Goodbye to the Enduro

I said goodbye to another bike this morning as I sold off my Specialized Enduro. I bought it back in April, and was a little iffy on it from the get go. Before I bought it, I thought I wanted something with some additional travel, and while I did enjoy the plushness of the ride and the leeway that comes with that extra travel, I never fully warmed to this bike.

Perhaps that was because it was pretty heavy. Perhaps it was because the slack geometry didn't fit my riding style. But at the end of the day, this just wasn't the bike for me, and I feel fortunate to have sold it for pretty close to what I paid for it. Essentially what the Enduro did was take my biggest weakness in mountain biking (climbing) and magnify it, while taking one of my strength's (descending) and make it even easier. This was a formula for disappointment, and so far I'm liking the direction I'm going with the Spider, which has significantly helped my climbing while proving not to be a hindrance on most descents.

The buyers were a nice father and his 13 year old son, who said they would be using it to ride some trails outside their home in Wildomar. The son seemed to really like it, and I was glad to see it go to a good home.

I was tempted to hang on to the Enduro for rides like Noble and Anderson, but at the end of the day, the build for the Spider got pretty expensive, and I felt like I needed to offset the significant cost that the new bike required. Besides, the next time I ride Noble I want to do the full Tour, and I can't see riding the Enduro for all that climbing. My riding style is clearly more XC than DH, and the Enduro was just the wrong fit.

So another bike leaves the stable. For those keeping track at home, since July of 2007 I've gone from an Iron Horse Warrior 3.5 to a Specialized FSR XC Pro, to a Specialized Enduro Elite, to my current new Intense Spider XVP. With what the Spider cost, that will be my last bike for a very long while.