills. Fox's DHX 3. If we were racing we'd probably drop to a slightly lighter spring to give more traction. The extra resistance comes in handy when you're dropping big ones though, and it stops the bike feeling mushy under pedalling.

We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if specialized big hit wish. As soon as you climb on it just feels utterly planted, with a super solid feel through the bar, frame and fork. Downhill - Freeride - Mtbr.

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Specialized certainly push the boat out when it comes to value for money, and the Big Hit III — the top model in this three-bike range — will help put them back on the more gravity orientated map. This may be called the Big Hit, and it can certainly cope with the bigger hits, but the most noticeable thing about this bike is its sheer agility. Weighing in at The weight, gearing and quick-release seatpost mean this could be ridden for more than just downhill or freeride, but the Big Hit III seems to love punishment. The bike can be launched from bar scraping turn to bar scraping turn with ease and eats up technical terrain without a problem. The compliance of the suspension enables you to dial them in to fit your requirements perfectly.

Specialized big hit

Specialized's original BigHit really was a big hit with the gravity crowd, but it was always held back by its oddball 26in front, 24in rear wheel arrangement. The new BigHit rolls on 26in wheels at both ends and the result is a superb race bike. The new back wheel size opens up far more options for upgrading rims and tyres, but it does stretch the wheelbase out, making this the longest bike here by over an inch.

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These are aggressive, dual-ply treads, lighter than their downhill-specific tires, and are ideal for aggressive riding on shorter travel bikes. Some gentle progression to the stroke meant we weren't bottoming out often either. Every time we rode the Specialized it just felt stiffer, tighter and like it had a lot more to give than the other bikes; not necessarily in travel, cornering grip or anything tangible like that, but just in massively confident overall performance. Maybe that means it's faster down a hill. It requires more rider concentration to ride the same trails with a single-crown fork that one can rip down with a dual-crown downhill fork. Not that they were bad bikes or anything by any means. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. There's plenty of mud clearance too, even with the supplied 3in tyres. The RockShox Domain fork broke in and was very supple after a couple hours of ride time. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Right now I'm using 2. For aggressive riding, our best results came with the compression wide open. Dedicated downhillers interested in the BigHit III might want to slap on a wider handlebar for improved downhill performance. Log in.

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I found a cool Santa Cruz v10 frame I considered. The wheels - Mavic EX rims and Specialized hubs - are fine, although the 60a compound of Specialized's Chunder tyres is noticeably less grippy than the Kenda Stick E rubber on the other bikes. And after proper sag was set in the shock, the front and rear of the bike cycled through travel in harmony. Prev Next. Although the BigHit is slightly down on spec compared to the other bikes here, it more than makes up for it in unshakeable ride quality. Right now I'm using 2. The new BigHit rolls on 26in wheels at both ends and the result is a superb race bike. The Elixir brakes are downright awesome. Unfortunately, my major beef with Maxxis is that the 2. The weight isn't really an issue in that scenario either.