REVIEW: The 2020 Specialized Fuse Comp 29 - Hardtail Party

Today we're

review

ing the Specialized views for

2020

. This has been a highly sought after bike and for good reason, Specialized is one of the largest dealers in the US and it's easier to find this

hardtail

than almost any other bike rigid in a store we are in. about the beautiful miss gal, starting with a nice little climb right away, there are two things I notice the seat angle feels loose, that's bad, it means I'm sitting further back than I want and number two, the batteries a little low and the way to specialize. You have these set up, there's no real way to adjust the stem, they have three of those quarter inch spacers, so you could raise them a quarter inch.

It seems a bit XC to me in the climbing position because the front ends go down. I wouldn't mind a little more rise in the bars or a taller head tube. The head tubes on these are small. If you ever try to sell your fork with one of these possibilities, it may not fit any other frame because it is too short. I'm running both six tires at about 20 psi. This is an aluminum frame. I have adjusted the chainstays to be as short as possible. It sounds like a playful rear end and I like my reach to be longer than my teenagers.

The two six tires are an excellent option. on this bike but in my opinion the tires need to be wider everyone puts two sixes on 30 mil tires and they just roll and what I mean by that is when you turn the corner the g forces want the tire to roll on instead of staying still. in line with the tire, a wider tire would help not want to roll as much and make the Marsh tire stable. I would love to start seeing 35 mil internal tires on six bytes, but I still think 2 6 is the right tire for this.

We are able to smooth out any harshness that would be felt on an aluminum frame and this frame falls somewhere between hard aluminum frames and flexible ones. It's stiffer than the Chameleon and the wood riser, but it's not as stiff as the Orbea or the common saw a little framed RockShox recognition on this for my weight. I weigh 175, they recommend 100 psi, 90 to 100, something like that. I tried it and man, I was able to buy it in the parking lot, so I turned it up to 120. It still could have bottomed out in the parking lot, it just went too fast, so I actually have it at 145 right now, which is 45 psi. above the recommendations and now it feels good, pleasant and supportive, but it is strange.

I had to add a lot more over the stock, but it feels decent, there's not much range in the fork to adjust the rebound

comp

ression and there are like four or five rebound clicks. We are running the SRAM SX Eagle drivetrain. I know a lot of people like the dog on this drivetrain, it shifts great, feels amazing, no

comp

laints about it, it's heavy, it's cheap, but it makes people on entry level bikes have a great experience, they can obtain a wide range of changes. it feels solid, yes it is heavy, this bike weighs a little over 32 pounds, it doesn't ride like one, it doesn't feel light but it doesn't feel like an anchor, so even though it is 32 pounds, it holds its weight well , it feels a little more like a 30 pound bike and for the price all the hard tails will be pretty close to that, the head has a 66 and a half angle and that seems fine to me, it feels great like a trail bike, a small and comfortable bike with these two sixes, simply a great all-rounder. try a technical step and you go up here, oh yeah, no problem, write that I have a lot of fun on this bike.

This bike costs less than the wheelset on the bike I normally ride and I still smile when I ride it. It's really fun. I really like the shape of the bars on this bike on a lot of these entry level bikes they have dumb bars for some reason, what do you think? The cabin feels good even though these ceramic level brakes are not dumb looking and clunky looking, they look great to me, I have no problems with them, 160 rotor in the rear, 180 in the front, stops a lot and these tires are fantastic, they specialize in amazing tires and I expect great tires, they broke in very well with the tubeless sealant they have. great traction and they have great suspension characteristics, they don't do it on the beach, the hub is missing and that's to be expected on a $1700 bike and this is 1700 MSRP.

Stores typically don't list bikes at full MSRP, so be careful when purchasing. Comparing this to straight up bikes like the regular Saul or Canyon etc, it's a great all around trail bike, although yes it's easy to get it where I want it to be with that shorter chain. I initially used it in the longer chainstay configuration and didn't like it. It's a lot, it just felt a bit dead, not very exciting, just a bit dated for me. Keep in mind that I'm a short guy and on many bikes the reach is shorter than the chainstay, so at any time I can shorten the chainstay relatively speaking.

The reach is proportionally longer compared to that and I like a short chain steak because I can play more. I can lift the rear wheel easier. I can turn corners better but that's just personal preference but it's really cool that you can change the chain stay on this bike and their sliding dropout system is great, pretty easy to use, okay let's spice it up a bit , here we go, the brakes feel fantastic, yeah, it's a fun little bike with that short state that wants to

party

, yeah, these trails. It has a good flow and good additional stuff.

This bike wants to keep going faster and faster and it can handle it. It's amazing how a basic bike like this can feel so good. I know you're thinking about a basic $1,700 bike. Yes, that's where we are today, but it feels good, there's not a single component that says, oh, that needs to be changed ASAP. I would love wider tires. It would be at the top of my list and then a better fork with a little more adjustability. but these forks aren't exactly holding me back right now, yeah this bike is really fun, it feels more modern than the tender jet, it has a harder charger, it's weird, it just feels like it has more attack mode than ever.

