Specialized Epic 8 vs Pinarello Dogma XC: Two Elite Level XC Race Bikes Compared

Hi there, my name is Sarah Moore and today we're going to talk about a couple of bikes that could win the gold medal at the Paris Olympics on July 28th and July 29th. Now the Olympics only come around every four years and that means that in the history of the sport there have only been 12 gold medals awarded to mountain bikers at the Olympics and even if we look at all of the different medals there have only been 32 mountain bikers who won medals at the Olympics and that's the games were debuted in Atlanta in 1996. We often see cross-country bikes on a four-year development cycle and that's just so that the athletes that are going for those elusive gold medals are on the latest and greatest technology when they're putting down the watts. Cross-country bikes have always been known to be lightweight but in recent years they've also had to become more capable on the descents because we're seeing things like rock gardens, big drops, and technical descents in these cross-country courses in addition to those brutally steep climbs that cross-country courses are known for. Two bikes that were launched with the 2024 Paris Olympics in mind are the Pinarello Dogma XC and the Specialized Epic 8. Now these two bikes are kind of the polar opposite ends of what we see from cross-country bike trends these days with the Pinarello taking a more conservative approach and the Specialized really pushing the limits of what we're seeing with cross-country bikes. But both of these bikes have a very solid chance at winning Olympic gold. The Pinarello will be raced by Tom Pincock and Pauline Ferrat-Prévot both of whom are the reigning world champs and they've also both won two world cups apiece already this year. The Specialized Epic 8 will be raced by Victor Koretsky who's racing on home soil in France and then there's Hayley Batten and Christopher Blevins who will be also racing on this bike and they have all three of these riders have won a world cup already so far this year on the Specialized Epic 8. Now let's dive into the details on these bikes and compare them out on the trail. The 2024 Specialized Epic is the eighth iteration of Specialized's ideal cross-country bike. The first version was launched in 2002 and the bike has changed a lot in the past 22 years. The latest edition really pushes the limits of cross-country bike design. For starters there's single pivot flex stay design which is very common on a lot of modern cross-country bikes but that's controlling 120 millimeters of rear travel which is the most that you'll see on any cross-country bikes these days. That's paired with a 65.9 degree head tube angle, a 75.5 degree seat tube angle, and a 450 millimeter reach on the sides medium. Compared to the previous version it's one and a half degree steeper seat tube angle, 0.7 of a degree slacker head tube angle, and it's got a 15 millimeter longer reach. New on this version is a SWAT storage compartment in the down tube and unlike the previous version of the Specialized Epic it doesn't use the Specialized Brain. Instead it opts for Flight Attendant on this S-Works model. While Pinarello has a long history in racing it's mainly been of the skinny tire variety until recently. The brand in fact has the most Tour de France wins. They have 15 overall Tour de France wins which is way more than any other brand. The brand did have a little foray into mountain biking in 2013 but it was not met with much success and so they decided to focus on what they were good at, road bikes. That is until Tom Pidcock signed for the brand. Basically the new Dogma XC was designed specially for Tom Pidcock. He signed for the Ineos Grenadiers which were sponsored by Pinarello in 2021 but Pinarello didn't have a bike for Tom Pidcock to ride in cross-country races and so at the last Olympics where Tom Pidcock won he was actually on an unbranded frame. Anyways Pinarello couldn't have Tom Pidcock racing on another brand's frame forever and so he basically forced their hand and made them create this mountain bike and they created it in record time. Apparently it was four months from the start of the project until the first time that it was raced and it was definitely a successful project. Tom Pidcock went out and won on this bike in the Novo Mesto World Cup in 2023 and then he and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot went and won the world championships on this bike. Tom Pidcock's main design request was that this bike be stiff and Pinarello has done some interesting things with that in mind thus making it easier to switch back and forth between his road bike and his mountain bike. It also uses a flex pivot suspension design although the bike overall is a lot more on the conservative side of things than the specialized. It has 90 millimeters of rear travel and that's paired with a 100 millimeter fork. Apparently that's the only configuration that Tom Pidcock rides it in although if you're buying this bike you can actually fit a 100 millimeter rear shock and 110 millimeter fork. That's paired with a 67.5 degree head tube angle. The reach on the size medium is actually quite long at 455 millimeters and then there's a 74.45 degree seat tube angle which is almost the same as the specialized. Now let's get into how these bikes compare out on the trail. Let's start with a relatively straightforward comparison weight which is a huge one for cross-country racers. I've known some racers to do some crazy things in the name of lightweight including removing bolts from their chain rings which is definitely not recommended. Now if we're talking about the specialized frame and shock that's going to be 1,795 grams and if we're looking at the Pinarello just the frame is 1,750 grams and if you add the rear shock it's another 252 grams so you're looking at 2,000 grams for the entire package. That means that the specialized just wins on weight comparison. A couple of things that apparently weigh 200 grams are a cup of sugar, four cinnamon pop tarts, 80 pennies or 40 nickels. These are you know not huge weights but obviously things that you don't want strapped to your bike if you can help it. However there's one consideration that Pinarello brought up with us when we were chatting with them for the Pinkbike podcast and that's that Tom Pidcock's main design request for this bike was that it be stiff. Lightness came secondary to stiffness. Tom Pidcock did not want a bike that turned into a noodle under him when he was racing and so Pinarello says that they used a little bit more carbon fiber in the layout. Now the specialized is not a noodle by any means but the Pinarello is definitely a stiffer