Over smooth ground, both contenders come into their own. The Epic Hardtail rolls slightly faster, mostly because its rubber has a less aggressive tread pattern.

The Scalpel’s Racing Ray and Ralph tyres have bigger, chunkier blocks than the Specialized’s Fast Trak and Renegade pairing.

Acceleration, again on smooth ground, is marginally more responsive and punchier on the Epic, thanks to it being about a kilo lighter.

However, I had to focus hard to notice the difference, and once up to speed I was hard-pressed to separate the two bikes.

Putting them to the test on my sprint segment – consisting of some short climbs, descents and flat sections on a well-used black trail-centre run – things flipped in favour of the Cannondale.

On the Epic Hardtail, I spent approximately 60 per cent of the trail hovering above the saddle to avoid jarring from riding over rough ground, at the cost of burning in my legs.

I expected to get rattled around, with no rear suspension, but it was noticeably trickier to keep traction and composure on the Epic, while continuously shifting weight and correcting my body position to accommodate the lack of control when pedalling hard.

The heavier Cannondale proved much smoother on these rougher trails, so maintaining momentum and pace was a fair chunk easier, making for a faster segment time and a comfier ride.

This goes to show that light weight shouldn’t be the highest priority when it comes to racing against the clock.

On paper, much of the Epic’s geometry is pretty similar to that of the Scalpel, however there’s a big difference in head angle (1.5 degrees) and wheelbase (34mm).

How much does this influence the bikes’ handling? Despite the variation in numbers appearing small, the differences on the trail were marked. The seat tube angle affects pedalling efficiency.

On both bikes, I found that with the saddle centred over the seatpost, it put my hips too far over the back wheel and behind the bottom bracket, forcing me to round my lower back and giving the feeling that I couldn’t put down adequate power.

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To make seated pedalling more efficient and comfortable, I pushed the seat as far forward as possible on both bikes, effectively trying to increase the seat tube angle.

The head angle is noticeably steeper on the Epic Hardtail, and I could feel the effect of this in even the shallowest of turns, where the steering response was increased.

Rolling off chunky steps, I found myself bracing to keep the front wheel pointing in the desired direction, rather than tucking under my weight. I was able to push harder in turns on the Scalpel, thanks to its slacker head angle, but also the extra grip afforded by the chunkier rubber.

The Specialized does carve around uphill turns and switchbacks with balance and precision, though, courtesy of its steeper head angle.

Interestingly, through those same corners the Cannondale’s steering seemed slightly awkward and more sluggish, with rider input and motion feeling mismatched. Curiosity got the better of me, so I swapped the long 75mm stem for a 55mm one.

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This eliminated that sensation of something feeling ‘off’ with the Scalpel and gave it the same balanced climb feel as the Epic. The shorter stem helped me feel like as though I was in a more confident position for tackling steeper, punchier ascents and uphill switchbacks.

However, it made me feel a bit cramped on the ascents, so I ended up sliding the saddle back again.

This illustrates the difficulty of translating enduro-style geometry across to XC bikes; while a slacker head angle and shorter stem add poise and control on the descents, they’re always going to reduce the effective top tube length and thus your stretch to the bar, even more so when combined with a steeper seat tube angle.

And that’s without going into the potential aerodynamic benefits of a longer stem for racing.

Both bikes allowed for comfortable seated pedalling, even after miles in the saddle. When standing, however, the Cannondale’s marginally longer reach meant there was more space to both sprint hard and move the bike around when descending.

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The shorter Specialized felt less spacious in comparison. Although a longer stem would help, it’s not something I’d recommend fitting because of the negative effect on handling.

My Scalpel was supplied with a long steerer tube on the fork, which left plenty of room for bar-height adjustment. I settled on 10mm of spacers under the stem.

When set to this height, if the bar was turned enough – for example, if it spun around in a crash – the gear shifter would hit the top tube. The Epic Hardtail didn’t suffer the same issue.

Both bikes proved to be quite noisy on rough terrain. On the Specialized, this was caused by the integrated headset creaking from time to time and the internally routed cables moving inside the frame. Grippier cable stops (where the control lines enter the frame) would reduce this.

While the Scalpel didn’t suffer from cable rattle, there was plenty of chain slap, despite checking the rear mech’s clutch mechanism was switched on and the chain was the optimum length. The Cannondale’s brake pads rattled in the calipers, too.

Hard-charging

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XC race bikes have undergone a significant makeover in the past few years. The Epic Hardtail and Scalpel prove this type of bike is no longer a one-trick-pony.

Manualling, popping off kickers and carving turns on bermed trails can be exhilarating on them, while their low weight and racy rubber make carrying speed easy.

The Epic Hardtail feels stiffer, with a solid ride that some may find reassuring, but I felt it caused increased fatigue on longer rides, because I had to move around more to reduce the harshness.

While the Specialized is more manoeuvrable than the Cannondale, it’s more tiring, and therefore less fun.

And the winner is…

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This test has highlighted how you can never judge a book by its cover – or a bike by its geometry chart – and how paying more won’t necessarily get you a better frame nor spec.

The Epic Hardtail’s parts, geometry and frame feel are in line with what most of the competition is offering, but these are the very things that let it down.

Its Reba fork and its chassis stiffness contribute to a jarring and tiring ride on all-day adventures or high-speed singletrack missions – the exact type of riding the bike is designed for.

When pushing harder, the Specialized’s less forgiving ride means its performance doesn’t always match your ambition on techy trails. You could upgrade to a better fork, but there’s nothing you can do about the limited rear-end compliance.

However, it is a great choice for training and racing on smooth XC courses or simply enjoying gentler forest trails.

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Both bikes possess a fun, whippy character that truly redefines what’s possible on a cross-country hardtail. Like me, you’ll find yourself scanning the trail for smooth lines to keep speeds high and the power down to reach new levels of fun that weren’t previously possible on this ilk of bike.

However, there’s no question that Cannondale has put together an altogether plusher ride, while retaining the acceleration and fun I love about XC hardtails.

Not only does the Scalpel have a more comfortable and forgiving ride, it’s significantly cheaper with a better fork, brakes and gears.

The only things I’d change are the position of the bottle bosses on the small frame, along with fitting a more comfortable saddle and a shorter stem.

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Overall verdict

Cannondale Scalpel HT Carbon 4

4.0 out of 5 star rating

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The Scalpel delivers impressive performance across the board at a great price, and upgrading the seatpost to a dropper post would unlock even more potential for not much extra cash

Specialized Epic Hardtail Comp

3.0 out of 5 star rating

Finlay Anderson / Our Media

While the Epic Hardtail is fast-rolling and playful on mellower trails, it lacks the smoothness and more modern geometry that would enable you to really attack all terrain types – plus it costs £1,500 more.

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