Specialized Pitch Pro Review

Gareth (one of our downhill specialists) had a go on the Specialized Pitch Pro recently.  An all mountain bike that, without the need for a second mortgage, would let you ride with confidence wherever.
Sounds good no?

Well, if there are any weaknesses with the Pitch it’s a safe bet that the dangerous combination of Ga and Penhydd would smoke em out…

“Up to Afan to test the Pitch Pro and, since it’s early January in South Wales; it’s wet. Sopping wet in fact, as I’m soaked through almost as soon as I step out of the van. Nothing stopping though and at least the bike will get a good test under some standard British conditions.

We rode the Penhydd trail, which starts with a short, sharp climb of switchbacks. Being a downhiller I’m not really used to too much pedalling up hills (where’s the lift?), but I was instantly impressed with how the easily the bike climbed. The stiff frame and the ability to switch the rear shock on and off easily (Specialized’s pet name is ‘Pro Pedal’) really helped. So far so all-mountain.

One part of the track I was particularly looking forward to was ‘Hidden Valley’. I knew this would really test the Pitch’s ability to handle sharp turns at speed. I raced ahead of the group and straight away begin to notice a slight problem on the rooty sections. The age-old Spesh problem/benefit (depends who you talk to), of a low bottom bracket: Any high-speed turns where you are over the back of the bike often results in the pedals catching the ground. You can increase the shock pressure to adjust for this but this’ll result in the back end skipping around a bit, so it's probably worth just putting up with the occasional toe tap.

Aside from this it rails berms very nicely and I finished the section with a massive grin on my face.

I was also looking forward to taking it down the large open section of Penhydd called ‘Sidewinder’. Another favourite of mine, long exposed single track with banked up corners that get sharp as you take them. It flows nicely and I decided to go all out on it, as if I was racing my DH bike, to see if the Pitch could handle long hard sprints over very rocky terrain.

It took the corners at warp speed and it handled the corners as if I was on the smoothest BMX track.
I was really impressed with the Fox RP2, they managed everything I threw at them, whilst I already own some Rock Shox Pikes and I know they're quality.

I personally thought Spesh’s own tyres; the ‘Eskars’ weren’t quite up to it. Maybe they’d be good enough job in the dry; I’ll let you know when we have a dry spell… But they seemed to struggle on a damp British trail, as the tyres occasionally slipped away in corners.

On the whole I’d say that this bike would suit anyone who wants to ride places like Afan aggressively, or someone who wants to take their XC riding to the next level, without costing the earth.

And oh yeah, if you do fancy the Pitch don’t bother with the Comp, for an extra £200 the Pro is much better value with far superior kit.”

Cheers Ga. Next time clean the bugger when you hand it back though eh?