I think they forgot the weight of weekend riders are not always 60-70kg type.

@kbikski

Жыл бұрын

Weight limit on the Diverge STR is 275 lbs = 125 kg, with the correct frame post. So no, they didn't forget.

@mjokffsgfjs

Жыл бұрын

Hello Specialized Marketing Department, thanks for looking here.

@mattjns

Жыл бұрын

@@TheObeseDuathlete There he is -again!!!

Sorry to be negative, but it seems to be a serious amount of tech to do something that a normal Gravel bike would do just by running lower pressure.with less maintenance.. my guess is that it will be upgraded in a years time to a more simple and user friendly idea.. not sure under bar bags would fit correctly... i bet the price is outstanding????

@dylanl1861

Жыл бұрын

15grand for the built sworks version😂

@akissparaskevopoulos

Жыл бұрын

Well said

I think they forgot that the average weekend rider isn't willing to drop 7500$ to 14000$ for a bike that isn't optimized for either road or off-road riding.

@latte6878

Жыл бұрын

Were you living under a rock? Bike manufacturing companies think 7000$ is just enough to get you an 8.2kg starter road bike with 105 or ultegra if you're lucky.

@JJ-cf7nb

Жыл бұрын

@@latte6878 yeah, ok Mr. Moneybuckets. That's a pretty damn nice roadbike in the circles I move in. 7000 to 14000 grand for a bike thats not going to be great on the road (up to 70mm tires lol) or decent on anything but the gentlest gravel road is some pretty thick cake.

looks like student project not fully developed bike

The GT Grade does the same thing at a far more reasonable price. If you really think you need suspension you can get a really nice hardtail mountain bike for less than half the cost.

@akissparaskevopoulos

Жыл бұрын

Exactly

Ugly, poorly thought out bike. I wouldn't spend my money on it. Great review.

I fully agree with your analysis Sam. If you are racing then you only care about comfort insofar as it improves performance; in this case the additional weight may well offset any such gain. The majority of us do not race and are willing to sacrifice some performance for comfort. Most of us don't have a garage full of bikes each suited to a specific niche, so our bikes will need to suit multiple roles such as day rides, where luggage is minimal, and tours/holidays/adventures where it isn't.

@TheObeseDuathlete

Жыл бұрын

just buy a Suntour NCX. much cheaper, same purpose and easily replaceable

Hi Sam, great review! Your enthusiasm, talking pace, gestures makes me more intrigued in the bike. I really hope that you're able to get to review more bikes, and rise up akin to James Huang's level. Thank you for your experience on the bikes!

@TheObeseDuathlete

Жыл бұрын

just buy a Suntour NCX. much cheaper, same purpose and easily replaceable

@rcg9573

Жыл бұрын

LOL

🤦‍ Tragedy.....

This bike looks epic to me. I’m an ex-masochist in his 40’s not interested in murdering himself on a daily (anymore). The color, comfort & size (I’m a 52 also), on point. Cheers!

Skipping this item

Limited storage, nonstop bag, people riding in those landscapes will want that stuff. Even those racing events, depending on the race and course length. I'm not sure this will have a huge audience

Or just buy a suspension seat post?

What a terrible way to spend money.

How does this compare to the new topstone with a lefty fork?

That's not a "full suspension". It just works like a suspension seatpost?! - a very complicated and heavy suspension seatpost...

@AndrewGrease

Жыл бұрын

My thoughts exactly! It doesn't add traction to the wheel nor compliance on turns, it just siphons of the power when pedalling when seated :D

Annnd cue the recalls for when the shock goes askew in aggressive riding and begins to scar the inside of the frame and introduces the beginnings of stress fractures! 😂

With same amount of money, which one to choose S-Works Diverge or Specialized Diverge STR Pro?

You will never get an honest review of a bike, when the company which manufactured the bike, flies dozens of journalists out to Germany, to talk about the bike.

