It appears there have been some rumours circulating on the world wide web about Specialized’s new Enduro and Spesh have been a little surprised about the content of said rumours. We’ve even had someone ask on the BM forum whether the Enduro was no longer going to have the 4-bar linkage rear end.

To put paid to these rumours, we’re now allowed to ‘leak’ some of the details of the new Enduro three weeks ahead of time. So read on.

There’s been a complete revamp of the bike, which we think is pretty exciting. Everything has been beefed up to securely place it in the ALL mountain category so you can confidently use it some of the more hardcore aspects of your riding.

Gone are the large monocoque sections, which have now been replaced with a selection of a little more traditional (but not quite) tubes. They continue to use the famed FSR technology with a four-bar linkage rear end and now six inches of rear wheel travel with two front shock mounts to change the geometry.

All frames will be specced with a 5th element air shock that has been custom made with a high spring curve for the Enduro frames. There will be a coil shock option in frameset only on the Enduro SX Trail.

With this truly now being a 6inch travel frame, a serious set of forks are required to match. The S-works will be specced with the new Fox Float 36 RC3 150mm travel single crown fork, with some of the less expensive models getting a different fork. We don’t know for sure yet which fork (or forks) that will be, but all bikes will have a six inch adjustable travel fork. This grade of components with be followed through the bike with 8inch brakes, higher risers, fatter wheels and fatter tyres.

We can’t give you full specs at the moment as they are still to be finalised, but expect prices for them to start at about £2k. We think it is going to be a pretty exciting 2005 if this bike is anything to go by: Mike has already had a play on one, so he can fill you in a bit more on the ride quality when he gets back from holiday.

We also understand that Specialized have gone crazy with their ladies’ range. They are going to have female-specific Stumpjumper FSRs with a 100mm travel FSR frame. It will be fiddled about to fit girls better, usual short top tube/steep seat angle thing going on with women-specific saddle/grips.

Although these will be not be available until mid-October, a special women’s team (right down to the mechanic) captained by endurance freak Jenn O’Connor will be racing with these at this weekend’s Sleepless in the Saddle, so if you are interested, feel free to pop in and have a bit of a gander.

We know we will be.