Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Our Reader’s Rig of the week comes from Justin in North Carolina, who shares the 2026 Specialized Epic Evo he’ll be riding at this year’s edition of DOOM in Arkansas. Meet Justin, learn about his cycling history, and see what changes he made to get his bike ready for the rugged course through the Ouachita Mountains here…
Words by Justin Edwards, photos by Nic Morales
I’m Justin, and I reside in Asheville, North Carolina. I’ve been here 26 years now. I’m a contractor in the construction industry and have been swinging a hammer for 13+ years on the commercial and residential side. I started riding mountain bikes some 16 years ago, and my love for all bikes grew shortly after.
I built up a townie/gravel bike a few years after that, and from there fell head over heels for riding all the things I could. I started racing gravel and MTBs around 2019, and they’ve been staples in my life ever since. During COVID, I started condensing multi-day bikepacking routes into day rides, which led me to the world of bikepacking races. I try to do 3-4 bikepack races a year in addition to local gravel and MTB races. But, for me, it’s just about getting out on a bike, having fun, ripping trails all day, or taking long rides on the gravel bike. 10/10 highly recommend both!
This is my third Specialized Epic Evo, and I love the bike so much. The geometry and travel suit me perfectly for how and what I like to ride. The travel keeps me from sending larger things as I’m getting older and want to live to ride tomorrow, yet enough to really have fun, go fast, and still be nimble, agile, and ride all day. Be it flow trails, 30-minute chunky descents, or all Snowshoe trails, it does what I want and keeps on giving.
- Frame: 2026 Specialized Epic Evo
- Fork: Fox 34 stepcast, grip SL damper at 120mm
- Rims: Roval Traverse SL
- Hubs: DT Swiss 370 w/ratchet upgrade
- Tires: Specialized Flexlite Fast Trak 2.35
- Handlebars: ENVE M5, 31.8, 760mm
- Headset: Wolf Tooth Components
- Crankset: SRAM GX transmission, 170mm w/30T chainring
- Pedals: Shimano XT
- Cassette: SRAM 10-52
- Derailleur(s): SRAM GX Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Motive
- Shifter(s): SRAM Pod shifter
- Saddle: Specialized Power
- Seatpost: Manic 170mm (12” of seatpost if size matters)
- Stem: Industry Nine 50mm 31.8
- Rear bags: Rockgeist Foxglove 7l
- Accessory bags: Rockgeist custom top tube bag
- Other accessories: Rockgeist Spacelink for mounting the cache bag, COROS Dura for navigation
This setup is a bit different from what I’d normally run in its daily driver mode. For DOOM, I threw on a 120mm fork, carbon wheels to drop some weight, lighter tires to roll a little quicker, a 30T chainring, and a smaller-travel dropper to keep the saddle bag away from the rear wheel. In its daily driver mode, I run a longer-travel OneUp dropper, Industry Nine Hydra 2 wheelset with Trail 285 wheels, a 34T chainring, and usually Ground Control/Fast Trak tires with grid casing.
You can follow Justin on Instagram.
Send Us Your Bikepacking Rig
Use the form below to submit your bikepacking rig. We’ll choose one per week to feature in a Reader’s Rig Dispatch and on Instagram. To enter, email us your best photo of the bike (preferably at a 90° angle), your Instagram username (optional), and a short description of you and your rig. If your bike is selected, we’ll need a total of five photos and a little bit more info.
Readers Rig
Further Reading
Make sure to dig into these related articles for more info...
Please keep the conversation civil, constructive, and inclusive, or your comment will be removed.
