Californian and sun-kissed, the Specialized Bicycle Company is a bit of a bike-industry Golden Child. The brand has an enviable reputation for performance, an S-Works range that’s a top choice for the World’s wealthiest riders, and it makes some of the flashiest, trickest and priciest and best mountain bikes around.

And on top of that, Specialized also has a race programme that sees it regularly winning both XC and DH World Cups.

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All this high-end status has a flipside though, it seems to generate a backlash for the brand that I’d go so far as to say even morphs into hate at times.

But here’s the rub, the Specialized Status range delivers exactly the kind of value-packed, just-get-on-with-it bikes the hardcore riders voicing dissent crave.

The Status should give the brand extra kudos then. It’s a bike that’s been built to get serious racing or party hard riding as needed, and I’d describe it as a tough and dialled aluminium MTB for a killer price tag.

Starting at just £3K the Statis 2 is available in two configurations based around the same M5 alloy chassis and rear 4-bar suspension. Different parts then get bolts on to focus the bike on downhill or bike park riding, or super enduro and freeride. I’ve got the Status 2 170 DH bike here, which is £500 more money.

Mullet-wheeled and ready for action in military green, the Status DH is clean and simple with great lines. You don’t have to look hard to spot a dual-crown RockShox BoXXer up front that’s more typical downhill kit than the single crown forks many riders will be used to seeing and using on enduro and e-bikes.

Another nod to World Cup-level DH are the massive SRAM Maven brakes, engineered for enough last second stopping power to beat the clock down a mountain.

There’s no dropper post to get in the way of your jumping or race runs here either, it’s basically assumed you’ll always have the saddle out of the way while mucking about. There’s also no wide range gearing for climbing up hills like the ‘regular’ Status.

Instead, a quieter, lower-profile and less complicated 7-speed SRAM GX DH drivetrain is pushed round by stubby aluminium cranks that should be harder to damage. This means the regular Status 2 is better suited to pedalling around the place and more regular enduro riding than this DH model, if that’s your bag.

Design and specifications

The Specialized M5 alloy is used in the brand’s top-tier aluminium frames and is built into a stocky chassis that’s built tough, rather than especially light. With thick tubing profiles, the frame looks pretty bombproof and uses huge forged rocker links and fat welds.

There are big sealed bearings too, and an option to run the rear brake hose fully external for those riders who favour easy servicing over aesthetics. There’s also an external BB and easy to replace UDH mech hanger, which should also appeal to the home mechanic.

The rocker link drives the rear wheel through 170mm travel while the BoXXer fork has 10mm more. I’ll talk about this more later, but the 170mm back end feels much deeper when you’re actually riding, despite not being too wallowey or bogged down pedalling around.

The complete S4 bike weighs 18kg with the BoXXer and is one of four Status sizes covering a broad span of shapes. Rather unusually for a bike with a keen eye on affordability, Status geometry is still size-specific, so riders of different heights and weights get a similar experience.

The two smaller, S2 and S3, sizes therefore have shorter chainstays to maintain rider balance, but we’re not talking anything too crazy seeing as they are only 5mm shorter than the two larger frames. Status geometry is also adjustable via a Horst Link flip chip.

Sizing jumps are quite big between each ‘S’ number, but good standover height means riders can still size up or go longer in reach and not get penalised by a frame as tall as a gate.

That said, while Specialized makes a big deal of its standover clearance, going up in length still raises the vertical height of the seat post collar from 735mm on the S2, up to 752mm on the S5. I mention this as I found the seat tower a little high on the S4 and also had to saw the fixed seatpost to slam the saddle.

To be fair, I should likely have been on the lower S3 frame at my height considering the roomy reach numbers that go from 445mm in the S2 Low position to a whopping 526mm in the S5 High position. The 495mm reach measurement on this S4 (equivalent to most brand’s large) is pretty lengthy for what’s essentially a freeride bike.

The adjustable geometry is a cinch to switch over and turning an oval chip that orientates two ways and takes minutes to swap alters chainstay, head angle and BB height.

