2021 S-Works Epic Hardtail

What do you call a hardtail race bike so light it can put most road bikes to shame? Well, we suppose you could call it a hardly-there-tail, but it actually goes by the name of the S-Works Epic Hardtail. Even while barely registering on the scale, we’ve loaded it with enough capability to do quite a number on the trail. Welcome to having your cake and eating it too—S-Works style. Working towards the lightest bike possible has long been the race within the race, but at what cost? The battle of the grams certainly hasn’t been without its casualties, with hardtail XC race bikes coming to stand for a harsh, twitchy ride at the expense of capability and versatility. But who said fatigue from fighting against your own bike makes you any faster? Instead, recognizing that the fastest bike is more than simply the lightest bike, we said out with the jarred-to-death tail, the measure-your-posterior’s-sorrows-by-the-yard tail and in with the avant-garde tail. The ridiculously capable, mystifyingly comfortable, head-shakingly light and all-around fast, Epic Hardtail. Sure, we optimized every inch of the Epic Hardtail frame to achieve the lightest production hardtail frame in the world anyway, but we also prioritized our commitment to creating an Epic Hardtail that’s as capable as it is comfortable with aggressive singletrack-inspired geometry, increased tire clearance and a frame obsessively engineered for increased vertical compliance, all while creating a bike that lives and breathes the fundamentals of fast. Such an unbelievably lightweight yet impressively capable frame deserves a build to match and the S-Works Epic Hardtail certainly doesn't disappoint. SRAM's Eagle XX1 AXS electronic groupset and the featherweight Roval Control SL wheelset lead the charge in dropping some serious grams while seriously ratcheting up performance.

• Ridiculously capable and refreshingly compliant with a weight that'll make most road frames jealous, the FACT 12m carbon S-Works Epic Hardtail frame isn't just light, it's the lightest production hardtail frame ever produced.

• Pairing 100 millimeters of the most efficent travel on earth with RockShox's svelte-yet-stiff SID SL Ultimate chassis, the RockShox SID SL Ultimate BRAIN fork serves as the pinnacle of XC-race supsension perfection.

• The pinnacle of drivetrain performance, SRAM's XX1 Eagle AXS combines next-gen wireless technology, incredibly accurate shift performance and game-changing versatility to drastically redefine the riding experience.

• Weighing a remarkable 1240 grams, the Roval Control SL wheelset not only increases strength and reduces weight, but also features a new 29-millimeter-wide internal width rim profile that improves pinch-flat resistance by 22-percent.