mountain bikes: First Ride: Specialized Stumpjumper 2019 – Evergreen in a completely new guise

Test: For this season, Specialized is presenting a completely overhauled Stumpjumper with a newly developed frame, modern geometry and a short travel version that will replace the camber. We were present at the presentation and were able to do a first little lap with the new trail robber from California.

In a way, the Specialized Stumpjumper FSR is the rock in the hectic MTB market. Since its initial launch, it has witnessed countless trends, phases, standards and booms. Of course, the Stumpjumper has also evolved over the years. Whether wheel size, geometry, equipment, frame material: The trail evergreen from California has been through a lot and has always kept up with the times. Despite all the changes, the Stumpjumper has always retained its character - somehow the one for everything, the tourer among trail bikes, the trail bike among tourers. Now for the 2019 model year, the next big update is coming - maybe even the biggest in the long history of the venerable Stumpjumper.

The new Specialized Stumpjumper: The most important information at a glance

wheel size: 29″ and 27,5″ (tire clearance up to 3″)
Travel Stumpjumper: 150 / 140mm
Travel Stumpjumper ST (Short Travel): 130 / 120mm
Frame material: aluminum and carbon
Frameset: Only as S-Works variant
Price: From €1.999 (aluminium) or €2.999 (carbon)
Available from: May 2018

Yes, the current Stumpy is getting a bit old – but ours shows that it can still keep up with the current models of the competition Trail bike leaderboard. So why an update? And then a comprehensive one? Well, that brings us back to the topic of trends and market development. The Stumpjumper FSR in its current form might fit well into the modern trail bike category on paper, but it feels a tad tamer depending on the situation. Even at Specialized itself, you obviously see it that way - "We'll admit, up until now, when things got hairy, Stumpjumper didn't really want to party", it says in the marketing brochure for the new model.

The heart of the bike, its frame, is completely new. The asymmetrical construction is not only visually reminiscent of the demo, but should also bring the advantages already known from the DH car, namely an overall higher rigidity with less material used and therefore lighter weight. However, it's not quite as easy for the developers as a layman would imagine: Transferring a framework concept to another bike using 'copy and paste' would be nice, but it doesn't work in practice.

For this reason, several teams worked on the development of the new Stumpjumper frame. Kinematics, geometry, features, dimensions, material, design. An almost infinite number of different factors need to be coordinated so that the Stumpjumper success story continues in the 2019 chapter.

The new structure with a strut on the right side made it possible to achieve an increase in stiffness of up to 20% - and at a weight saving of 100-250g. Speaking of weight: Of course, we continue to rely on the Rider First Engineered concept and thus put the rider first; In concrete terms, this means that you try to match the bike as well as possible to the needs of the rider right from the factory - and not the other way around.

It starts with the frame itself and the layup. The different frame sizes were designed with different levels of stiffness in order to anticipate the rider's weight as well as possible and to offer a riding experience that is as similar as possible across the entire spectrum. Speaking of rigidity: Here, not only were the key points such as the head tube or bottom bracket considered in isolation, but also the relationship between them. The frame should feel the same for the legs (bottom bracket) and arms (head tube) and appear particularly balanced.

Geometry adjustment, new strut protection and laminated cable routing

A new feature on the Stumpjumper is a flip chip that sits in the shock mount and can be used to adjust the geometry. By turning you can choose between the high and low settings, which differ primarily in the bottom bracket height and the steering angle. The latter changes by 0,5°, the bottom bracket moves 6mm up or down. The geometry itself has become a whole lot more modern with the new model, but without taking the extreme path that one or the other competitor is now taking.

The reach is now significantly longer than before at 445mm or 455mm in size L, and the steering angle is a bit flatter. Thanks to the short chainstays, however, it was possible to keep the short wheelbase and the Stumpjumper does not lose the liveliness that is so much fun on the trail. You simply want to prevent the bike from feeling like an enduro that has had its suspension travel cut. Anyone who is a bit disappointed and expected "more" here can look forward to late summer: That's when the Stumpjumper Evo will be released with a slack steering angle of less than 64° and an overall clearly gravity-oriented orientation. However, we were not able to elicit more details from the boys and girls at the moment.

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A noteworthy innovation is the new chainstay protection, which received a lot of attention during development. This may seem a bit strange at first, but it makes sense: efficient protection at this point in the rough terrain is not only good for the durability of the frame, but also reduces the background noise. And after all, we all know how much fun it is to have a quiet bike that doesn't rattle even when there's a lot of rumble. There are nubs on the upper side of the rubber protection that absorb the vibrations of the chain and are supposed to ensure absolute silence.

With carbon frames, all lines and cables run inside the frame. Looks good, but prolific screwdrivers are probably putting their hands to banging them up over their heads. Depending on the frame, components and the shape of the day, threading the outer casing or the brake line through the frame can become an extremely nerve-racking game of patience. That's why Specialized decided to laminate solid tubes inside all carbon frames, in which the sleeves run. So simply in at the top and out at the bottom – or vice versa!

