Lee McCormack's Specialized Enduro SX
The mighty SX in 4X action, Nathrop Colorado. 4th place open expert.
When Specialized product manager told the big S he wanted to build a purpose-built slalom bike, kind of like the Intense Tazer only better, the company scoffed. How could there be a market for a bike like that, they asked. In 2003 Specialized tested the market with few hundred SXes, which were snatched up faster than ants under an aardvark. A year later, the SX is one of the most sought-after slalom/4X frames around.
The setup:
This bike is decked!
Main use:
Dirt jumping and slalom/4X racing. This bike is a racing weapon, plus it's superfun to play on.
What makes this bike so rad:
It has slalom-specific geometry (low and slack), but it's super adjustable, so I can run it however I like. I've been running it as low and steep as it'll go, which is still slack compared with an XC bike, but I'll raise the fork and slacken the geometry for fast, steep courses like Sea Otter. It handles like my old Intense Tazer only it's much more sturdy, stiff and, as a result, quick. It's light -- only about 28 pounds built for action. The AVA air shock lets you create a plush bike for short-travel downhill or a stiff bike for smooth 4X courses. Either way, the bike really hooks up in rough corners and under hard pedaling, especially compared with a hardtail. Also, I love riding a bike that everyone knows it totally bad ass. I get a lot of compliments. At least five people have bought this frame after riding mine.
Check out the frame on Specialized.com