Review: 2022 Devinci Spartan HP - The Sturdy Trail Smasher

The carbon-framed Spartan HP rolls on 29" wheels and has 160mm of rear travel paired with a 170mm fork on the Carbon GX model I've been testing, or with a 180mm fork on the LTD models.

Component highlights of the $6,149 USD Spartan Carbon GX include a Fox Float X2 Performance Elite shock, a 170mm Fox 38 Performance fork, SRAM Code R brakes, and a GX 12-speed drivetrain. It also has a Maxxis Assegai / DHR II tire combo, in a DoubleDown MaxxGrip casing. Total weight? A not-that-svelte 36 pounds (16.3 kg) for a size large without pedals.

Frame Details

It's the high pivot design that's the star of the show this season, and the Spartan fits right in with the cool kids. Essentially, the idea is that the higher pivot creates a more rearward axle path, allowing the wheel to get out of the way of the incoming bumps. That design needs an idler, because without one you'd feel the pedals pushing on your feet due to the chain growth.

Devinci spent a lot of time working to ensure the idler pulley was a quiet and as hassle free as possible, and I'd say they did a good job in that department. There's a plastic cover that helps protect it, and that also seems to keep the noise level fairly low. Along with the upper pulley wheel, Devinci specs the Spartan with a lower guide from e13 to help keep the chain securely wrapped around the chainring.

For the most part, the housing runs inside the frame, emerging in a few spots to help make the routing easier. I will say that the section around the idler isn't the most elegant solution – S-bends aren't usually the best recipe for smooth shifting.

There's plenty of room for a water bottle inside the front triangle (side note: isn't it nice how that's almost not a talking point anymore? I'm so glad that those two little bolts came back), a threaded bottom bracket, and molded chainslap protection.

Geometry

The Spartan has a flip chip that makes it possible to choose between a 64.5 or a 65-degree head angle, a change that also raises or lowers the bottom bracket height by 7mm. Now, 64.5-degrees isn't wildly slack for a bike like this, but Devinci wanted to make sure its handling remained manageable. Remember, the high pivot design means that the bike gets longer as it goes into its travel, and a slacker head angle would have created an even longer wheelbase.

That thinking applies to the chainstay length as well. The Spartan HP has size-specific chainstays, which measure 430mm on the size large, and going up by 5mm for the XL and down to 425mm for the medium and small frames. That may look short on paper, but the rearward axle path means that out on the trail they don't feel nearly that stubby.

Reach numbers range from 445 up to 505mm in the low setting. The size large I've been riding has a reach of 485mm. The seat angle is 76.5 degrees, which is in the realm of what's become the modern norm. There's a sizeable jump in seat tube length from the medium to large size frames – it goes to 420 – 460mm. That could potentially make it tricky for riders to run posts with as much drop as they'd like, despite the fact that there's a reasonable amount of insertion depth.

Suspension Design

The new Spartan's axle path is much more rearward than the previous model thanks to that high main pivot placement. The Split Pivot layout is still in place, with concentric pivots at the rear axle, which uses 12 x 157mm SuperBoost spacing. The Spartan uses a 205 x 65mm trunnion-mounted shock, in this case a Float X2 on all models.




Build Kits

Climbing

There's no getting around the fact that a 36-pound bike, especially one with extra sticky tires, isn't exactly going to rocket up the hills. There's also that idler pulley to contend with, although in this case the plastic cover does help to keep the noise to a minimum, and it didn't bother me at all. That's saying something, since I'd consider myself to be fairly picky when it comes to bike noise. Will the extra drag be the deciding factor between setting a KOM or settling for a middle of the pack time? Probably not, and I'd imagine the rider who's in the market for a bike like this isn't going to lose too much sleep over a slight loss in pedaling efficiency.

Putting the weight aside, the Spartan is a decent climber. It's not going to set the world afire with its abilities, but it does get the job done with minimal fuss. Relax, sit down, put it in an easy gear and you'll get to the top eventually. There's a good amount of support for out of the saddle efforts when things get technical, and the only time I used the climb switch was for smoother paved or dirt road approaches. The seated climbing position worked for my 5'11” height, although it's worth noting that the actual seat angle is around 69-degrees, which means taller riders may feel more stretched out and over the rear axle than they would on a bike with a steeper actual seat angle.

