JAMIE’S SPECIALIZED TURBO KENEVO SL COMP
£7,400 • 29in • specialized.com
THE RIDER
JAMIE DARLOW
Position Front section editor
Mostly Rides Surrey Hills
Height 6ft 1in
Weight 82kg
THE BIKE
■ Lightweight e-bike, splitting the weight difference between the full-power Kenevo and regular Enduro
■ Less than half the power of a full-fat e-bike, with 240W and 35Nm of torque, and a small 320Wh battery (with optional 160Wh range extender)
■ Entry-level Turbo Kenevo SL gets Fox Performance suspension, Fox Rhythm fork and SRAM GX drivetrain, but retains the full carbon frame
■ Progressive geometry and sizing makes the Kenevo SL a full-blown enduro bike
MONTH 16: Forget the mind-muscle connection, JD has been using the training feature on the Mission Control app to boost his gains
Mindlessly scrolling is a national pastime, but I’ve found something better to do on my phone. Getting to know the Specialized Mission Control app. It can diagnose and fix problems with your bike, customise the power and battery consumption, log your rides, and plenty more besides. It’s taken me more than a year to take much interest in it though, the thinking being I’ll just ride the bike and let the tech sort itself out.
What changed was a fault code on a recent wintery ride, flashing up on the top tube, and a corresponding lack of power from the bike. I cursed the biking gods for their malevolence in wrecking my ride, before pulling out my phone to diagnose the problem. Turns out, I’d forgotten to swap the magnet over when switching rear wheels, and as such the speed sensor couldn’t work. Sheepishly, I headed home (and made a sacrifice to the gods as way of apology).
The app had sucked me back in though, and I
