Specialized released a gravel bike, named the 2023 Diverge STR.
Built to be a long distance racer, this bike is the first ever Specialized to incorporate rear suspension in a gravel package.
Built to be a long distance racer, this bike is the first ever Specialized to incorporate rear suspension in a gravel package.
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00:00There's been a whole lot of new road bikes this year but not too many new gravel bikes that is
00:04until today. Specialized have just released this. This is called the Diverge STR. There's quite a
00:11few eye-catching features and don't worry we're going to go through absolutely everything that
00:15this bike has to offer. I'm also going to tell you about the things that I'm not the biggest fan of
00:19so be sure to stay tuned for those. So like I said the name of this bike is the Diverge STR. Now the
00:31weight of this bike does start at nine and a half kilos for the three different models that they're
00:36offering and the top end model the S-Works version is eight and a half kilos so a fairly respectable
00:43weight when you consider how much technology that they've packed into this. Now like on the normal
00:49Diverge you've still got the future shock up front and you've still got those flared hover bars which
00:54do work really nicely. You've got clearance for up to 47 mil wide tires or even a 2.1 inch tire if you
01:02scale down to a 650b wheel. At the moment though they've actually fitted some 42c tires and these
01:08are the tracers so ideal for kind of fast rolling gravel. Now on this build Specialized have gone to
01:15their in-house component brand Roval to find the wheels and they've gone for their Terra wheels
01:19which is basically their gravel offering. We've also got a carbon seat post and this is the one you
01:26can expect to see on basically any high-end Specialized bike. We've got a power saddle and
01:32then we've got a full SRAM Rival wireless groupset and looking at the frame it is entirely possible to
01:38fit a Di2 groupset as I can see all the usual bunks. On to practicality and we've got the SWAT storage
01:46down in the down tube here which again a hallmark of the gravel bikes and then of course we've got
01:52the top tube mount here if you wanted to pop a bag for some snacks and then you've still got obviously
01:57your bottle cage mounts here in the usual places. On to the fork and you do have mounts here for a low
02:04rider rack or cages which is again ideal for those longer days in the saddle. The bike itself is actually
02:11compatible with most bike packing bags which is really good. The only thing that Specialized do say
02:17is that if you've got a top tube bag or a bar bag which would then end up wrapping around the Future
02:23Shock they say basically don't use it because in reality it's probably going to rip that rubber boot
02:28right open. So on to the most notable feature of this bike and it is of course the inclusion of
02:37another Future Shock down here at the seat post. Now the question I asked myself when I first saw this is
02:43what on earth is that? How does it work? And is it a bit of a gimmick? Well let's start off with how does
02:51it work? Well first thing to know is that in this part of the frame down here that is where we've
02:57actually got the Future Shock and you can see the end of it popping out here and then it attaches
03:02onto this thing here which Specialized are calling the tendon. That then wraps around the frame post
03:09not the seat post but the frame post and the frame post itself goes right down into the frame
03:16and then it's covered by this rubber boot here so that dirt, grit, grime, water doesn't then get into
03:24the frame. Now like I said the seat post slides into the frame post and the frame post then slides
03:31into the frame and it's around the frame post that you have the movement and that is why this part of
03:39the bike is so wide and that it's so big. It's because that frame post has to be able to move
03:44around inside but it's then the Future Shock up here which is what controls that movement. Now speaking of
03:52control you've got a switch here on the Future Shock which you can set to three different levels of
03:58dampening. Now the way that it works is that essentially you've got your easy, your medium and
04:03your hard. When you're on really rough terrain you'd probably want to have it in that easiest setting to
04:09get the most use out of the Future Shock. When it's really smooth and compact you'd then probably switch
04:14it over to your hardest setting because you don't need to be dampening out as much of the terrain.
04:19As I said the frame post plays a really integral role to how this rear shock is going to feel
04:25which is why each frame post actually has two different settings on it and it looks like it's
04:31fairly easy to change. Now when you buy one of these bikes you actually get a second frame post
04:37meaning you have four different setups and that is so you can tailor it to a different rider weight.
