The San Francisco Bay Area offers a dizzying array of terrain for cyclists. Paved roads through rolling hills lead to gravel fire roads and coastal trails. Mountain paths with 30 percent grades wind through groves of redwoods, eucalyptus and oak. So it's no surprise that Morgan Hill-based Specialized, located a half hour south of San Jose, has led the charge in creating new technologies to traverse all that ground.
The brand's flagship gravel bike series — the Diverge STR — was first released in 2017 and now includes three models: the Expert, the Pro and the S-Works. While the style and ride is similar, the models have increasingly better components from Expert to S-Works. The Diverge STR is a head-turner, though, and its Future Shock technology (offering tunable 20mm front/30mm rear suspension) is both novel and functional.
During the spring and early summer, I tested the Expert model on the roads, in the hills and in the mountains of the Bay Area to see if the innovative technology and curated build is worth the $6,700 price tag.
Specialized Diverge STR Expert: What We Think
Like any gravel bike, the Diverge STR Expert is a hybrid, blending elements of road and mountain bikes to find the intersection of comfort, performance and efficiency. That said, it is a Swiss Army knife of a bicycle, able to traverse a wide range of terrain on a single ride without seeming out of place anywhere. Sure, it excels on fire roads and compact dirt and gravel paths, but it holds its own on paved hill climbs.
The suspension makes for an — at times — alarming smooth ride, unlike any other bike offers. Of course, there are drawbacks for those coming from road or mountain riding ... but in terms of pure versatility, this Specialized is hard to fault for a stock bike.
This bike delivers an addictingly smooth ride
STR stands for "Suspend the Rider," and the Future Shock 2.0 front and rear suspension, paired with the lightweight Diverge FACT 11r carbon frameset, does just that. The technology — initially designed for smooth rides on cobblestones — features 20mm of travel above the head tube in the front and 30mm of travel in the rear. The adjustable, damped front travel helps protect your hands and arms on uneven, washboard trails, but is easy to modify on the go if you desire less travel on smooth or paved surfaces. Fully opened up on a hard surface, you'll feel the bars bob in a sprint; thankfully, it's fast and easy to reduce (but not eliminate) this with a clockwise twist of the adjustment knob.
The Future Shock Rear suspension offers a small hydraulic damping lever to fine-tune its travel. Unlike traditional mountain bike rear suspension, the Future Shock technology allows the seat post to travel horizontally allowing the rider to float over uneven surfaces without losing pedaling power or sacrificing frame fit. You can't completely lock out the suspension, but the damping does allow the rider to nearly eliminate bobbing in strenuous sections of rides. Just like the front suspension, this is quickly tunable, and you can go tweak the travel to your liking.
Many rides took me from pavement to compact gravel to uneven dirt and back to pavement in the first 20 miles. The ability to quickly adjust the suspension on the go made the rides smoother, faster — and, at the end of the day, more fun.
It's incredibly versatile
The Tracer Pro 2Bliss Ready tires mounted on a Roval Terra C wheelset aren't overly aggressive on-road and offer a surprising amount of stability off-road. To get another perspective, I asked avid Bay Area cyclist Tomás Galguera his opinion of the bike. After riding the Diverge STR Expert on trails near Los Gatos, he, too, had a favorable take on the tires.
"I was a bit skeptical, initially, because the tread doesn’t look particularly aggressive. And yet, when I came across the first sand trap and the bike remained planted, I soon was able to relax my grip on the hoods," Galguera said. "Never did I have to unclip or worry about losing the front end around a turn. True, I wasn’t riding particularly fast, but the sand was deep enough to slow me down while crossing it. Memories of sand-encrusted elbows and burning embarrassment from past sandy failures soon left. Rather than tensing up, I began to look for sand traps to attack."
Along with the tires, the 12-speed, 11-50t SRAM NX Eagle PG-1230 cassette gave me all the range I needed for the most intense 25–30 percent hills in Berkeley (Marin Ave is the ultimate testing ground for gearing and brakes). The SRAM ED RIV ETAP shifters were fun, fast and smooth.
