What makes the Status rad is the foundation off which it gives consumers to build. A compelling ride for the money, the Status rips! Get $350 off your new Alchemy bike with code VITAL500. 2022 Commencal Meta TR 29 Origin Heritage Green Bike, Racing Downhill with 29-inch Wheels in 2003 - Alex Morgan on The Path Less Paved, SUSPENSION COMPARISON - Lets Go Racing Season 2, Episode 5, Post-Race Interviews - Snowshoe World Cup Downhill, Nukeproof Introduces the Sprung Collection, What an Incredible Race! Read the new issue of ENDURO Mountainbike Magazine now. Its a quick and easy process and gives you 0.5 degrees of head- and seat-angle adjustment, and allows you to alter the bottom bracket height by 9mm. The Specialized Status is one of the most mysterious bikes currently on the market: it doesnt appear on Specializeds official website, conceals its origin when you see it in person and for a high-end brand like Specialized, costs surprisingly little. We feel the stock build kit functions great for most riders and as things wear out, substantial upgrades become more palatable thanks to the relatively affordable price point of the bike. The FOX DPX2 Performance shock features a three-position compression lever that allows you to switch between open, trail and climb modes. Popping off ledges and flying through the air in style? SUMMER SALE | Try 3 issues of Cycling Plus magazine for 5 + Get a pair of Lusso cycling socks! Our initial concerns about the long reach were alleviated after the first lap and feeling the stability of our position on the bike. Itll handle big days in the bikepark and could be a formidable machine between the tapes too, though you may want to switch the tyres for something a little more predictable. Perhaps the most interesting part of the Status is its consumer-direct only sales approach. Love bikes? M5 alloy chassis and rear-end, Mixed wheel Trail Geometry, threaded BB,12x148mm dropouts, sealed cartridge bearing pivots, replaceable derailleur hanger, 160mm of travel, Colors:Satin Smoke / Arctic Blue; Satin Ca White Sage / Gunmetal, FOX FLOAT 36 Rhythm, GRIP damper, two position Sweep adjustment, 15x110mm QR axle, 44mm offset, 160mm of travel, FOX FLOAT X Performance, Rx Trail Tune, EVOL Air sleeve, 2-position lever w/ LSR adjustment, 230x60mm, Specialized, 6061 alloy, 6-degree upsweep, 8-degree backsweep, 30mm rise, 800mm width, Body Geometry Bridge Comp, hollow Cr-Mo rails, 143mm, X-Fusion Manic, infinite adjustable, two-bolt head, bottom mount cable routing, remote SLR LE lever, 34.9mm, S2: 125mm, S3/S4: 150mm, S5: 170mm, SRAM Code R, 4-piston caliper, hydraulic disc, 200mm, Specialized 29, hookless alloy, 30mm inner width, tubeless ready, Alloy, sealed cartridge bearings, 15x110mm thru-axle, 28h, Alloy, sealed cartridge bearings, 12x148mm thru-axle, 28h, Front: Butcher, GRID TRAIL casing, GRIPTON T9 compound, 2Bliss Ready, 29x2.3", Rear: Butcher, GRID TRAIL casing, GRIPTON compound, 27.5x2.3". We think if your primary focus is fun, youll be pleased with the ride characteristics of the Status. Sign in to manage your newsletter preferences.

Riding the bike casually feels just as rewarding as pushing it to the limit, which should keep just about any gravity-focused rider happy. The only drawback: onheavy compressions, heavy riders will notice the fork flexing, like when youre blasting through tight berms at full speed. Free shipping on orders of $99 or more (U.S. only).

Specialized Status 160 review: killer value for money - MBR. Specialized states that the Status frameset is about fewer frills but all the thrills. The middle trail mode is a great choice for flowing trails and jumps.

Here the trail mode of the shock comes in handy! The bike seems to get up to speed just fine and accelerates at a moderate pace. On our test bike, Specialized upgraded the standard Butcher and Eliminator tires to the more robust version with the Grid Gravity casing.

Its here where youll be grateful for the formidable braking power that comes courtesy of the Code R brakes. We walked away from our test period thinking more people might benefit from its simplicity and easy setup process, leaving less room for error. Snowshoe Winning Runs, FINAL RESULTS - Snowshoe World Cup Downhill, RESULTS - Qualifying, Snowshoe World Cup Downhill, RESULTS - Snowshoe World Cup DH Timed Training, Snowshoe Photo Blast - Mud, Tires and Deer, SNOWSHOE World Cup DH POV with Laurie Greenland, Pro Racers Share Their Thoughts on Discovery Sports Covering World Cup in 2023. At first, sitting on the bike felt a little stretched out, even at 64. The bottom bracket sits at a low 338mm off the ground (low setting) which should help bolster cornering prowess. So much fun, S1 (high, low), S2 (high, low), S3 (high, low), S4 (high, low), S5 (high, low), https://p.vitalmtb.com/photos/users/1489/avatar/c50_image.jpg?1361867971, https://www.vitalmtb.com/community/jonathon-Simonetti,1489/all, https://www.vitalmtb.com/community/jonathon-Simonetti,1489/setup, https://www.vitalmtb.com/community/fishoholic805,57023/all, supported by a full frame warranty and shipped for free within the U.S. from Alchemy. Another area we saw dirt accumulate on what appeared to be grease was around the rear hub shell, presumably from the freehub body as a creak while pedaling under load seemed to arise simultaneously..