04:43It's not just the rider weight you need to think about though, it's also any luggage you're going to be
04:48loading the bike up with. You need to take into account that as well which is why you've been
04:52provided with four different ways of setting the rear shock up. Now in terms of actually changing that
04:59frame post you might be asking well how easy is that to do? It looks like it shouldn't be too tricky.
05:04I haven't tried it myself yet so I can only speak to what I can see. We've got a compression clamp down
05:09on the seat tube here. It looks like if you undo that undo a little grub screw down here at the top
05:15of the triangle, take the seat post out, take off the tendon, you could probably slide everything out
05:21and then put a new one in. As I mentioned at the beginning of this video I did say I was going to
05:27talk about a few things that I don't like about this bike and I think we should get into those now.
05:32First up, I feel like this bike is a little bit confused. When I spoke to Specialized they said
05:40that this bike is for those performance athletes, the ones who want to race things like Unbound and
05:47Grinduro and they want to do those gravel races really fast and arguably that should make sense.
05:55However, for the people that are going out on big bikepacking adventures, being kept in a whole
06:01bunch of comfort, which is what Specialized say the normal Diverge is currently targeted at,
06:07you do kind of wonder if this technology would be better suited on a bike that could also take
06:15a lot of bikepacking essentials like rear racks and mudguards front and rear, which at the moment
06:23this isn't compatible with any rear storage or mudguards, which I think is actually a bit of an error.
06:31It does just leave this bike feeling a little bit confused in my opinion. Whilst I think this
06:37technology is good and that it does work, does it make sense for people that are doing gravel races
06:44over and above people that want to take on really long distance adventures and obviously those people
06:51in that situation are going to want to be kept as comfortable as possible for those gruelling miles
06:57that they have to do day after day. Another thing that I'm not the biggest fan of is the Future Shock
07:03unit that's in here is seen as a wearable part. It's got a two-year warranty, so if it breaks within
07:09that time, I'm sure Specialized would sort you out. If it breaks outside of that, then actually you've
07:14just got to pay for a whole new one and Specialized are yet to confirm that pricing.
07:18I'm also slightly skeptical as to the structural integrity of this tendon here. It is a very thin
07:26piece of steel. I'm sure Specialized have put this through a whole bunch of fatigue testing,
07:31but this does just seem quite thin for what is probably taking a fair bit of stress, especially
07:38over those lumps and bumps and rocks and roots. One thing which I haven't quite bonded with entirely
07:44with this bike, and it is quite subjective of course, but the color of this one for me
07:50isn't really what I'd go for. Obviously, being Specialized, there's going to be a whole range of
07:54different colorways available, but this one, yeah, it's not for me. So to answer the final question,
08:02does it actually work? Well, after a day of riding out here in the wilderness where this bike should be
08:08ridden, it does work. When I glance down when I've been over rougher terrain, I can see it
08:14compressing and doing something, and when I'm riding along and I'm going over roots and rocks and lumps
08:20and bumps, I can see the front shot going, I can feel the rear one going, and the feedback through
08:27the bike doesn't match the terrain that I'm riding on because essentially it is successful in doing the
08:34job that it's set out to do, which is to suspend the rider. I think the key thing to remember is that
08:41with this new setup, if you were going to be riding this bike, you have to bear in mind that you start
08:48to adopt a new riding position and you adopt a new way of riding. You find yourself sitting in the saddle
08:54a bit longer than usual because it's more comfortable to do so, and you can then put out more power.
09:02Now, while the technology does work, I feel like Specialized has narrowed their audience
09:07by doing this for people taking on gravel races and fastest known attempts. If they had the ability
09:14to mount rear storage, I think the number of people for this bike would be massive because the benefits
09:22are actually quite good. So there we have it, that's the brand new Specialized Diverge STR. What I want
09:29to know from you guys is what do you think about it? And if you've got any questions about the bike,
09:34then be sure to drop them down below. If you enjoyed the video, drop on a like,
09:37subscribe to the channel for more content, and I'll see you again very soon. Okay.
09:49Hmm, what a delicious shade of brown. And of course, we've got the usual bottom...
09:57Oh yeah.