Specialized as a bike brand goes way back and one of their very first bikes to hit the trails was the Stumpjumper, the first major production mountain bike in the world (pictured below). The name is pretty much the only thing that has endured throughout the years with the look of the bike now unrecognisable, but its almost 40-year heritage makes it a much sought-after piece of kit.
With the newest model released this week, Specialized claim to have raised the bar for trail bikes with a host of updates and revisions, resulting in the ultimate trail bike.
If the scale of this movie trailer style video is anything to go by, we can surely expect great things from the new model.
If nothing else, Specialized have certainly raised the bar when it comes to bike publicity videos!
Tested to perfection
In order to make the much-loved Stumpjumper even more of a demon descender - which means adding stiffness to the frame - Specialized sent working prototype versions out onto the trails for real world testing. The extensive fine-tuning process and all-new Sidearm frame have come together in the creation of a stiffer, lighter and significantly more capable trail bike than any of its predecessors.
Tuned to you
From day one, the in-house suspension team at Specialized worked hand-in-hand with the frame engineers to ensure a perfect interface, with the brand's Rx Tune ensuring every frame size performs right in the suspension sweet spot. The new Stumpjumper has also got the full Rider-First Engineered treatment, whereby every frame size is adjusted to ensure that the ride characteristics are the same - no matter the geometry. Specialized have really thought of everything here, with the addition of a women's specific Rx Tune designed to run at a lower pressure to correspond with typically lower rider weights.
More versatile than ever
To start with, there are three different versions to choose from: the regular Stumpjumper that rides like it's on rails, the Short Travel (ST) with all its twitchy agility, and the EVO makes a return in all its slacked-out glory for the diehard descenders out there. But the really great news is that Specialized have done away with proprietary componentry and made these new frames significantly more customisable. So, the PF30 bottom bracket makes way for the more standard threaded BB and all frames now have clearance to accommodate a wider range of wheel and tyre sizes. This is the first Stumpjumper that every rider can truly make their own.
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There is a whole lot more that we could say about the all-new Stumpy and thee's a bunch of different componentry specs from the world-beating to the super-accessible, but you should at least have an idea from this overview of how much Specialized have stepped up with their new model. As an all-mountain trail bike for the open-minded mountain biker, you can't do much better.