For storage, I believe it should work with Tailfin aeropack, as it is compatible even with full susp bikes. Isn't it the case?

@Phiru62

Жыл бұрын

Or an Aeropack mount??

This just adds unnecessary complexity and more things to get broken on your bike. Since when can't people handle a few bumps whilst riding on gravel.

For people with shoulder and back pain who like to race and be fast. This bike is a no brainer

The engineers that worked on this project need to find new jobs in some other industry than cycling. YOU'RE FIRED!

@kbikski

Жыл бұрын

So Charles Man, you've ridden this bike and concluded this? Or just guessing it doesn't provide a benefit?

@charlesmansplaining

Жыл бұрын

@@kbikski Not this bike but I have ridden a horse. Doesn't it look like this bike rides like a horse? If I wanted to ride a horse, I'd ride a horse, but I want to ride a bike.

It's damping not dampening.

Brilliant.. but 13k is a joke

I was about to order this thing, but decided against. First my needs. I travel fulltime in an rv mainly to ride. I already have an Ibis Ripley. My gravel bike has to double for the road by doing a wheel swap. Comfort is key, in the western USA I have yet to find a gravel road. They are rock roads. Nobody is mentioning the gearing, they put a mtb derailleur and an 11-50 cassette. Seems like terrible gearing to me! I'm going to test a Trek checkpoint for $4500 and try tire inserts, redshift stem, and one of the suspension seatposts. It may not ride quite as well, but I'll have a lighter bike with no maintenance worries for $3k less.

But why does the rear suspension move front to back instead of up and down? Am i missing something? It doesn't seem like it would provide much benefit.

@JogBird

Жыл бұрын

the rider will feel a smoother ride.. but it doesnt keep the wheels on the ground, which is the real purpose of suspension

@mattjns

Жыл бұрын

Up and down changes the length between seat and bb. Not optimal from what I’ve read.

@rcg9573

Жыл бұрын

@@mattjns Back and forth changes the rider's reach to the bars as well as the saddle position relative to the bottom bracket. Far less optimal. And the rear Futureshock also has an element of up and down to it. It is not pure horizontal movement so it most certainly also impacts the vertical distance from the saddle to the BB. The seatpost and the saddle both rock horizontally and vertically on every rear suspension compression and then rebound back to their original positions. For very little travel you get a load of complexity, a lot of cost, a good deal of additional weight and you can not maintain and service the Futureshock yourself. You have to pay a Spec dealer to do it for you when needed. Plus the entire rear suspension travel part of unit is exposed to the elements. I can only imagine the constant squeaking that comes from this system the very first time it gets splashed with some mud or collects a good deal of dust on it in dry riding conditions. Add in the ridiculous cost of these bikes and only a fool would be dumb enough to permit themselves to be fleeced buying one of these nosebleed priced things. Heck, my Kawasaki Ninja 650 cost only $7,500 brand new and that motorbike has exponentially more tech, R&D and true manufacturing costs in its braking, suspension, motor, and drivetrain systems than this STR Tulipmania priced joke. 🙂

Nice review. I'll keep my older DIVERGE. Wider tires capacity a plus.

@TheObeseDuathlete

Жыл бұрын

just buy a Suntour NCX. much cheaper, same purpose and easily replaceable

@kbikski

Жыл бұрын

Same tire capacity as all current Diverge models.

Trek ditch the rear IsoSpeed for weight, and have told the pro-reviewers to tell us that, you can now by TL tyres, run low pressure and get the same effect hence the ditch of the rear IsoSpeed thus the improvement in weight save. And Specialized have come and done this 🤦🏽‍♂️. Yes it maybe different disceplines but the point still stands.

Ben Denaley's vid said it pretty good: Diverge STR is for adventure gravel. If you want to race gravel fast, get a Crux. End of confusion. That's always how I see the Diverge, more of an adventure/explorer bike.

