Mountain Bike Rider — March 2018

36 mbr MARCH 2018

£1,700 / 29in / specialized.com

C

hances are, unless you’re a

roadie, you’ve never heard

ofChrisD’Aluisio,buthe’s

the engineer behind many of

Specialized’s top innovations.

TakethisnewChiselforexample.It

wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Chris’s

SmartWeld approach to joining alloy

tubes. By taking the ends of the tubes

and rolling them inwards, it creates a

small valley for the weld at the tube

junction, allowing Specialized to

increase the strength of the frame.

Visually there’s nothing to distinguish

the welds on the Chisel from any

other bike, but its striking size-zero

supermodel looks really set it apart.

Ogle it from the wrong angle, and in this

mattblackExpertedition,someofthe

tubes practically disappear.

Ifyouwerehopingthatithasthesort

ofvitalstatisticsthatgetstheaverage

UK trail rider salivating, the Chisel will

leave you a little disappointed. Despite

the marketing spiel, at its heart the

geometry is still fi rmly rooted in XC.

In fact, a quick look at the numbers

shows it shares the same angles as the

lower-tier Rockhopper.

But before you stop reading, there’s

one area where the Chisel really shines:

it has the most sublime ride quality. So

NEED TO

KNOW

OPumped-up
XC hardtail with
innovative frame
construction
OSmartweld
M5aluminium
frame keeps things
strong and light
ORockShox
Reba RL fork
provides 100mm
of supple travel
OThe Chisel gets
a fatter 2.3in tyre
on the front and
a 2.1in on the rear
for clearance

SPECIALIZED CHISEL EXPERT

Spesh’s Chisel looks like a charcoal line drawing

and rides like it’s made of carbon-fibre

The geometry

i s r o o t e d i n X C

but the Chisel is

sublime to ride

NEW BIKES

much so that I had to keep reminding

myself that I was riding an aluminium

hardtail, as opposed to some mega-

expensive carbon model. It is one of

those frames that deftly walks the line

between comfort and stiffness. Ride

it along a rooty section of singletrack

and it seems to absorb the impacts