Lightweight carbon frame? Check. Industry-leading suspension technology? Oh yeah. Race-ready build kit? You know it. The Epic Expert is not only ready to shine in races but it's also ready to put your closest buddies in the pain cave on the weekends.

Race courses have evolved over the past few years. They’re more technical steeper and simply more challenging to ride. But instead of quivering in our boots we saw this as an opportunity to make something special—something that both World Cup athletes and XC riders alike can instantly feel the benefit from. We looked at the sum of parts that make a bike handle well like the head angle reach stack chainstay length fork offset etc. and re-evaluated all of it. Increasing the reach made a bike that was more stable at speed and generally more comfortable to ride. Dropper posts? Yep those fit and not just a short-travel XC option but full-length droppers that fit in the 30.9mm seat tube. Head angle? We slacked that out but not without evaluating the overall handling package. It now lands on a custom offset 42mm fork that works with the slacker head angle in order to behave itself in tight corners and through switchbacks.

Next comes the redesigned Brain technology Brain 2.0. The Brain changed the way the bike world looked at suspension both its inefficiencies and benefits alike. And oh was it good. It won races and put a flag in the ground for us as a true leader in innovation and suspension development but we knew that we could make it better. Simple physics told us that by moving the Brain closer to the rear axle it would be in the most sensitive spot. And after countless hours with the RockShox team the new Brain became more than just a slight upgrade. It's totally new. Now it reacts seamlessly to bump forces it has much more consistent damping performance and finally it integrates the hoses into the suspension links. This in turn improves oil paths and it creates an incredibly sleek package that outperforms anything on the market.

The new Epic also gets a serious upgrade in the stiffness department. The Rider-First Engineered™ tubes place complex carbon pieces in all the right places which greatly increases stiffness in the front end for a vast improvement in ride quality and control. To go along with this each frame size has size-specific tubes that result in the stiffest best riding XC bike we've ever developed—no matter the frame size.

• Full fact 11m carbon fiber frame combines stiffness, strength, and light overall weight to deliver an off-the-hook race bike. Meanwhile, the new geometry, RockShox Brain shock, and 100mm of travel, make the Epic the best handling, fastest XC rig you've been on.
• Our custom RockShox SID fork with Brain features a top-adjust Brain fade, and a custom offset to make it suitable for the new Epic.
• The 12-speed SRAM GX Eagle groupset brings the performance of Eagle at a doable price point.

Please note that this bike does not come with pedals.