Jack this bike is a completely different bike than the 20 19 and earlier versions. The Gen One was great and ahead of its time, but it was rigid. It felt like a budget bike. This bike feels neat. I wish the dropper post was a little lower. I don't need it, but I hate when you're already on a smaller homicide frame, medium, which is the right size for me, but the dropper can't go all the way down because it hits the water bottle bolt and that's another one. centimeter of drop I could get and short people need all the drop they can get on their falls oh that was tough, this little bike did it.

I know there's a tendency to just want to get better, better, better when you buy a bike like this, but I recommend learning to hone in on what God is and maximize it. It is an economic fork. It's one of the lower end 12 speed groupsets that have made cheap brakes, but it feels great. I don't need to change anything. I'm having a lot of fun here. It's amazing how good the components have become and when you combine good budget components with a solid framework with good geography, it's super fun. I would definitely choose this over the regular saw, although you might get better strength or group with the regular saw.

We'll have a better riding experience with this okay a little more fun fun this manual is really good with that short chain in the short position if you know how to turn a bike and have the time to learn how to make a fork. feel good how to get the right tire pressure you can make these cheap bikes dance and they are so much fun yeah oh the commitment at this center is horrible but I'm having a lot of fun yeah oh that's a big step yes, bicycles. a little stiffer than some less stiff than others well it's a really choppy section that hits you and I can feel myself getting fatigued over time on a lot of this stuff but not as much as the orb over the common self for a big brand, This bike is surprisingly good.

I love that they expect good tires with this as it allows me to really rip it up even though it has a cheap fork if you tune it right. Well, I just rolled the tire in there and I can't handle it. the G exits with these narrow rims, you can feel the tire when you corner hard, yes this is just a fantastic versatile trail bike. When you look at it on paper, you see the specs and you think no, there are other bikes. with better components for that price so far I haven't found one that works better than this one, for me it's all about the frame, that's the only part you can't change and I bet most people couldn't tell the difference between This SX and xx a shifter if they were blindfolded works very well, yes it's heavy, you forget to finish, you just start going.

This is a very fun way to specialize in cycling. I'm not sure if I would feel comfortable taking her to the High Line. or pigs or hanging over the big double blacks here probably, but it's borderline, but there are almost no hard tails. I like riding those trails, but I think I could handle it. This bike stays composed when going fast, no. it feels less in control than slow the fact that it feels a little more in control it jumps and it jumps well it's also so much fun it doesn't have the refined frame feel like a big steel bike, a big tie or even a big steel bike aluminum Like Banshee, it's not on that level of fantastic, awesome frames.

I wouldn't mind if it was a little softer. I'm glad it's not harder or starting to be a problem, but what I like about this is that I can. go anywhere in the country, find a store that rents them and even comp mode. I could go out and have fun with it and if you can't have fun with this bike you need to have better components to have fun with it. You're missing out, you just need to learn how to tune the cheaper components and make them work for you. This bike is a hoot, it's what modern

hardtail

s should be and it rides differently than the geographic number suggests.

I think that's part of the reason I love it. This bike is because when you look at it on paper it looks like a bike you wouldn't love, you're like it has everything low end, but then you get on it and it breaks if you're a decent rider. You can get a lot of performance out of this bike, it may be too expensive, but the good thing is that you have stores all over the country and all over the world that have this bike and you can give it a leg. go see it in person, you can try a medium and a large and see which one feels better.

You can't do that with direct-to-consumer online bikes and many people are attracted to the cheapest bike with the highest specs they can. They buy it without even looking at it or riding it, then convince themselves they made the best decision because it was cheap, but they never actually rode anything else only to discover that the frame is the heart of a bike, what makes it turn and feel. well and dances under you in the curves and jumps, no component can change that and this frames Drake. I'm really impressed with this little bike, this bike you can take anywhere and have a really fun time with it, how could this bike?

It would be perfect with another hundred bucks of specialization putting the right parts on wider rims and a better hub, you'd have those two things mate, there wouldn't be anything like it for the price, in my opinion this is probably the bike I'll recommend. when people don't tell me how long they've been riding, where they ride, they just want a decent bike. I can't imagine a place where this bike wouldn't be a lot of fun in the bump here, the chunk here, the tires are a little scary. at the speed with the way they want to roll, oh yeah, what a night, okay, we've got a fun little technical feature here to try to get up, yeah, that feels really good on those things.

I love that this isn't a totally laid back hardcore hardtail bike. I love it. They already know that they do, but they managed to have control and the sensation of a big slap without letting me go. This feels a little closer to the 65 degree head angle than the 66 and a half degrees listed on this bike's chart. It's nothing like your geographic charts, this feels looser than the average saw, although it's not even close, it just feels really balanced, what a beautiful sacred nocturnal cow. What I like about this is that a lot of people can experience what it feels like to ride a decent hardtail because

specialized

is everywhere you're not a hardtail rider and you hate them but you might be a little curious and want to see what It's about the modern ones, see if you can rent one of these and get the suspension isset up perfect and who knows, you may like it, you may not, but this is a good representation of what a modern hardtail should be, if you can't tell, I'm impressed with this little bike.

