2018 Men's Epic Hardtail Expert

With all of the growth in full-suspension XC bikes, we found that hardtails were starting to become a little same old, same old. So we thought to ourselves, "What better time then now to shake things up with a modern, revolutionary design?" Say hello to the Epic Hardtail Expert.

It's one of the lightest frames we've ever made, tipping the scales around 1175g. And to do so, we built the entire frame from our superlative FACT 11m carbon fiber, and then we took some design cues from our road bikes.

We borrowed the Rider-First Engineered™ concept that originated with the Tarmac. Now, the frame design applies specificity to every tube size and carbon layup for every frame size. This creates the optimal balance of rigidity, weight, and responsiveness, so every frame, regardless of size, performs just as we intended. We've also tweaked the geometry for more speed and stability by slacking-out the head tube, lengthening the top tube, and correcting the seat tube angle. This way, it feels more planted then ever, and frankly, it's stupid fast. We also widened the rear spacing to 12x148mm and included internal split-housing cable routing.

For the build, this Epic Hardtail successfully balances value with performance, with a custom-tuned RockShox SID fork with Brain, SRAM GX Eagle™ 12-speed shifting, and quick-to-accelerate Roval Control Carbon wheels.

• By pairing a FACT 11m carbon fiber frame with our XC 29 Geometry, this Epic places a focus on revolutionary tube angles and extremely light overall weight for explosive speed and nimble handling on the race circuit. For good measure, we also gave it 148mm rear spacing and all-new triangulated post-mount brake mounts.

• The Custom RockShox SID 29 w/ Brain fork provides 90/100mm of efficient travel. It features Brain technology that distinguishes between terrain and rider input in order to maximize your power, while a Brain Fade adjusts the oil flow when not hitting bumps.

• SRAM's 12-speed GX Eagle groupset, with its 10-50t cassette, provides a wide gear range that lets you spin up the climbs, yet have plenty of top end for the descents. One-by setups also decrease weight and make it next to impossible to drop a chain.