bike and so it's going to take the point here. Now how does that stiffness translate to the descents? Well as you can imagine the Pinarello is not the most comfortable of bikes to descend on. That being said it's incredible on smoother lower angle descents it feels really fast but when things get steeper a little bit more technical it's just a little bit more frightening to ride and it's going to require a lot more concentration and a lot more effort and strength. That's partly due to stiffness and it's also partly due to the geometry. The Specialized has a 65.9 degree headtube angle and the Pinarello has a 67.5 degree headtube angle so that Specialized is one and a half degree slacker. It just puts you in a much better position for descending. Another huge factor is the 120 millimeters of travel on the Specialized Epic. It's going to take off the edge a little bit more and it gives you a little bit more leeway before things go sideways and it still feels efficient on low angle terrain. The 90 millimeters of travel on the Pinarello is going to take the edge off things but not much more than that. I definitely found myself losing traction more often on the Pinarello and kind of just skidding my way through corners with that short 425 millimeter rear end on the Dogma XC instead of really having traction through the entire corner. So if World Cup courses these days are making you a little bit nervous you're probably going to want the Specialized on your side for the descents. Now let's get into how these bikes climb which is generally where the big winning moves are going to be made in a cross-country race. Both bikes have a very aggressive position. They both have proprietary handlebars that put you in a very low and aggressive position but that being said the Pinarello is a little bit more aggressive and the Specialized is just a little bit more comfortable. As for handling the Pinarello feels a little bit more twitchy and excitable than the Specialized Epic 8 when you're winding your way through tight switchbacks. The Specialized Epic feels a little bit more composed but it might also feel a little bit less direct. So if you're going through tight switchbacks I think the Pinarello gets the point. Like I mentioned before the Pinarello is very stiff which feels great when you want to put down the watts and that is because of the frame layup but it is also because of the suspension curve which Pinarello says has been tuned to be very stiff in the first portion of the travel. The Specialized Epic has slight attendant though which really is very nice on a cross-country bike because it really delivers that locked out feel that you want when you're climbing. I didn't notice that even though it has more travel that the Specialized felt like it was you know moving through that travel on the climbs. It felt very stiff, it felt very supportive and because of that extra 120 millimeters of rear travel it felt like it had a little bit more traction. Both bikes come with steer blocks and on the Specialized I never really noticed it but on the Pinarello there were definitely a couple slow speed tight corners where I couldn't turn as tightly as I wanted to. That's because it has a 60 degree internal stopper which seems a little bit excessive to me. The Specialized one feels a lot more natural and if you do want to risk it and remove it you can totally do that. This point I feel like is probably the hardest one to award because both bikes climb really really well. The Pinarello has more of a cross-country typical feel it's very direct it's very efficient feeling it's very aggressive but the Specialized Epic has it just feels like it has more traction it feels more comfortable and so I'm going to give Specialized a point with this one. Normally we would cover all of the component details in a head-to-head like this but since Tom Pidcock and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won't even be riding Fox suspension on this bike and the Specialized athletes can choose whatever SRAM and RockShox combination of components they want on their own bikes it's not super relevant to cover here. That being said if you're going to buy one of these bikes for yourself you better have a lot of battery chargers if you're getting the flight attendant version of the Epic and if you're going to get one of the Pinarello Dogma XC bikes you're going to get a very interesting lockout and you're also going to have one of those Fox forks that has the cutouts to make it more lightweight. Should we try and compare value on these two purebred cross-country bikes? Well the Pinarello Dogma XC will set you back $13,000 although there is a model that starts at $7,900. If we're looking at the Specialized Epic 8 the S-Works version that I've been riding is $14,500 although there is a model that starts at $7,000. If you want to buy the frame only it will be $6,000 from either brand although for that price from Specialized you'll get the rear shock and the fork whereas from Pinarello you'll only get the rear shock. So these are two eye-wateringly expensive bicycles but I think the Specialized is going to get the point here because they've got the fork on the frame set and then the entry price point is just a little bit lower. There are definitely pros and cons to taking a more conservative approach to cross-country bike design versus a more progressive approach. Now on the Pinarello that short rear end and the steep head tube angle feel great on the climbs. It feels very nimble and very reactive but those things hamper its performance on the downhills and the 90 millimeters of rear travel overall whether you're climbing or descending that 90 millimeters just doesn't have as much traction. With longer travel cross-country bikes there's definitely going to be a little bit of a weight penalty and there's also a fine line between making a bike capable on the descents and making it feel unwieldy or sluggish on the climbs. In conclusion that Specialized Epic is the bike that I would be choosing if I were going to go do a cross-country race tomorrow but I love seeing that the Pinarello team is so dedicated to Tom Pidcock and Pauline Fran Prevot and there is no doubt in my mind that they can go out and win on that Dogma XC. Of course they'll be up against the likes of Nino Schurter who's going to be looking for a fourth Olympic medal and reigning Olympic champion Jolanda Neff. They'll be up against top bikes like the Scott Spark, Canyon among others. I for one can't wait to see what athlete and what bike combination are going to be able to put it together when it counts most in Paris. Give us your best guesses below and don't forget to subscribe for more content like this.