{"id":71841,"date":"2025-03-27T11:30:55","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T09:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/?p=71841"},"modified":"2025-03-31T08:18:27","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T06:18:27","slug":"cape-epic-bike-check-matt-beers-s-works-epic-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/cape-epic-bike-check-matt-beers-s-works-epic-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Epic Bike Check: Matt Beers S-Works Epic 8"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The pairing of Matt Beers and Keegan Swenson as Team Outride | Toyota | Songo<\/a> didn\u2019t go as planned at the 2025 Absa Cape Epic. Keegan battled back problems throughout the race which meant that the team had to settle for a single podium finish, placing third on the final stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the setbacks, the duo delivered a masterclass in resilience; fighting through each stage and continuing to push on in support of the causes they were representing: Outride and songo.info<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a three-time Cape Epic winner, Matt knows a thing or two about bike setup for ‘the race that measures all’. We took a closer look at his weapon of choice for 2025: the S-Works <\/a>Epic<\/a> 8<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How’s that paint job?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Matt changed his chain ring size depending on the stage each day, ranging between 36T and 40T. He also had a 42T on standby for the time trial stage but opted for 40T.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What do we see here?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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After the prologue Matt changed his seat post from the Reverb AXS to the standard carbon post, depending on the stages, noting: “I can feel that the carbon post is lighter when I stand”.<\/em> Interestingly, the Reverb AXS seat post appears to be a whole new design from SRAM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shimano XTR pedals with a cable tie on the centre axle area to reduce float<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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SWAT downtube storage keeps spares storage neat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Matt’s brake pads were replaced everyday, the tyres were replaced after Stage 2 because of the thorns on that stage, and then again on Stage 4 and Stage 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frame<\/td>S-Works FACT 12m Carbon, Progressive XC Race Geometry, Rider-First Engineered, SWAT downtube storage, threaded BB, 12x148mm UDH compatible rear dropout, 120mm of travel, Optimised for wireless drivetrain and seatpost<\/td><\/tr>
Fork<\/td>RockShox SID ULTIMATE Flight Attendant, Ride Dynamics developed 3 position, Debon Air, 15x110mm, 44mm offset, 120mm Travel. [Matt was changing the DOT fluid mid week for a firmer climbing setup and this was micro tuned with the Flight attendant suspension.]<\/em><\/td><\/tr>
Shock<\/td>RockShox SIDLuxe ULTIMATE Flight Attendant, Ride Dynamics developed 3 position, Solo Air, 190x45mm<\/td><\/tr>
Rims<\/td>Roval Control SL, Carbon offset design, 29mm internal width, 4mm hook width, Tubeless ready, 24h<\/td><\/tr>
Hubs<\/td>Front Hub Roval Control SL, DT Swiss Internals, Ceramic Bearings, 6-bolt, 15mm thru-axle, 110mm spacing, Torque caps, 24h straight pull Rear Hub Roval Control SL, DT Swiss 180 Internals, DT Swiss Ratchet EXP, Ceramic bearings, 12mm thru-axle, 148mm spacing, 24h straight-pull<\/td><\/tr>
Spokes + Nipples<\/td>DT Swiss Aerolite T-head<\/td><\/tr>
Front Tyre<\/td>Specialized Fast Trak, Control Casing, T7 Compound, 29×2.35<\/td><\/tr>
Rear Tyre<\/td>Specialized Renegade, Control Casing, T5 Compound, 29×2.35<\/td><\/tr>
Handlebar<\/td>S-Works Carbon XC Mini Rise, 6-degree upsweep, 8-degree backsweep, 10mm rise, 760mm, 31.8mm<\/td><\/tr>
Grips<\/td>ODI Grips, Road bar tape inner wrap with blip shifters next to the stem.<\/td><\/tr>
Stem<\/td>S-Works SL, alloy, titanium bolts, 6-degree (Same as Alpinist Stem)<\/td><\/tr>
Headset + top cap<\/td>Epic 8 Stop Top Cap \u2013 Computer mount.<\/td><\/tr>
Seatpost<\/td>RockShox Reverb AXS & Specialized Carbon 34.9, Titanium Bolt<\/td><\/tr>
Saddle<\/td>S-Works Mirror Power saddle, 143mm width<\/td><\/tr>
Brakes<\/td>4-piston caliper, hydraulic disc,<\/td><\/tr>
Brake rotors<\/td>160mm rotor<\/td><\/tr>
Shifters<\/td>SRAM AXS POD Ultimate Controller, Rocker upgrade.<\/td><\/tr>
Front derailleur<\/td>N\/A \u2013 Only a MRP chain guide.<\/td><\/tr>
Rear derailleur<\/td>SRAM XX SL Eagle AXS<\/td><\/tr>
Cassette<\/td>SRAM XX Eagle AXS<\/td><\/tr>
Crank arms<\/td>SRAM XX SL Eagle Power Meter Crankset, 175mm<\/td><\/tr>
Chainring + size<\/td>40T [Changed per stage]<\/em><\/td><\/tr>
Chain<\/td>SRAM XX SL Eagle<\/td><\/tr>
Bottom Bracket<\/td>SRAM DUB, BSA 73mm, Threaded<\/td><\/tr>
Pedals<\/td>Shimano XTR with a cable tie on the centre axle area.<\/td><\/tr>
Power meter<\/td>QUARQ SRAM XX SL Eagle Power Meter Crankset<\/td><\/tr>
Bike computer<\/td>Hammerhead<\/td><\/tr>
Bottle cages<\/td>S-Works Z Cage.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Every bolt was replaced with Titanium bolts from Better Bolts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Learn more<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Keen to learn more about the S-Works Epic 8? Check it out HERE<\/a> or visit your nearest Specialized dealer.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Matt Beers and Keegan Swenson during Stage 1 of the 2025 Absa Cape Epic. Photo by Dom Barnardt\/Cape Epic

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The pairing of Matt Beers and Keegan Swenson as Team Outride | Toyota | Songo didn\u2019t go as planned at the 2025 Absa Cape Epic. Keegan battled back problems throughout the race which meant that the team had to settle for a single podium finish, placing third on the final stage. Despite the setbacks, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71842,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[24,155,95,247],"featured_location":[338],"class_list":["post-71841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech","tag-cape-epic","tag-matt-beers","tag-specialized","tag-specialized-epic","featured_location-bottom-row"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71841"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71873,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71841\/revisions\/71873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71841"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=71841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}