Tested: Specialized P.3
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Last summer Specialized launched their updated P series of bikes. The new line is clean, tidy, and makes a whole bunch of sense, which, honestly, hasn’t always been the norm for P Bikes. The new line is differentiated by wheel size: the P.1 has 20” wheels, the P.2 gets 24”, the P.3 reviewed here gets 26” wheels, and, controversially, the P.4 gets 27.5” hoops. We’ll get into that later, but for now, the modern P. series is relatively straightforward: dirt jump bikes for the whole size range of humans, starting small, and getting bigger.
Of course, historically, there have been a bunch of permutations of P Bikes–from the full suspension slopestyle comp
I have history with Specialized P Bikes. I owned one through high school and most of college, and used it for everything from riding skateparks, to commuting between classes, to racing cyclocross, to riding singletrack.
I loved that bike, and I’ve been using the new version for the sort of riding that it was designed for, as well as a bunch of riding that it really wasn’t designed for, which we’ll get into in a much weirder piece later this week.
One last note, before we dive in: about the name. When I was an impressionable middle schooler, trying to take his hands off the bars of his P.3 on the flyout at the skatepark, an older rider told me that the P.3 was originally named after a 90s Specialized tube-forming technology called “centerfold” with the reference being to the three pages assigned to a pinup spread. Crusty dudes at the skatepark are rarely reliable narrators, but I’m sticking to that story until I hear a better one.
In a Nutshell
- Travel: 0 mm (rear) 100 (front)
- Wheel Size: 26”
- Size Tested: One Size
- Head Tube Angle: 68.5°
- Bike Weight: 25.1 lbs (11.39 kg)
“All my friends’ DJs are too clean,” my buddy responded when I told him I had a new dirt jumper in to review. I think that lament sums up the current state of dirt jumpers amongst my peers. In many ways they’re aspirational bikes that have a tendency to collect dust in the garage as opposed to battle scars in the streets. We all know that riding a little bike on jumps and pump tracks is a great way to build skills and fitness, but it’s also scary and a little dangerous. The margins for error are lower, the bike feels foreign, and asphalt pump tracks and hard-slapped dirt lips just aren’t as forgiving as loamy slopes.
But there’s something captivating about dirt jump bikes. They’re affordable, they (usually) look so clean, they’re simple and utilitarian. And they’re aspirational: watch any slopestyle comp these days and prepare to lose count of rotations, tailwhips, and bar spins as you revel in the acrobatics that these bikes are designed for. Then head back to the pump track with your kid, try to manual the rollers, slip a pedal, shin yourself, and try not to teach the run bike gang any new swear words. There are few genres of bikes where the delta between intended use and actual implementation is so large.
So here’s a review of a dirt jump bike from a guy who used to be bad at dirt jumping ten years ago, and, it turns out, hasn’t gotten much better in the meantime.
Geometry and Travel (and why I didn’t review the 27.5” one)
The 2024 Specialized P.3 is not longer, lower, and slacker than its predecessors. In fact, for kicks and giggles, I compared its geometry chart to the
It’s got the same 68.5° head angle, a tiny bit longer (3 mm) top tube, shorter chainstays (7 mm) and the same claimed wheelbase. Turns out Specialized figured out good dirt jump geometry a long time ago.
It’s designed around a 100 mm suspension fork because that’s what you run on a DJ, unless you’re an animal who prefers a big-wheeled BMX with a rigid fork, in which case, more power to you.
I am a large person, so hypothetically I’d be a good test subject for the new, larger 27.5” wheeled P.4. However, I chose to review the smaller P.3 for a couple of somewhat arbitrary reasons.
First, the point (for me at least) of a dirt jumper is to feel different from the mountain bikes I spend a bunch of time on. It’s meant to be a change of pace, that’s the whole point, so I’m not concerned with trying to make it feel familiar.
Second, I don’t actually want my dirt jumper to be “more capable” or “versatile.” This is a niche bike with a niche use case. 26” ain't dead baby! I know what riding “real” bikes at pump tracks and on dirt jumps feels like. It’s fine, but it’s not inspiring.
I'm better at drawing dirt jumpers than I am at riding them, so here's a doodle.
No judgment to anyone who prefers the 27.5” P.4 to the 26” P.3, or is looking for a bike that comes in a “long” version like Transition’s PBJ. You do you, but for me, for this class of bike, I want to ride as small of wheels as I practically can, and I’m not tough enough to ride a BMX, so here we are.
