All-Mountain, 4-Bar Style

WHAT: Specialized S-Works Enduro WHERE: www.specialized.com HOW MUCH: $5,700 BITS & PIECES: Fox Float 36 RC2 fork, Custom Progressive 5th Element air shock /// Drivetrain: Shimano XTR /// Brakes: Shimano XTR /// Weight: 30 pounds

When you walk through the door, the lights are low. As your eyes adjust to the dimly lit neon glow of the room, you spot her. There are no liquor goggles to focus now, you’re clear headed and on top of your game. You need to be. Basking in the radiance of the video poker machine at the far end of the bar is something you’d never thought you’d see in a dive like this.

Logic tells you to order something foreign, something in a bottle instead of a draft. She notices this right away and is impressed; you’ve passed the first phase of her mental credit check. And it’s credit you’ll need—$5,700 is a boatload of clams, but you can’t get the ride of a Cadillac for the price of a Pinto.

If you’re lucky enough to score this high-priced beauty, your empty pockets will be refilled with all sorts of mechanical treats: a Shimano XTR drivetrain, XTR disc brakes with an 8” XT front rotor and a Thomson stem and seatpost, all of which performed flawlessly.

The components are hung on an attractive, curvaceous aluminum alloy frame that features cartridge-bearing pivots, artfully sculpted tubes and numerous forgings, including the unique seat tube/rear shock pass-through “piercing.” Like most connections, this relationship with the Enduro isn’t based solely on the ride, but that is a huge part. Thankfully it over-delivers.

When the trail hits the upslope, the Specialized is an effective climber. The adjustable pedaling platform of the Progressive 5th Element air shock, coupled with the adjustable low- and mid-speed damping of the Fox Float 36 RC2 fork and the proven Horst-link suspension design, are quite the threesome.

While the Enduro looks svelte, it still has a bit of junk in the trunk, so its climbing efficiency is a huge plus that minimizes the huffing and puffing it could take to get the 30-pound bike to the summit.

All that sweat equity will get you to the sweet spot we all desire—going down—and the S-Works Enduro descends with authority. While it is responsive enough to carve tight, twisty trails, the S-Works Enduro’s geometry provides you with a confidence-inspiring feeling of low and rearward weight bias.

Combined with 6 inches of front and rear travel and the rock-solid stability of the stout Fox fork, the bike rails descents like a downsized downhill race machine. And if that is what you seek, you could be the Enduro’s true match—someone who seeks the soul of a downhill machine with the climbing ability to scale mountains without assistance from fossil fuels.