New Specialized Chisel alloy focusses on XC racing

Press Release

Shaped by everything we’ve learned from 40 years of XC racing, the all-new Chisel is a purebred XC race machine that crushes climbs, rockets out of corners, and rips through rock gardens with the speed and efficiency of the highest-performing, most-capable aluminium XC bike available. Turns out carbon isn’t the only way to the top of the podium, after all.

Racing Weight

It’s no secret that XC races are won and lost on the climbs, and a lighter bike simply climbs faster. That’s why we put the Chisel on a serious diet to deliver one of the lightest alloy hardtail frames out there as light as 1400 grams—yes, we’re talking carbon light. Cutting-edge D’Aluisio Smartweld Technology (DSW) and space-age M5 aluminium allow us to use the lightest possible tubing and to create an ultralight frame without compromising strength or stiffness. Now, this Chisel climbs and accelerates so fast and efficiently that you’ll swear there’s a motor hidden in there somewhere.

Tuned To Win

Forget the harsh ride characteristics that plagued aluminium in the past. DSW, and hydroformed tube shaping, allows our engineers to radically shape tubes and employ a butted tube design for the tuning of specific areas of the frame to create a perfectly balanced ride. Smaller diameter, ovalized seatstays are laterally stiff, so you can drop the hammer for instant power transfer and acceleration, rail through corners with absolute precision, and hold your line when things get rowdy. That said, they’re also vertically compliant, so you can carry more speed through the rough stuff with less fatigue from trail chatter. Now, you can go harder for longer.

Ready To Rumble

XC racecourses get more technical every season, which is why we took the progressive, trail-taming geometry we pioneered with the Epic Hardtail and applied it to the Chisel, making it hands-down the most capable alloy hardtail out there. We started with a slacker, 68-degree head tube angle, then lowered the bottom bracket height, increased the reach, shortened the chainstays, and finally reduced its fork offset. The result is a confident, yet nimble, ride with incredible downhill stability at speed and no sacrifice to climbing or steering performance. It’s a winning combination you won’t find in any other aluminium XC hardtail.

Specialized Chisel Sizes and Geometry

Dropper Post Compatible
Taking full advantage of DSW, we were able to give the Chisel a 30.9mm seatpost without adding additional weight. This means you can run longer-travel dropper posts for even more capability and confidence in technical terrain.

Internal Cable Routing
Full internal cable routing keeps all of your brake lines and cables, including the dropper post, out of the way, while protecting them from unnecessary wear. And hey, you get a pretty clean “pro” look.

12X148mm Rear Thru-Axle
No flimsy quick-releases here. A 12x148mm rear thru-axle greatly improves strength and stability for a significantly stiffer rear-end that you’ll feel when you’re laying down the power and bombing down descents.

D’Aluisio Smartweld Technology: The Future of Alloy

Traditionally, aluminium tubes are cut and welded together at the joints using methods that rely heavily on the skill of the welder. D’Aluisio Smartweld Technology takes those joints and hands them back to the engineers. The head tube, top tube, and down tube are hydroformed with a curved, dome-like edge that, when butted together, creates a seamless valley that’s filled with weld material. This creates a connection point that’s significantly stiffer, more durable, and more consistent than can be achieved with a traditional weld.

Because the connection points have been moved away from the area of greatest stress, tube shapes and makeups can now be radically changed. The welds are so strong that less material is needed in other areas allowing for levels of compliance to be engineered into the frame that have never been possible with aluminium. Thinner tube walls at key locations allow aluminium to react in a way it hasn’t before, providing a ride quality that has never been achieved—until now.

Chisel Dream Build

What happens when you take the most capable and efficient aluminum hardtail frame out there and trick it out with the best components available? Well, we decided to find out. Don’t worry, it’s OK to drool…We did, too.