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Fair Wheel Bikes builds 19.8lb Specialized Epic EVO for less money than S-Works

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It’s been a while since we’ve posted one of Fair Wheel Bike’s custom builds. But this crazy light Specialized Epic EVO proves that they’re still cranking out some incredible bikes in Arizona. Jason Woznick of Fair Wheel tells us that this bike was created not to make the absolute lightest bike possible, but to better fit the needs of the rider who happens to be around 100lbs. Not only that, but they manged to come up with a final build that is about two pounds lighter than the stock S-Works Epic EVO, but for less money. Impressive.

19.8lb Specialized Epic EVO Fair Wheel Bikes custom 19.8lb Specialized Epic EVO Fair Wheel Bikes custom sid

It should be noted that the 19.8lb weight is for a bike with 120mm of travel front and 110mm rear, a 125mm travel dropper post, and even a remote fork lockout.

19.8lb Specialized Epic EVO Fair Wheel Bikes custom sid

Carbon-Ti X-Rotors rely on stainless steel for the braking surface, but drop some weight with carbon fiber carriers and titanium rivets. The rotors are combined with Shimano XTR dual piston brakes.

19.8lb Specialized Epic EVO Fair Wheel Bikes custom xtr

The drivetrain is also basically stock Shimano XTR 1×12 with the exception of the e*thirteen XCX Race 170mm crankset with UL 30t chainring.

19.8lb Specialized Epic EVO Fair Wheel Bikes custom back end

The wheelset is pretty exotic with FSE carbon rims, Extralite Hyperboost hubs, and Pillar Xtra Ti AL nipples, but the thru axles are stock Rock Shox and Specialized. Overall, it just highlights how light the new Epic and Epic EVO platforms are when you can build a full suspension bike with a dropper post and real tires that’s under 20lbs and still have weight to spare.

Update: Fair Wheel tells us that the build came in somewhere under $10,500 or about 10% less than the stock S-Works Epic EVO.

Build List with weights

Frame: Specialized Epic Evo Small 1721 Gr.
Fork: Rock Shox SID Ultimate 120mm 1473 Gr.
Headset: Cane Creek 48 Gr.
Fork Expander: Extralite Ultrastar 5 Gr.
Fork Lockout: 58 Gr.
Fork Lockout housing/Cable: Alligator Superlight 21 Gr.
Spacers: Fair Wheel Carbon 5 Gr.
Crank Arms: E-thirteen XCX Race 170mm 354 Gr
Chainring: E-thirteen UL 30T 56 Gr.
Bottom Bracket: E-thirteen BSA 92 Gr.
Derailleur: Shimano XTR 240 Gr.
Chain: Shimano XTR 247 Gr.
Cassette: Shimano XTR 365 Gr.
Brakes: Shimano XTR 419 Gr.
Rotors: Carbon-Ti 160/180 176 Gr.
Shifter: Shimano XTR 115 Gr.
Handlebar: Extralite Hyperbar3, 95 Gr.
Grips: Lizard Skins 21 Gr.
Stem: Mcfk 6cm 72 Gr.
Saddle: Specialized S-works Phenom 148 Gr.
Seatpost: KS Lev Carbon CI 125mm dropper 407 Gr.
Dropper post switch, cable, housing: 24 Gr.
Seat Collar: Specialized 13 Gr.
Shift Cable/Housing: Alligator Superlight 29 Gr.
Tire: Schwalbe Nobby Nic 2.35 Front 755 Gr.
Tire: Schwalbe Nobby Nic 2.35 Rear 751 Gr.
Tubeless Valves: Kcnc Universal 9 Gr.
Rim: FSE Carbon Front 358 Gr.
Rim: FSE Carbon Rear 362 Gr.
Front Hub: Extralite Hyperboost 77 Gr.
Rear Hub: Extralite Hyperboost 171 Gr.
Spokes/Nipples: Pillar Xtra Ti Al Nips 186 Gr
Thru Axles: Rock Shox Frt, Spec Rear: 71 Gr
Rim Tape: Whiskey Tubeless: 18 Gr.

fairwheelbikes.com

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31 Comments
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John A
John A
3 years ago

Great profile of a sweet, hand-picked parts build, but I don’t see prices for how much this build was compared to an S-works? A price comparison would be great.

Grant
Grant
3 years ago
Reply to  John A

Exactly what I was thinking. How much. I looked up the rotors alone. $170/piece

Dinger
Dinger
3 years ago
Reply to  John A

It would be tough to understand. Chances are, FWB didn’t charge this customer straight keystone retail for the parts. Likewise, an S-works broken down to retail component cost wouldn’t likely come in at the retail price they sell the bike for. I wonder if they made any money on this after it was all said & done.

Klaster_1
Klaster_1
3 years ago

Neat, even though my FS MTB is slightly lighter, it has less gear range, no dropper and narrower tires. Lightweight frame really makes the difference, good for FWB.

