First Impressions: Specialized Chisel Full Suspension

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Today Specialized announced their new Chisel, a lightweight aluminum full suspension cross-country bike designed around nearly the same chassis as the recently updated Epic 8 but with a price tag that’s marked down by several thousand bucks.

I have a lot of opinions about brands making performance race bikes at a relatively reasonable price (spoiler alert: I think it’s a good thing!) so let’s talk details and then get into how this bike rides (another spoiler alert: surprisingly awesome!).

Specialized Chisel Comp in a Nutshell

• Travel: 110 mm (rear) 120 (front)
• Frame Material: Aluminum
• Wheel Size: 29”
• Sizes Available: XS-XL
• Size Tested: Medium
• Head Tube Angle: 66.5° (low)
• Seat Tube Angle: 75.5°
• Reach: 445 mm (Medium)
• Chainstay Length: 437 mm
• Bike Weight: 29.06 lbs (18.18 kg)
• Partial build weight (complete bike without wheels, tires, rotors, or cassette): 18.88 lbs (8.56 kg)
• MSRP: $3,400

The Specialized Chisel is available now.

Specialized Chisel Comp Review

Intro

The Specialized Chisel has long existed as a budget-friendly XC race hardtail. Last updated for 2022, the hardtail is a light, affordable aluminum bike with 100 mm of front travel. Now, Specialized is giving us a Chisel full-suspension that melds the appealing characteristics of the HT (proprietary welding that means a light frame, great price) with the modern, race-winning geometry numbers and suspension tune of the new Epic 8 .

Why Affordable Race Bikes Matter

OK, now for story time. I helped coach a NICA mountain bike team for middle and high schoolers for a long time. When the Idaho league first started in 2015, most kids were racing on whatever bikes happened to be in their garage. You only saw “performance” bikes in the varsity field, ridden by older kids who had decided they wanted to focus on XC. In the lower categories, there were always a few carbon hardtails (often 26” hand-me-downs from racy parents that had upgraded to more modern bikes) but generally the scene was pretty “run what ya brung.”

That soon began to change, and the change accelerated when Trek released its Supercaliber soft-tail race bike in 2020. I’m not exactly sure what contributed to the ubiquity of the Supercaliber among NICA racers – the price was pretty good, Trek definitely handed out deals to get kids hooked, and NICA courses are designed to not be very technical, so a soft-tail is an appropriate choice – but suddenly half of each field was on a Supercaliber. Specialized hustled to catch up with its Epic World Cup in 2022 but I doubt Trek’s supremacy has been threatened in that sphere, because kids just don’t upgrade that often.

The problem with all this was A: NICA became more of a rich family’s sport because ultralight expensive XC bikes make a huge difference in a smooth fast race, and B: most of the families I coached could only afford one bike per kid so if a kid had a pricey XC bike, they weren’t getting anything else. That meant that even though a lot of these kids were very talented downhillers, they did not own bikes suited to anything besides pedaling uphill as fast as possible.

This is a long winded way of saying that when I heard that Specialized was releasing a modern budget aluminum FS XC bike, I was really excited. And then I spent some time riding the new Chisel and I can say it fulfills its promise of being race-ready without costing an arm and a leg.

Frame, Geometry, and Sizing

The Chisel frame boasts D’Aluisio Smartweld, which Specialized first brought over to the mountain bike side with its Chisel hardtail in 2021. Specialized says that this aluminum hydroforming and welding technique makes the frame much lighter and stronger than conventional welding. It also means smooth junctures and a very clean-looking frame.

The Chisel frame has flex stays and internally routed cables but no integrated storage, which isn’t unusual for an XC bike or an aluminum bike, but we can still dream of a world where every bike has internal storage. The Chisel also uses SRAM's UDH, so you can fit Transmission if you so desire.

With 120 mm of travel in the front and 110 mm in the rear, the Chisel isn’t exactly an Epic 8 — a lot of the geometry numbers are just a smidge different — but the overall vibe of the bike is definitely very similar.

The head tube is nice and slack for an XC bike (66.5°), the seat tube is suitably steep but not enduro-bike steep (75.5°), the reach falls right in line with a lot of XC bikes these days (445 mm in a medium), and the chainstays across all sizes are 437 mm. A flip chip on the shock yoke will adjust the head tube angle by .5° and the bottom bracket height by 6 mm.

The Chisel is available in size XS-XL, and all sizes get 29” wheels and a pretty generously sized dropper post for an XC bike (no puny 70 mm posts here) – 100 mm for XS-S, 125 mm for M, and 150 mm for L-XL. Most sizes have room for two water bottles inside the frame triangle.

Build Options and Price

On the $3,400 Chisel Comp that I tested, the 12-speed Shimano Deore/SLX shifting is crisp and responsive, a good reminder that budget Shimano is often a better bet than budget SRAM. The front ring is 32T and the cassette is 10-51T – low-end bikes are no longer confined to harder gear ratios or fewer cogs than high-end ones. The Shimano M1600 two-piston brakes are adequately powerful for an XC bike and have a decisive bite. The Transz X dropper post feels a little mushy but at least it has infinite positions, unlike old Specialized Command three-position posts.