Though Galguera spent the majority of his life as a road cyclist, the transition to a 1x setup from his typical road bike was easier than expected. "It didn’t take long to remember that the side of the levers coincided with the direction of the shift," he said."I didn’t miss having to contort my wrist when having to drop a bunch of gears suddenly because of a steep hill ambush. And speaking of hills, the gearing on the bike turned climbs with ridiculous slopes enticingly possible. Yes, these were narrow paved roads in a camp among redwood trees, which reduced the challenge of traction. Still, the gearing and overall setup of the bike allowed me to climb the steepest slopes I’ve ever climbed on a bike."
That said, if you're considering transitioning to the Diverge STR Elite from a road bike, there are some notable differences in geometry. "My position in the bike was considerably different than the one that I assume while riding my USPS livery 2003 Trek OCLV — the same frame that Lance [Armstrong] rode to victory in the 2002 Tour," Galguera said. "I suppose I could’ve adjusted the saddle to be farther away from the handlebars, but my road bias made me wish the bars were lower. This was especially true while battling a headwind riding up Highway 1. This was a two-mile, all-out effort while catching up with friends and family who were ahead. I was only glad when I veered off the highway into a bike trail where trees offered some protection from the cold gusts coming from the ocean. It was even better when pavement gave way to gravel, washboard, and even sand. It wasn’t till after the ride when I noticed that the bike felt well-planted and confidence-inspiring regardless of surface."
That said, on steep paved descents, the bike can exhibit some heavy steering and has a tendency to fall into turns. The Diverge STR Expert shines off-road but on pavement, riders need to make some mental adjustments to get the most out of the setup.
During testing, I used three sets of Shimano Pedals: the GRX PD-ME700, the EH500 and the XTR M9100. The XTR SPD was the lightest at 310 grams per pair, but the ME700 (540 grams per pair) offered more stability during technical rides when not clipped in thanks to an integrated cage. The EH500 — the least streamlined of the trio — weighs in at 383 per pair and offers a flat platform side for rides where hiking in and out may be necessary.
Some components could be upgraded
The Diverge FACT 11r carbon frameset and Future Shock 2.0 suspension are the heart and brains of the Elite, and they're a solid core. But to get the most out of those elements, the limbs could be upgraded. Not faulting the SRAM Rival and GX Eagle components, but for the price, it would be nice to utilize a higher-end groupset from SRAM. For those looking to do just that, the Diverge STR Pro and S-Works Diverge STR do use top-tier components.
"A final thought concerns the options and ways in which one can customize the bike," noted Galguera. "From adjusting the plushness of the high-tech suspension to fine-tuning the air pressure in the tires to other changes that would require more effort, such as adding a drop seat post, or changing the stem height—which might eliminate the bars hitting the top tube at full lock — there are multiple ways to not only adjust the bike to highly individualized preferences but also tune to meet terrain demands. And yet, I wonder whether I would end up taking advantage of so much versatility. Or perhaps I would set up things a certain way and leave them there, similar to how we treat computer software, which we seldom use to its full potential."
Specialized Diverge STR Expert: Alternatives
If you're looking to experience the STR technology, Specialized's Diverge STR Pro ($8,700) and S-Works Diverge STR ($13,000) are upgrades to the Elite. Both feature carbon handlebars, upgraded drivetrains and better brakes, among other things.
If you're not interested in the Diverge STR series, Cannondale's Topstone Carbon Lefty 3 offers its own take on front and rear suspension for $4,250 or you can forego suspension and choose from a range of speed-focused bikes like the Pinarello Grevil F Ekar ($6,500) or the Scott Addict Gravel 30 ($4,000).
But, if you know exactly what you need in a bike and have a DIY mentality, consider building your own — something Galguera suggests. "I’d rather invest less than half of what I’d have to pay to own this bike to build a bike to meet my preferences, needs and limitations," he said. "I would end up with a truly unique and individualized bike for much less. True, the build would lack the Wow! power of the Diverge, but perhaps that isn’t too bad. I hear way too many cases of bikejacks in the hills around here."