@BrickMoneyFilms

Жыл бұрын

Ian Boswell would argue against that. The crux is just a rebranded cyclocross bike, the diverge is going to be the better race bike for unbound bwr etc.

@shaun4787

Жыл бұрын

@@BrickMoneyFilms Crux got redesigned to tailor more to the gravel. This is the same scenario as the Canyon Grail vs Grizl. One fore gravel racing, one for bikepacking. Crux and Diverge are positioned just like that. What racers use isn't always what the general mass use. We know that story.

@JogBird

Жыл бұрын

yea but why spend $14000 on an adventure bike

@shaun4787

Жыл бұрын

@@JogBird Put a drop bar on an XC hardtail, you got yourself an adventure bike. No bike should cost 6 figures, but that's how ⚡ and other companies want you to pay for their marketing. Channels like this one, and bike radar, GCN, etc all want you to believe a bicycle should cost well over 10k. I'm no fan of Durainrider, but he has a point.

@kbikski

Жыл бұрын

@@JogBird S-Works aren't even available yet. The bike in the review is the Expert, $7500.

Where is the flex pivot point in the frame? Or is there no flex point but a flexible frame? Erm??

Does this work when you're out of the saddle? :P

@AndrewGrease

Жыл бұрын

Also can you add a dropper post?

at 13K and future maintenance bills to plan for, I can't see much in the way of sales.

Also, why is no one making comparisons to the early days of mountain biking, and the exploration and terrain choices of gravel riders?!?

Why not 25,000$? They added a shitty suspension and added 5000$....

@kbikski

Жыл бұрын

No, the Diverge STR Expert (shown in the review) is $1300 more than the Diverge Expert. Not $5000, $1300.

@ivanboesky1520

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, and still a wildly overpriced cheaply fabricated cookie cutter frameset. 😀

I see the back suspension moving back and front not up and down like the suspension suppose to work. And in the end why not get a proper FS MTB and get the real thing in a much affordable price and more safe, more comfort? A bit heavier yes but more fun overall

Good points :)

Have doubt about the durability of the system, seems complicated for maintenance .... However, the Front future shock system has been proven - comfortable

@rcg9573

Жыл бұрын

The front futureshock has been proven to be noisy, is heavy, only has very minimal travel and you can't actually replace the system yourself when it wears out. You have to pay to have a Spec dealer do it. They will not even sell an owner the futureshock replacement parts. 🙂

I wouldn't buy it but I appreciate their works.

Just one question about that bike. Why?

Over priced gimmick

The ratio price/weight in highly unfavourable for Spe compared to a Trek Checkpoint for instance (a 1cm Isospeed against a heavy 3cm suspension for Spe). Still cannot understand the need of a front suspension on a gravel bike other than a marketing appeal for those who have no technique at all, and it makes the front cockpit so bulky...).

Just get a cane creek thudbuster.. and a suspension stem.

Try good cross country 10 к g full suspension bike, and you be surprised how it is much more capable and comfortable then gravel bike.

Looks a great bike Although all models are well overpriced!

just buy a Suntour NCX. much cheaper, same purpose and easily replaceable

Sam Gupta is my click bait 😍

Introducing. Specialized with ISO speed...

This bike is for people who can afford and feel happy riding it. Simple

@ivanboesky1520

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, they used the same brilliant logic to sell Edsels to fools decades ago . 😀

gimmickry 101

Buy A Full Suspension E-MTB, please.😂

15000€ 😌🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Durianrider said it best.This bike is a joke.

Why? Seriously, to make more money of cos lol

expensive gimmick. highly doubt it rides well

@kbikski

Жыл бұрын

Ummm... Based on what? Every reviewer says it rides very well. Whether it's worth the weight, cost, complexity, etc depends on the rider - but whether it rides well is not debated. So why do you doubt that?

@mattjns

Жыл бұрын

@@kbikski Who are you Ken? Why are you responding to so many folks? Do you work for Speacialized? Genuine question.