The difference between both positions is around 4mm at the chainstay and around 8mm at the BB (342mm to 350mm). The head angle only changes by half a degree from 63.5° in Low to 64° in High and I ended up lower to make the S4 a bit shorter. I also preferred the ride position set with the BB very low. 165mm cranks meant pedal strikes aren’t too much of an issue even in the sunken feet position either.

Suspension

It should come as no surprise that – for this little cash – I’m getting entry level damping and tech on both the RockShox fork and shock. The 180mm BoXXer RC has around 20mm less travel than in a typical DH racing model. And the basic damper only offers rebound and low-speed compression adjustment, wound on with a big dial atop the right leg.

Specialized has further tuned it with a reduced 44mm offset, something that’s normally reserved for a 27.5in fork. The idea is it’ll work better that way with the reduced travel, and I did indeed loved how it makes the bars feel super stable and planted.

Getting a dual crown setup is more of a faff than on a regular fork, although setting the bar height is actually easier because you can slide the fork legs up or down within the crowns.

I did take a lot of time to figure out the spring curve though because, even with a lot of the compression dial wound on, it still felt a bit too linear. The solution was to add an extra volume spacer to help the BoXXer resist blowing through its travel.

With no separate high and low-speed adjustment like on more expensive RockShox products, adding too much damping here starts to eat into suppleness. And, as you’d expect, this cheaper Charger 3 RC is a way behind the RC2 Ultimate version with its more sophisticated damper and air spring and extra tech like Buttercups.

The RockShox Super Deluxe DH Select coil shock is similarly basic, with only rebound damping controlled on the fly and a hydraulic bottom out (HBO) adjuster. The latter needs a small allen key to tweak but feels much less compromised.

The S4 size comes with a 500lb spring that felt perfect for my 82kg weight, but if you’re heavier or lighter, you’ll need to make sure the spring rate is right. Check the bike in the shop first, as you obviously can’t just pump it up later like an air shock.

The Super Deluxe has a special damping tune developed by Specialized to work with the Status and it’s excellent with tons of suppleness and fluidity, plenty support and no harsh bottom out.

So, while the shock is lacking much adjustment, it worked great. Just turning up the HBO to add extra bottom out support and tighten the ride was really effective in making the bike punchier through my feet and less prone to tilt backwards and dip in at the rear in berms and deep low-speed compressions.

Components

Stand out Status parts include SRAM Maven brakes that are ‘only’ the lowest tier Bronze models, but are still so powerful you have to adapt to keep your wheels from locking up. I found them less grabby than more expensive Mavens too because Spesh specs cheaper, thinner, Centreline rotors that tone down the initial bite and power a bit, which is something many lighter Pro DH racers do too.

The power is still huge though, and they never fade or change over time, giving you total confidence in the Status’s stopping power.

Bronze level brakes also match the durability remit, it has a a simpler lever design without the swing link cam and (like other new SRAM brakes) uses mineral oil.

Even on a bike like this, I’d still prefer a dropper post to the the fixed 34.9mm the bike comes with. That’s because, every here and there, I could do with the seat up to pedal little climbs, even in a bike park.

This did get me thinking that a more versatile way to buy a status would be to go for the non-DH Status 2 model with enduro parts. Then use the £500 saving to buy an extra DH fork to plug in for Alpine DH holidays or weekends in the bike park, and get two bikes out of one.

This would mean a more versatile bike for the majority of your riding – but would also sacrifice the amazing Maven brakes for less powerful TRPs as well as trade a SRAM GX DH drivetrain for Shimano Deore.

On all new Status models there are much stronger alloy, DH-rated, wheels with DT Swiss spokes over previous generations.

The rims are 28mm internal, which is slightly narrower than usual, but Spesh must be confident in the strength as it still uses a 28 spoke front wheel. The 32 spoke rear wheel will also be even stronger due to being a smaller 27.5in diameter.

Butcher GRID gravity tyres here are the older generation design and come in alarm-bell-ringing 2.3in, but actually blow up as big as you need and look more like 2.4in.