There are detailed improvements in the SWAT topic, which of course also has its place in the new frame. This is how Specialized describes its storage concept for accessories and repair material (SWAT=Storage, Water, Air, Tools) in the frame. In the future, there will be no plastic insert, which not only saves weight, but also increases the opening cross-section and means that there is 20% more storage space inside.

BSA camp and farewell to proprietary dampers

Even with the fixed cable routing inside the frame, you show a sense for the wishes and needs of the rider and the same applies to the bottom bracket. Here you turn your back on the PressFit standard and return to classic screwed BSA bearings: That should certainly be music to the ears of the many creaking PressFit skeptics.

The move away from proprietary dampers is also quite surprising: the new Stumpy does not go its own way with the hub or the attachment, but instead uses normal metric dampers measuring 210×50 (Stumpjumper) or 190×42,5 (Stumpjumper). ST). To put it in the equally surprisingly clear words of the Stumpjumper brochure: "We've said goodbye to proprietary bullshit" – Bravo Specialized!

Even if the dampers now correspond to the standard dimensions on the outside, Specialized didn't let it go and gave the spring elements a custom tune individually for each bike and each size. Shim stack, volume, chamber size - all factors were fine-tuned by the Californian manufacturer's own suspension team.

Models, equipment and prices

The product range of the Specialized Stumpjumper 14 includes a whopping 2019 different models. It is divided into the classic Stumpjumper with 140mm of travel at the rear and 150 at the front, the new Stumpjumper ST with 130 or 120mm of travel and the Stumpjumper ST WMN with 130/120mm as well. The Stumpjumper Evo is expected to be released in September - details will follow as soon as we can find out more.

Specialized Stump Jumper 2019

The classic Stumpy comes in six different trim levels. With one exception, all complete bikes have 29″ wheels, but also offer space for 3″ wide 27,5″ tires and can therefore be converted to Plus or Semiplus afterwards. Four of the six models come with carbon frames - it is remarkable that even with the Comp Carbon, both the main frame and the rear triangle are made of carbon fiber.

Specialized Stumpjumper ST

The new Stumpjumper ST was designed for those who don't need 150mm of travel and feel more at home in the touring segment. It will supersede the camber that will be discontinued for the next model year. With a 130mm fork and 120mm at the rear and a slightly more moderate geometry, the ST should be able to easily close the camber gap. All four models come with 29″ wheels and, with the exception of the €1.999 entry-level model, always come with a carbon frame.

Specialized Stumpjumper WMN ST

There will also be dedicated women's models of the Stumpjumper. However, the frame of the new model does not differ from that of the men: the data analysis from the in-house bike fitting tool showed that the differences in body size and anatomy are not so great as to justify the effort of a special frame. However, the contact points (saddle and grips) differ from the men's models, as do the frame colors. Too bad that there is only the ST version here - on the other hand: The girls who would like a little more travel can also reach for the normal Stumpjumper without hesitation.

First Ride: Specialized Stumpjumper 2019 – No problem, just want to play!

For a first short test, we were able to take the Stumpjumper 2019 to some extremely fun trails near the Specialized Marketing Headquarters in Holzkirchen, south of Munich. Of course, the terrain was more flowy than technically particularly demanding, but we were able to experience a few basic characteristics of the new Specialized offspring first-hand. We were on the “full-grown” 150mm S-Works variant, which didn’t seem sluggish at all despite the plentiful suspension travel. Especially in the corners, an almost irrepressible play instinct came through in the bike and then also in me.

The seating position is balanced, but as expected it wasn't too extreme: the main frame is long enough so that you don't feel cramped, but not so much that you get a trailer truck feeling. In combination with the short chain stays, the bike is a lot of fun - every obstacle, no matter how small, invites you to pull it off and the new Stumpjumper also cuts a balanced figure in the air.

The new chainstay protection was also convincing: the bike is damn quiet. All you hear are the tires plowing across the forest floor and the quiet hissing of the suspension elements.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that we didn't have any complaints about the equipment of the S-Works top model: Here you'll find almost exclusively the best that the market has to offer; starting with the Fox Factory chassis and the XX1 Eagle drive to the proven Roval Traverse carbon wheels. After our short test lap, we can't say for sure how the bike will behave in more demanding terrain, but our impression is that we wouldn't have any qualms about tackling one or the other enduro trail.

All in all one really has to say – well done Specialized! One of the longest-serving bikes in the portfolio has been given a comprehensive facelift, and in doing so it has also taken a risk. In our opinion, however, the plan is a complete success - we hope that in the near future we will be able to get hold of one of the coveted test bikes for a longer period of time and provide you with more detailed impressions of the trail.