Typically the most colorful thing on the cross course is the World Champion’s rainbow stripes. Lately that hasn’t been the case, the bike those rainbow stripes have been on has been shining bright -  Zdenek Stybar’s hot pink Specialized Crux.

A tribute to the first pink Specialized MTBs used with drop bars and caliper brakes by Team Specialized in 1984, the Quick-Step rider will be on the pink Crux as he defends his world title this weekend in Belgium. He’s been winning on it all month and one surprising feature rear's its head. The Crux isn’t carbon. Instead it’s a cross specific E5 alloy frame with a heap of features to make your life easy on the course. The routing is internal, for cable and housing ensuring perfect shifting in the worst conditions, and the top tube is flattened at the seat tube for easy shouldering. As expected the alloy delivers crisp power transfer and sure handling, helped by the tapered FACT carbon fork. Surprisingly, even with its aluminum frame his bike is 400 grams lighter than his previous ride.


images: TDWSport

Most surprising? You can get your own Crux with SRAM Force for $2800. Of course, you won’t be getting Stybar’s Zipp 404’s, the Dugast tubulars, the Zipp cockpit or his SRAM Red build. But, you will get the heart of Stybar's bike, the E5 alloy Crux frame.

www.specialized.com