Built long, slack and low, the Spartan is an everyday trail weapon bringing 160mm of split pivot powered travel to the battle. The 27.5″ version of Halo’s Master Chief has proven itself, being raced with great success at everything from the elite levels of Enduro racing, to Crankworx, and the occasional World Cup round.
After having been finally released last year as an aluminum model, the podium charting formula has now been transferred to carbon. Learn more about the transformation after the break…
Last year was the first time Devinci implemented internal routing on their full suspension mountain bikes. For ease of maintenance, the frames had internal guides for cables, but no port covers. They found that this produced unwanted noise from the housing vibrating while riding, so the Spartan has covers to eliminate the noise and make routing new cable housing even easier.
Across each top top you’ll find the word “center” emblazoned in small block letters. It’s not official yet so we won’t spoil the whole surprise, but FSA and Dave Weagle have been partnering together to create an angle adjust style headset.
The new component (which wasn’t installed on this frame), will allow riders to customize their bikes off the show room floor.
To further increase the bike’s versatility, a flip chip on the shock mount can further slacken/steepen the head tube angle and drop/raise the BB.
Just using the shock flip chip allows the head tube angle to be adjusted from 65.8-66.4 degrees.
Aluminum and carbon models will ship with either 1x or 2x drivetrains, but in the future, Devinci has plans to drop 2x compatibility on its longer travel models. Particularly for the aggressive riding this specific model was designed for, they’ve found riders prefer a 1x drivetrain, and ditching that standard will give them more flexibility in design.
While I have your attention, take a second look at that down tube junction. It’s enormous. That (as any roadie would know) is great for power transfer and front end stiffness, which helps give the Spartan the same kind of rock garden gobbling confidence you’d normally expect from a downhill bike.
The entire frame is carbon and is built in an overseas facility (like almost everything else), but all of the aluminum bits where made in Canada. The rocker, pivots, and all of their aluminum frames are built in the Devinci factory near Quebec.
All of those bits are also painted in the same facility. Due to Canadian restrictions on pollution, the company uses a electrostatic paint that is more environmentally friendly than a traditional powder coat. This process requires the frame to be hung from a small hole (visible on the chain stay, just behind the lower pivot) and employs a small charge to attract that paint. The paint sort of then wraps itself around the part, which helps reduce the amount needed.
Having spent all that time building and painting each of their bikes, they then back them with a lifetime warranty, which they’ve also extended to include all of their carbon frames.
While the Spartan doesn’t have the distinct layout we’ve come to associate with Split Pivot bikes, all the same elements are still present.
One interesting thing to note is that the rear triangle was designed to accommodate a 2.5″ 650B tire, although that size tire was not readily available when the frame was in its development stages. With fairly wide 2.3″ Schwalbe Hans Dampf tires mounted front and rear, there was still plenty of breathing room.
The bottom of the frame is protected by a beefy aluminum skid plate.
The plate has a central channel and sits out from the frame slightly in order to make it easier to route a front derailleur cable. It’s there to protect your investment in the frame, but if you aren’t running a front derailleur and are interested in shedding some grams – you can remove it by undoing three allen bolts.
Total weight for a complete carbon Spartan (with a bash ring and 470 g Crank Brother Mallet DH Pedals) was 31 lbs 1 oz (14.36 kg). Swapping in carbon bars, lighter pedals, and a few other things could easily push this complete into the sub 30 lb range.
Claimed weight for the size M aluminum frame is 8.04 lbs, while the size M carbon model sits in at 6.15 lbs. Prices for complete aluminum models start as low as $3,899, while a carbon frame with similar build kit with set you back an additional $400. Full list of prices below:
Alloy
- Frame alloy 2399$
- Spartan XP 3899$
- Spartan RC 4799$
- Spartan SX 5899$
- Spartan RR 7099$
Carbon
- Frame carbon 2799$, 6.15 pounds
- Spartan carbon XP 4299$
- Spartan carbon RC 5199$
- Spartan carbon SX 6299$
- Spartan carbon RR 7499$
Designed originally as a one-off to help Steve Smith clinch the rainbow stripes on a somewhat pedally World Champs Downhill course, the Spartan has since evolved into a machine capable of clinching Enduro World Series wins. Head to Devinci to learn more.