Most importantly, though, its a lot of fun to ride fast and isnt afraid to get rowdy when the terrain deteriorates. Youll be searching in vain for the Status 160 on Specializeds website. For more reserves, we recommend adding volume spacers. The ride quality was terrific in everything from mellow terrain to blitzing the gnarliest rock gardens we could find. So much bike for the price. This will, on the one hand, keep them well protected, but on the other makes maintenance that bit fiddlier when the time comes to replace them. Hub engagement does seem slightly higher than other entry-level options. Specialized provides a great foundation to build off of if you are a newer rider looking for an affordable bike that will open the door to more aggressive riding. The Specialized Status 160 is the perfect choice for beginners and flow hunters, both because of its affordable price and fun, agile handling. Theres 160mm of rear wheel travel on tap, which comes courtesy of Specializeds FSR four-bar linkage platform and is controlled by a Fox DPX2 Performance rear shock. We used an equivalent Butcher 2.3 Grid Gravity casing tire we had on hand for the remainder of our test and felt more confident pushing the bike. Previously, Specialized offered a broader range of its popular do-it-all Enduro, which inevitably must have trodden on the old Statuss toes, likely explaining why the brand dropped the big-hitter some years ago. Its designed to be as much fun as possible, no matter whether youre at the bikepark or just blatting around the trails of your local wood. Are you with us? Free shipping on orders over $75 (contiguous U.S. only). The shifting performance of the cheap SRAM NX 12-speed is worryingly inconsistent and fails to inspire confidence on the trail not good! We experienced no issues when standing up to sprint. Become an ENDURO supporter and lets shape the bike scene together and make mountain biking even better! Rather than base the sizing on the seat tube length, Specialized uses the reach measurement (the distance from the centre of the bottom bracket to the centre-top of the head tube), and therefore ride feel, to help guide sizing choices. On tight berms, jumps and at slower speeds, the Status was the most fun bike in our bike park test. Stock tires didnt hold up , rear shock sucked(imo) brakes code r , Im not a fan of. Thats what the Status does best!

At 16.3kg, it prefers to winch up the climbs at a steady pace and youll want to flick the low-speed compression lever on the Fox DPX2 shock to calm the suspension bob down (which you can notice a little, even when seated) and up the efficiency. The comparatively delicate frame has a tidy look with internally routed cables which are securely clamped in place.

Instead, only the 160 mm travel FSR suspension provides hints to the bikes origin. Need more info? Get a Snycros iS Couple bottle cage when you subscribe to Mountain Biking UK today! You've been subscribed to our newsletter. Gearing comes courtesy of SRAMs NX Eagle. Unfortunately, we sliced our rear tire almost immediately on one of our first descents, something that heavier riders will want to consider. Few upgrades and you got a fun bike that does it all. Out of the saddle, climbing doesnt require any additional effort. Love data? Considering the cost and just how well this bike rides, Id take this over pricier options any day of the week and spend any left-over cash on a trip to a bikepark or, better yet, a holiday in the Alps. This could be solved with a file. I put the dhx2 coil, Cush core, saint brakes I ride this bike hard and it takes everything I throw at Was so impressed by the bike, I got one for my son. With a focus on fun, pointing the Status downhill is where the bike comes alive. Despite the number of rocks that bounced off of the down tube in the duration of our test, we saw zero dents and hardly noticeable paint chips. As deputy editor-in-chief, Peter is as much a man of action as he is of words. However, a pinch flat still left a decent dent in the rim. He cut his teeth racing cross-country mountain bikes in the early 90s before finding his feet in downhill. Roval, Specializeds wheel brand, supplies its alloy Traverse 29 and 27.5 rims, both of which feature a 30mm internal width. We brought the stack height up 5mm to the highest we could get it and would have liked to go slightly higher to feel a bit more upright on the bike.

Specialized's new budget big-hitter, the Status, is a monster on the trail. How does it ride? We had no issues with the rim bead for the rest of our test but larger or aggressive riders should consider a Grid Gravity casing tire. Mixed ("Mullet") wheels: 29" front, 27.5" rear. Subscribe for updates. 5 sizes,S1 to S5, are available to choose from. The majority of our testing was done on the trails of South Mountain in Phoenix, AZ. For that $1,000 savings, riders will forego the SWAT storage and myriad of geometry adjustments that accompany the Stumpjumper Evo. Sticking with the tried and true design of the previous generation Status, the changes to this new version appear to be more of refinements rather than radical changes. This is the kind of bike we would feel just as comfortable taking to a bike park on a regular basis as we would spinning laps on our local trails. Rob first graced the pages of MBUK back in 2001 when working as a freelance writer and went on to start testing bikes for the title in 2007.

Adjustment might be basic (theres a two-position compression lever and a rebound adjuster alongside being able to tweak air spring pressure and air spring volume) but its consistently impressed in the past. The Status 160 is easier to ride up hills than similar bikes. Are they really making a mixed wheel size mountain bike for production? The pedaling position feels a bit more relaxed than our personal Stumpjumper Evo. The Status, just like its marketing, is all about understatement. Compare the full range. During botched landings and hard hits, the Status suffers more than its bulkier opponents, the Propain Spindrift, Nukeproof Giga or Norco Shore.