@kbikski

Жыл бұрын

@@mattjns No I don't work for Specialized. I just know a bit about bikes, and this bike - and I get sick of all the guesswork (telling us how a bike rides, when they haven't ridden it) and outright lies ($5000 = $1300). Perhaps I'm 'tilting at windmills' in trying to question so many of these replies - but it doesn't take long and I guess all the uninformed, speculative comments got under my skin... Welcome to social media, lol.

@ivanboesky1520

Жыл бұрын

Go back to your hack marketing job at Spec Kenny. LOL This is a heavy and silly priced clown bike with a laughably ugly tiny rear seatpost suspension implementation. Even the “expert” model is a complete joke at $7,000. I can buy a fully custom gravel bike for less than that with comparable drivetrain and wheel specs. This is nothing more than a gimmick loaded dentist special for Fred’s with more money than common sense. Heck, my mid spec XC bike cost half what this joke costs, weighs about the same, and is exponentially more capable than this Tulipmania priced joke. But you keep up the hard work shilling for Spec. I’ll keep laughing at gullible clowns like you paying moronic prices for stock, gimmicky, cheaply fabricated cookie cutter bikes like this. 😀

No. Just, no.

So moving forward and backward a few centimetres is now considered a suspension? 🤡

@rcg9573

Жыл бұрын

LOL, how true indeed. 🙂

On a more serious note, while I do like the astronomically-priced Diverge STR (save for its price tag and its low load limit and a few more of its shortcomings), I still like my beautiful Salsa WarBird more, here's why: - The WarBird is somewhat reasonably priced. About 1/3 as expensive as the grossly overpriced Diverge STR. - The WarBird is easily as beautiful as the Diverge STR. I'd contend, the WarBird is a tad prettier still (it is one of the handsomest bikes out there, in my opinion). - The WarBird has the indispensable mudguard mounts and almost equally indispensable rack mounts. Apparently, so does the Diverge STR, but I can't spot a lot of them except for the fork lowrider mounts. - The WarBird has a higher max. load limit at 135kg+ (the FAQ state there isn't any!), compared to the measly 125kg one for the Specialized, which includes the cumulative weights of the bike, the rider and the luggage - not that one can mount a lot of luggage on the STR). - While the WarBird does not come with built-in suspension, it is compatible with RedShift ShockStop stems and seatposts - and the combination is about as comfortable as a gravel bike can be. And even so, it's faster than a lot of competition (though, admittedly, it's not the ideal choice for particularly twisty roads / surfaces, if that's your cup of tea).

@michalwiktorow2188

10 ай бұрын

If we are comparing, I've bought Cannondale SE 2 switched to XTR (fully) - and - it is 12,3kg. Cost - 6038$, cost of the STR that does not have 120/120mm easily replecable shocks in my country: 8695$. Funny thing, this XC Downcountry replaced - Specialized Crux 10kg bike - and it does roll better on 2.4 Assegais and Recon Race than TracersPro 33mm! I was confused AF when I first sat on this Scalpel SE 2, I could not comprehed what is going on, why does it rolls so much better. Thing is, I am a bit tall and a bit heavy rider 96kg.

Why buy a ca. 200kg MV Agusta F3 when you can buy a 9kg Specialized Diverge STR for the same amount of money? Both will take you from A to B, albeit at different speeds and with a different max. system load - 80kg rider and no luggage vs 400kg total load. Buy opting for the Specialized Diverge, you also gain an extra incentive to keep your daily calorie intake below a 1000, so you don't accidentally surpass the bike's max. load limit. The $13000-something Diverge STR is an exceptionally good proposition, not unlike the "You'll have nothing and be "happy" about it" one. Let's go out of our ways and buy these highly affordable bikes in droves: after all, spending $13000 on a bicycle not only necessitates a consumption of below 1000 kcal a day to keep in shape, but ultimately also brings us closer to the nirvana of having nothing left to buy anything else to make the Fantomas of WEF a little happier as well.