Frame Details
There’s not much going on here, which is sort of the point. The P.3’s horizontal dropout system is easy to adjust and secure. The P.3 features internal cable routing, which I’m somewhat annoyed by, but also understand. It’s clean, but if I replace the rear brake, I’ll probably secure it to the outside with some velcro strips like the cool kids at the skatepark do. There’s also a routing port for a dropper cable, and/or a rear derailleur which, well, we’ll get into in the next piece…
The bottom bracket is threaded, and the rear spacing is Boost, which means that if you’ve got a clutch of non-Boost 26” wheels, you’ll need to adapt them to fit in the P.3. Overall, it’s a clean, good looking frame, and the cotton candy pink color option is absolutely beautiful.
Where does the Specialized P.3 shine?
I wrote a long almost-rant that tied pickleball’s infiltration of tennis infrastructure into the changing paradigm of urban mountain bike venues that has led to this style of bike shifting from “Dirt Jump Bike” to “Pump Track Bike.” It was grumpy and verbose, and at the time I thought it was quite incisive.
But then I rode the P.3 through the park to the pump track and spent a few hours messing around on my bike instead of shaking my fist at the internet. The sun started to set, kids threw handfuls of bark at each other on the playground, and my perspective on the world mellowed.
Dirt jumpers are really fun, even on things that aren’t dirt jumps. In high school I had two options to ride my dirt jumper. I could take it to the skatepark and try not to leave too much skin on the coping until the skaters chased me out, or I could ride across town to the cyclocross course to session the rhythm section there. I’d ride those eight rollers over and over again, trying to figure out manuals, experimenting with pulling for different gaps. I rarely rode actual “dirt jumps” on that bike, because the City of Moscow’s employees, and the University of Idaho’s campus police were really effective at shutting down every dirt jump spot soon after we broke ground.
Now there are pump tracks all over the place, with more popping up all the time. We have an embarrassment of riches. And the Specialized P.3 is an absolute delight on any sort of pump track, dirt jump, or skatepark.
If you’ve never ridden an actual dirt jumper at your local pump track, it’s probably good that you don’t know what you’re missing. I spent the almost-decade between my last DJ and now using my regular mountain bike to goof around on, and wow, is the P.3 more fun, more rewarding, and just generally more better.
The P.3 is more work to ride than a hardtail mountain bike. You need to have better balance, nail your timing more accurately, work the bike through things instead of letting it roll over them. But when you put that little extra effort in, the P.3 rewards it in spades. It’s light, snappy, and responsive, everything you want out of a dirt jump bike.
Has the P.3 magically improved my manuals, or given me the ability to barspin? Of course not. I’m still a mediocre dirt jumper, but the P.3 has been an excellent excuse to put more time and energy into improving that aspect of my riding.
Build
The P.3 comes with a fairly standard DJ build. The Marzocchi Bomber DJ is a great fork for this sort of bike and can fit a 27.5” wheel or a 20 mm front axle if you want to get weird.
The SRAM Level rear brake proclaims its intentions in the name: it’s great on level ground. It’s seriously impressive how bad this brake is everywhere else. It’s weak, it’s loud, and it’s inconsistent. In other words, it’s a perfect brake for a DJ. I’ll probably eventually replace it with the one random Shimano XT two-piston brake that I’ve been carrying around in my spare parts bin for five years now.
Specialized’s house brand wheels have been solid so far, and the Kicker tires roll fast on dirt and concrete. I might replace them with
Price
In 2009 my P Bike cost me $700 from a local ripper. It was spray painted red, with a white Idaho sticker on it and a bunch of white spokes, a relic from the time he locked his keys in the car and used spokes cut out of his wheel to fish for the lock lever. This new P.3 retails for $2000. All of its spokes match, and it is ready for you to spray paint if you so desire.
Dirt jumper pricing is a weird thing. Yes, they’re much simpler than other mountain bikes. You’re getting fewer moving parts per dollar than you are with something like a Specialized Status. But those parts are also not as impacted by economies of scale, and have to be really durable. So I understand the pricing here. If it’s too rich for your taste, hit the used market. During the pandemic bike boom lots of folks bought dirt jumpers that are now hanging in garages, collecting dust after a short stint at the pump track.
If you’re shopping new, the P.3 is right in line with other dirt jump bikes, with similar specs and intentions.
In Conclusion
Specialized has been making good dirt jump bikes for a really long time. The new P.3 is a great addition to that legacy and continuation of that name. If you’re looking for an excuse to lose some skin off your shins, ride with your kid, or relive the glory days, the new Specialized P.3 is a great vehicle for all of that. And if you want to get weird, cut down on the total number of bikes in your garage, and get the attention of middle-aged dirt bags at stop lights, well, I’ve got another P.3 article coming later this week that’s just for you.
Prices are accurate and items in stock at time of publishing.