I did notice that my calves would occasionally rub the upper portion of the seatstays. The seatstays have a bulge on either side of the brace, and if I didn't pay attention my legs would rub against them with each revolution. I don't exactly have Richie Rude level calves either, so it may be more of an issue for riders that have been hitting the gym extra hard.

Descending


The US / Canada border finally opened up while I was testing the Spartan, which meant I could finally add the Whistler Bike Park and Vancouver's North Shore back into my array of testing zones. Not surprisingly, it was on the Shore, close to the location that it first broke cover, that the Devinci felt most at home. The chunkier the trail the better – the Spartan absolutely eats up the rough stuff. It's not quite as long and slack as the Norco Range (more on that in a bit), but that actually worked in its favor on the tighter, jankier trails where slow speed, braking-heavy maneuvers followed by rocky runouts are common.

The 64.5-degree head angle didn't give me any real reason to complain, but I also never once considered putting the flip chip into the high position. Because of that, I wish that 64.5 degrees was the high setting, and that 64-degrees or less was the low position. Remember, we're talking about a 160mm, high pivot enduro machine – why not fully optimize it for its intended purpose?


Maintaining speed on the Spartan isn't a problem as long as gravity has firmly taken over, but on flatter or rolling terrain it can feel sluggish. Pumping the trail to takes more effort, and doesn't result in the same burst of forward speed that comes from a bike with a less rearward axle path. Jumping takes more work too, a trait that was especially noticeable on Whistler's A-Line and Dirt Merchant trails. It'll get it done, but the Spartan does best on rougher, more technical trails rather than hopping and popping around, despite what some of the photos in this review may lead you to believe. It's not that it can't jump, it's more that there are bikes in the same category that are easier and more eager to get airborne than this one (the new Pivot Firebird comes to mind).

Remember the feeling of making solid contact with a jelly ball during a game of kickball? Landing a drop on the Spartan HP delivers the same sense of satisfaction. It's one of the traits that I enjoy most about high pivot bikes – that glued to the ground stability they have when touching back down makes it easy to trust that things will work out, even when dropping into a pile of rubble that's been formed into a not-very-steep landing. The Spartan may not be the liveliest jumper, but that trait's overshadowed by how well it can stomp landings.

How Does It Compare?


Let's put the Spartan up against its Canadian rival, the Norco Range, since both bikes are stout, carbon-framed high-pivot machines.

When it comes to geometry, the Range wins in the long and slack department. Its head angle sits at 63.25-degrees for a size large, 1.25-degrees slacker than the Spartan. The Range's chainstays are around 12mm longer, which translates to an overall wheelbase that's 1285mm vs 1261mm for a size large.

What do the slacker and longer numbers equate to out on the trail? More stability, especially at speed and in the steeps. Now, the Spartan isn't a slouch in that department, it's just that the Range comes much closer to mimicking the handling you'd expect from a DH bike. Its standover is lower, the seattube is shorter, and the center of gravity is closer to the bottom bracket.

One thing the Spartan has that the Range doesn't is the ability to run a coil or air shock. The Range was designed specifically for coil shocks from Fox or RockShox; the Spartan can accommodate a wider array of options.

Even though both bikes are billed as enduro race bikes, I think they may be too much bike for some courses – on a pedally, punchy track these big beasts could feel like a handful, the Range even more so than the Spartan. On the other hand, at a race with tracks that resemble the ones around Whistler they'll be right at home.

Technical Report

Maxxis tires: On a bike like this, it's great to see proper tires spec'd on all the models. The Assegai / DHR II combo works extremely well here in the Pacific Northwest, and the MaxxGrip compound, while not the longest lasting, is very nice to have when the rocks and roots are wet and slimy.

Code R brakes: The Code R brakes worked well, but if this was my bike I'd plan on upgrading the levers to the RSC model at some point down the road. The R levers don't have a contact point adjustment, and the bushings that they rotate on instead of cartridge bearings gives them a more rattly, less solid feel.

Fox Performance 38: This fork doesn't have the same level of adjustments found on the more expensive Performance Elite or Factory models, but the GRIP damper is very easy to set up, and I didn't have any trouble finding a configuration I was happy with. That said, I could see this being another area worth upgrading at some point, since Fox sells the GRIP 2 damper separately, and making the swap is a fairly simple procedure.

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Pinkbike's Take

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Reviews and Tech Reviews Enduro Bikes Devinci Devinci Spartan