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The Ideal Galbraith Mt. Bike?
Specialized FSR Enduro Comp
 
This is a pretty stock 2002 FSR Enduro Comp. Apart from taking off some of the excess fenderage, what you see is what rolls off the showroom floor: Marzocchi MXC air fork with ECC (extension control cartridge), Shimano 525 dual piston hydraulic disc brakes, Fox Float R with proprietary ITCH Swicth for on-the-fly changing of rear end travel, Shimano Octalink splined bottom bracket and Specialized Strong Arm II cranks, Shimano PDM-515 clipless, and Mavic X223 rims.
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| Model: |
Specialized FSR Enduro Comp |
| Category: |
All Mountain Trail Bike |
| Suspension: |
4 inches front; 5 inches (or 4 inches, with on-the-fly switch) rear |
| Ideal for: |
The FSR Enduro is at home everywhere on Galbraith Mt., from the Ridge Trail to 911, from the Candies to Kung Fu Theater. This is the bike that put the term "all mountain" on the mountain biking map, and made it stick. |
| Over all performance: |
Specialized redesigned the FSR Enduro for 2002, and what they came up with is an all around winner. This bike performs best when it is under power, and as long as you have the legs, it will jump, scamper and dodge through just about anything you can imagine. Although it's still a little bit too heavy at 31 pounds (and a little bit heavier than the Rocky Mountain Slayer or Kona Dawg De-Luxe), the FSR Enduro actually climbs like a lighter bike thanks to its excellent rear end. And when you turn it downhill, mercy, this bike is ready to romp. |
| Front end: |
The FSR Enduro comes stock with the Marzocchi MXR air fork with four inches of travel and Marzocchi's ECC feature, which allows you to both lock the fork and compress the legs to steepen the head tube angle. After breaking it in for a little bit, we loved this fork. It's not as rigid as, say, the Cannondale Lefty, the Fox Forx, or Marzocchi's own Z1 Freeride, but it's ECC feature is very cool. We used the ECC as a sort of NOS boost when we were really hurting and just about spent on a brutal climb. Then we'd flip the little level on the fork's left leg, hop out of the saddle and bounce once to compress and lock the fork, and then keep going. Compressing and locking the fork was like getting a couple more "bail out gears" to work through as we struggled to the top of hard single track climbs, such as Arsenio Spur or Darrell's Death Climb. |
| Rear end: |
The FSR Enduro boasts one of the best performing rear ends in mountain biking today, Specialized's patented four-bar with the Horst link (which is also licensed and used by Intense, Turner, Titus, Ellsworth, Norco and others). The Specialized rear end is so good that you can just power over and through a lot of stuff where other bikes either lose traction or toss you around enough to disrupt your spin. But that's just the start with the FSR Enduro. New for 2002, Specialized has cooked up a little trick with shock maker Fox called the "Itch switch" which allows the rider to switch between four and five inches of rear suspension travel on the fly, and do it EASILY. Whoah! Look lively dere, Mongo. De bar been raised. And when you see how well the FSR Enduro climbs and dances with five inches of rear travel, you'll be doubly amazed. |
| Brakes: |
The FSR Enduro comes stock with Shimano 525 dual piston hydraulic disc brakes, which are excellent. |
| (The devil is in the) Details: |
If you're really going to use the FSR Enduro for epic, exploratory rides, plan to carry your water on your back. The FSR Enduro's water bottle cage provisions are limited, and not terribly satisfactory. |
| Durability: |
The FSR Enduro's new semi-monocoque front chassis appears very beefy, and the rear end utilizes Specialized's much refined four bar design. There was a problem with the rear end in this year's FSR Enduro, but typical of Specialized's thorough approach, it recalled all affected bikes and made the needed changes. The FSR Enduro should be able to take all the pounding Galbraith can dish out. |
| Geometry and sizing: |
The FSR Enduro's head tube angle measures either 69.5 or 70.5 degrees, despending on the rear end setup. Compared to the Kona Dawg, the FSR Enduro's cockpit feels roomier, although the upright riding posture is similar. |
| Weight: |
31 pounds as pictured. |
| Reviewed: |
May 2002; updated August 2002 |
| Mark Belles log dropping near the top of the Ridge Trail on the Specialized FSR Enduro. |
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