Chris
Chris
3 years ago

And how exactly do carbon-ti rotors “better fit the needs of a 100 pound rider?” That’s just a case of more money than common sense.

carbonfodder
carbonfodder
3 years ago
Reply to  Chris

My guess is the likely ‘need’ was to have a full shnick-shnock build. If you have the dollars, you can make your own justifications. (My 4 year old, 24lb hardtail tells me I can’t have that justification, but I applaud anyone who can.)

georgie
georgie
3 years ago
Reply to  Chris

Being a very light rider myself I can tell you bike weight makes a big difference for us small riders. Lighter rotors = Lighter bike = more suited to a light rider. But the carbon ti still have a fair amount of brake surface unlike some of the other superlight rotors which should mean better braking and better heat control comparatively. I think this bike looks perfect for a light rider, I’d love to own it.

JNH
JNH
3 years ago
Reply to  Chris

A 100lb rider doesn’t need nearly as much stopping power as a 210lb rider like me does. They don’t have to worry about overheating the brakes either, so they can go for some parts that I would consider too scary and get a lighter bike out of it. It’s their money.

Jaydawg
Jaydawg
3 years ago

Those are definitely NOT 4 piston XTRs…

B
B
3 years ago

How did they mod the EVO frame to get the shock travel to 120mm?

Richard Sutter
Richard Sutter
3 years ago
Reply to  B

they don’t mod the frame. The easiest way would be swap out for a slightly larger shock and some offset bushings.

John G
John G
3 years ago
Reply to  B

Rockshox sells the same eye-to-eye length SID Luxe just with a 5mm longer stroke strength. I swapped mine out and it works perfectly with tons of clearance still at bottom out. Comes out to about 123mm rear travel.

Plus it comes with remote lockout so after swapping fork dampers I‘m now able to run front/rear lockout on a single remote. So it instantly becomes a 120mm race weapon that weighs less than any other 100mm option out there. Win-win

John
John
3 years ago

I’ve heard it said a few times in recent years that a custom parts bike build is often the same price as, or sometimes less than, the roughly equivalent parts stock bike. This is for the high end price range only, say $8,000 and up stock bikes. Thoughts or comments anyone?

J'Anky Teal
J'Anky Teal
3 years ago
Reply to  John

The refrain around our shop is that, with so many amazing options out there an S-Works purchase suggests a certain lack of imagination. Maybe a little harsh, but this sort of tailored build is a great example of what can be done for less money.

SJC
SJC
3 years ago
Reply to  John

Generally true. I seem to remember being able to build up some identically-specced Santa Cruz bikes for less than retail while purchasing the parts at MSRP.

Exodux
3 years ago

So the frame and shock are around 3.8 lbs? If so, that’s pretty light. I’d like to see what other frames are close( or lighter) than this frame.
I’d love to build a light 120mm-130mm XC/trail bike, but I ride a large and would expect a few more pounds added on than this bike.

Exodux
3 years ago

So the frame and shock are around 3.8 lbs? If so, that’s pretty light. I’d like to see what other frames are close( or lighter) than this frame.
I’d love to build a light 120mm-130mm XC/trail bike, but I ride a large and would expect a few more pounds added on than this bike.

SJC
SJC
3 years ago
Reply to  Exodux

Pretty sure the Epic is the lightest out there at the moment. It’s only 110mm rear travel though – think that was a typo in the article. As for actual weights, Pinkbike just did a comparison test and their large SWORKS was under 22 lbs.

Zoso
Zoso
3 years ago

Yup. Many will buy the medium-spec bike, upgrade what you will, then sell the lesser parts = cheaper.

Rob
Rob
3 years ago

In particular is “less money than the S-Works” how much they sold it to the customer for?
Or just how much they spent on the parts?

wunnspeed
3 years ago

I just had to laugh at the ‘rider who happens to be about 100lbs’. I haven’t weighed that since about 1979 on my last year of high school and no body fat. …And for those of us in the 150-200lb, normal peoples build?

Lloyd Davies
Lloyd Davies
3 years ago

They are missing a few parts in the part list that are shown in the picture. 1) rear shock, 2) stan’s milk for a tubeless set up 3)pedals. Those will take it over 20lbs. In addition there are a few parts which can never be as light as they say in the list above:
1) Two thru axles for 17g total ???
2) Grips for 21g?
3) headset (which presumably includes topcap and bolt) for only 48g??
4) seat collar at 13g?

But it’s still a nice bike. Price $5000.

Rob
Rob
3 years ago
Reply to  Lloyd Davies

That frameset weight includes the shock, hanger, axle, and bolts.

Bean
3 years ago

Are the listed weights measured or from the spec sheet? Total cost should be listed, otherwise the headline is clickbait.

Dan Ditty
Dan Ditty
3 years ago

Definitely needs wider bars.

Philip Ken Freeman Phil.
Philip Ken Freeman Phil.
3 years ago

I have been riding nearly 60 years , now front drive feet first . I like some weight in motion for stability & coasting. with enough flywheel effect the bike stays upright better too.

nooner
nooner
3 years ago

Fair Wheel is a great bike shop, their Saturday morning ride is epic! Bring your A-game.

Jared Fuchs
Jared Fuchs
3 years ago

I really just wanted to see the price list on what was actually saving money?

DG
DG
3 years ago

This frame used in the build is an S Works, not the regular Epic Evo. As seen in photos.

james
james
1 year ago

Where are the “100 lb” children racing ? No adult racer weighs 100 lbs, not even the women. If someone replies with “so and so woman WC racer is 127 lbs or male is 135 lbs”, yeah, that’s not “100”.

This has to be the dumbest thing I’ve read in a while.

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