The older Butcher tread pattern is super grippy in T9 rubber but a little less planted on the ground in the baked-dry bike park I tested in, especially if you crank it over on massive hard pack berms.

You can’t really pump them up to get that more solid feeling either, as the corner knobs themselves peel and fold over, rather than the casing of the tyre. It’s not a massive deal, but I’d swap them out for the newer generation Butcher (or Cannibal) on a bike like this when it comes time to upgrade.

The MRP chain guide bash guard works great and keeps things silent and stable, and the SRAM GX gear shifts are fast and crispy. Seven speeds are plenty for heading downhill, but you’re obviously not going to pedal up many steep hills with just a 24t biggest cog on the cassette, even if the Status actually goes forward fine under power, considering how chunky it is.

Spesh’s direct mount stem is 50mm long (longer than I usually use) but steers naturally on a DH fork with less rake (offset) and there’s a full width 800mm alloy bar with a nice shape too.

One small thing I wasn’t a fan of are the Deity Lockjaw grips. Aside from being a bit too fat for my tastes, while they feel sticky and soft in the car park, am I the only one who always finds the Deity rubber and damping inferior to brands like Ergon and ODI?

Performance

Straight out of the box, with the only adjustments adding air to the tyres and fork and slamming the saddle down, I rode this Status DH for hours at Dyfi without wanting to change a thing.

It’s testament to how well dialled it is that not only does it feel solid and smooth from the first run, I instinctively trusted it had my back and didn’t ever get that urge to fiddle.

The geometry and handling strike a really good balance between agility and stability and there’s no sense of tipping weight about or any quirks in how I’d expect it to respond to rider inputs.

The shorter rear stays also don’t give too much of the tipping off the back sensation I don’t like on some bikes with stubby back ends, on this S4 version at least. Status frames do come up pretty big though, so you could potentially feel a bit stretched out in the front end unless you pay attention to the sizing: This frame is over 20mm longer than an equivalent-sized Stumpjumper 15 for comparison.

From the first run off the uplift, I felt I could send every trail and every feature with confidence, but as I started getting up to speed and pushing harder, it’s the damping and action in the fork that starts to feel like the weak link.

In contrast, the back end works fantastic. Even though it’s not the top-tier Vivid shock and with just hydraulic bottom out control to fiddle with, this is all the tuning you really need, as the back end is pretty much perfectly tuned for support and grip.

One option might be to upgrade the damper in the fork. As it stands it lacks some smooth support at times, and the only aspect of overall Status performance that doesn’t feel every bit as good as a bike park bike at any price point.

The Status chassis feels as rock solid as you’d expect, without any sense of harshness or too much vibration. If you haven’t ever used a dual crown fork before (or like me, haven’t used one for ages) you’re in for a shock at just how much stiffer it feels than even something burly like a Zeb or a Fox 38.

With the stiff frame going exactly where you point it and never flinching even under massive forces, and great tracking and smoothness at the rear tyre, this DH Status feels very secure. The bike delivers a reassuring sense of stiffness and solidity in corners and, crucially, hitting massive lips and landing deeper than you intended, but without ever feeling too numb or disconnected from the terrain.

To sum up then, if you’re used to riding an enduro bike like me (and often one with way more expensive parts), it’s a bit of an eye opener how much better a cheaper bike like this feels at times in a bike park.

It’s pretty cool to feel so at home on a ‘bargain’ bike that I was hitting double black bike park lines on the first morning riding it. If you’re coming from an enduro bike (even one with similar travel numbers), this thing feels like a toy you can chuck about and huck for fun in comparison.

Mistakes are way less noticeable and I could get away with pretty much anything here – largely due to the solidity and precision of the steering response, but also in how smooth and fluid the rear end is. Hitting up the Oakley line at Dyfi on a bike that you can currently buy in the sale for two and a half grand and feel perfectly comfortable doing so is exactly what this Status is about. The bang for buck in terms of performance is huge here.