I had pretty low expectations looking at the geography. lay out the specs, the parts, knowing how the last trail comes together, but this little bike is awesome, I really like it, here we go on the hub, one of the newest trails here in Sedona. I don't think I've featured this on my channel yet. Nate Hills has a cool video of this, it has some little surprises, man, even right there at 10 miles an hour I rolled the tire and that's disconcerting, so it needs more width and it's really rail stuff, it's like If people were speckling this.

I know they need two point sixes to keep it competitive, but they're not really convinced enough to put the wheels on it, but they need them. These brakes are fine for me of course, I can feel the difference between a pike and a. Nice set of codes, but you don't need them. Bad parts, even low-end parts, are good nowadays. Oh how fun, I'm so glad I was able to ride this bike in comp mode. I think I would have really loved it in expert mode. but in comparison, it surprises me to be much more than I thought.

A bit. It's much thicker than it looks. This bike handles the choke well. It's a pleasure to drive it. Make little blue trails like this, really fun curves. Well wow thick, I think this bike works really well with pedals right now. You won't mistake this for a super aggressive downhill bike. You won't con

fuse

it with an XC bike, but I dip my toe into those categories. Okay, I'll take this. on Kona Hanzo any day, much more composed, more playful, more fun, take this instead of the comments, aw, I'd prefer this to any bike I've ridden for under $2,000, well I like bikes better than this one, the banshee paradox b3.

I like it more. middle child time or do I like this better than the middle child promotion it's time to rate the stiffness of this bike and rate it an 8 out of 10 it's softer than the Orbea on the average self it's probably a little softer than most aluminum frames, but still not soft per se, not as soft as the Banshee, definitely not as soft as my middle son's tie or a very good and flexible steel frame like that ionic Johnny Rotten , but for what it is, it's impressive to climb, it's heavy, but it doesn't feel that heavy.

Doesn't it feel light? I'll tell you, you'll probably hit it. I'm 9 from climbing, needs a steeper seat angle. I have the seat rail slid all the way forward and still want it in sharper turns at 10's distance. out of 10 I'm so glad we have low offset forks these days, they corner so well. This prepared head angle with this amount of travel compared to the short chainstay makes this enjoyable when cornering downhill, let me give it a 9 out of 10. I haven't gotten over it yet. I've outgrown tires and rims. I feel like this bike has a lot more to give, but I need 35 36 million to find it, so I'll give it a 9 out of 10 below. joy in the hills.

I'm going to give this a nine and a half out of 10. Having those chainstays in the short position makes Manuel's bunny jumps super fun and it's amazing, he actually has 2.6 tire clearance with all the chainstays. the way forward some people even have 2.8 in there if you could put 3.0 zon in here Oh that would be a cool bike packing ring this thing has a good

party

this thing is like your little sister's best friend but never really look at it that way and then when you meet them, they're super fun and you're like, How did I not find out how fun this person is?

If you judge books by their covers, you will misjudge this bike. go out, write it down, it's so much fun, he wants to party, it's like your little brother wants to come with you and at first you say no, he'll ruin it and then it turns out he becomes your best friend and then you always want him to do it. I'm with you because it's very good, that's what this bike is like. I have a fond emotional attachment to this bike. It's strange. I think the colors are fantastic. Specialization has been sweeping those colors. I like the shape of the painting.

I think it's a beautiful bike. I don't like how short the head tube is. I wish the stack was a little higher, but man, if those are the only complaints I can say about the Geo, you know they nailed it. I think the Banshee and the middle child are the only others. Two bicycles I wrote then. I had very little to say about the G. Oh yeah, this is just a little trail. Ripper, it punches above its weight class and while there are bikes with better components for the money, much better components, I think this one.

It's the best bike, it means better wheels, although come on, specialize next year. I would love to see 35s on this one which would really seal the deal as this is the budget bike to beat. I wholeheartedly support this bike and recommend it for those who are sick. from looking and I don't want to learn about geometry or compare prices, just buy this bike, it can be done and learn to ride it very well. Invest some money in courses and clinics and this won't let you down, oh I am. I had a great time, ha ha ha.

I know this sounds like a glowing

review

. I had very low expectations for this bike. Looking at it on paper, this bike is much more than the sum of its parts and is a very enjoyable experience. What I love is a good R, sure what I love the nicest breaks, sure I need them to have fun, no, this is a fuss and this is what difficult stories are about, cheap, indestructible, easy and can handle a little of everything they are. they won't be the best at most things they won't be the fastest bikes on the trail they won't be the fastest uphill they won't be the fastest downhill but I guarantee you'll smile more than most of your friends if you're on one of these, if you enjoy this review and learn something, consider supporting this channel by becoming a patron and check out my other reviews and my other educational content, thanks for watching, there's a party in the mountains and you're invited.