The RockShox SID fork and Deluxe Select+ shock work well, and are fine options at this price – the lockout is effective and even when the suspension is open, the Chisel has the same lack of pedal bob as its higher-end relatives. The base build does compromise on the suspension front with an X-Fusion shock and RockShox Recon Silver RL fork.

The $2,600 base version of the Chisel is available with a SRAM SX/NX mix or Shimano M1400 kit. All models share the excellent Specialized Power Saddle, a Ground Control 2.35" tire on the front, and Fast Trak 2.35" on the rear. This is a great tire combo for dry riding but the T5 compound is noticeably less grippy than Specialized’s super sticky T9 compound, which I love for winter riding on wet roots, or even the more standard T7.

Touchpoints have an outsized impact on whether a bike feels cheap or expensive, and the Chisel’s 60 mm stem, Specialized grips, and 760 mm alloy bars definitely add to the sensation of cheapness, but those are the easiest parts to swap out for ones that feel higher caliber.

The frameset costs $2,000 and comes with the RockShox Deluxe Select+ shock.

Where does the Specialized Chisel shine?

It was a revelation to take the Chisel out for a spin on the exact same trails where I’ve recently ridden bikes that are three to four times more expensive. It just doesn’t give up that much to its costlier peers, especially on the uphills. The Chisel feels deceptively light and efficient on climbs and accelerates almost as well as a stiff carbon bike. After riding it, I was surprised to learn that the model I tested weighs three pounds more than the Epic EVO that I spent time on this winter, because the weight penalty felt negligible.

When descending, the Chisel shares some personality characteristics with the EVO, although it doesn’t inspire quite the same confidence when tackling more technical trails. The Chisel feels like a momentum machine that wants to keep moving forward regardless of obstacles. The long stem and low front end make it feel a little less playful than some XC bikes but it’s responsive to feedback and fun to pilot around packed berms and over root baskets.

A few other brands make affordable but high-quality aluminum full suspension bikes, but none of them are directly aimed at XC. Bikes like the Rocky Mountain Element, Trek Top Fuel, and Giant Stance are actually cheaper than the Chisel, but are definitely heavier. That said, those bikes would slot more comfortably into the category of “one bike quiver,” similar to the Stumpjumper, whereas the Chisel was designed for a more specific purpose than general trail riding.

The only aluminum 120 mm XC race bike I could find is the Orbea Oiz, and it may have been discontinued last year. (This is a rant for another day but bike brand websites in general have become impossible to navigate.)

Where does the Specialized Chisel make some compromises?

I wish it were cheaper. I understand that this is an issue with the industry overall and inflation in general, not this specific model, but I think the Chisel Comp would be even more compelling if it cost $3,000 or less. That said, it is affordable for the spec and performs well for the price, although it definitely has a speed limit and isn’t very forgiving if you ride it outside of its intended uses.

I think this bike, paired with a Status 160 or a Giant Reign, would make for a not-too-spendy two-bike quiver that’s modern and upgradeable. But even though I’m advocating for this bike as a great choice for someone who doesn’t want to blow their full budget on a single rig, it’s tough to say with a straight face that a kid who’s saving up for two bikes, one for XC and one for enduro or DH, still needs to spend at least $5,000 total.

As for the bike itself, the small components are unsurprisingly where the major compromises happen. Fortunately those are the easiest and cheapest to upgrade. At its core this is a performance bike and it would be really fun to high/low it with some blingy carbon wheels, stickier tires, a shorter stem, and carbon bar.

Who’s it for?

I think the Specialized Chisel is an amazing bike for anyone (not just kids!) who wants to race XC or ride smooth trails really fast but doesn’t want to shell out big bucks because they also want to own a second bike for gnarlier riding. The Chisel’s bones are good – the frame is light with decent geometry – so it’s a great candidate for upgrades as one’s budget permits.

The frameset is an enticing option for someone who wants a bomber metal frame with a huge internal triangle (bikepacking, anyone?). Personally, if I had that beautiful “rebel pink” brushed Chisel frame, I’d mount up some Industry Nine SOLiX wheels, maybe throw on the rumored new Manitou XC suspension and an AXS drivetrain, and absolutely rage on it. Or it would be really fun to build a Chisel by only shopping used, clearance, or cast-off parts. Think lightly used 10-speed XTR and wheels off eBay. Thanks to the apparent slowing down of new standards, we may have reached the point in the constant upgrade cycle where “obsolete” parts are still completely valid.

In a market where almost all performance XC bikes are carbon and the lowest end models usually start at or above the $4,000 mark, it’s great to see Specialized investing in an XC bike for the rest of us and offering a full-suspension aluminum bike that shares a personality with its top tier XC models.