2019 Specialized Stumpy Evo

Soul-Rider

Likes Dirt
Specialized Stumpy EVO
Frame -650B version in size S3
Rear shock - Fox Float DPX2 210x52.5
Front shock/fork - 160mm Cane Creek Helm Coil w/70-90kg spring
Handlebars - Race Face SixC 800mm wide
Stem - 50mm RF Turbine
Headset - FSA
Grips - Sensus
Saddle - Specialized Phenom
Seatpost - X Fusion Manic 34.9
Front brake - SRAM Code R
Rear brake - SRAM Code R
Cranks - 170m NX
Chainguide - Specialized
Chain - SRAM GX
Pedals - XT Trail
Front derailleur -
Rear derailleur - SRAM NX
Front shifter -
Rear shifter - NX
Cassette - GX
Front hub - Project 321
Rear hub - Project 321 smoooooth!
Front rim - Derby DH
Rear rim - Derby DH
Spokes - probably a bit trick.
Tyres - a revolving door of Maxxis and Specialized, mainly 2.6
Tubes - none
Total weight - probably a bit.

Reach 490mm
head angle 64 degree (high setting)

This bike continues to amaze. Up, down, DH, XC, it does it everything pretty dammed well. The sheer size of the thing takes some getting used to but if you bring your A game then nothing is off the table. Sure, the bigger the hill the better it goes but I didn’t crash and die on the first flat corner either. In fact, it does pretty well on trails that it probably shouldn’t.
I’ll admit that on slack days the bike can feel like a bit of a handful. It’s a bit like a 17 year old McDonalds shift manager, sometimes it just demands a bit more enthusiasm then you can sometimes be bothered with.

The plan was to sell the NX while it was new but I was too disorganised to take it off before a trip I was planning. It survives and continues to do everything that I ask it to do. Both the trick wheels and forks are from fellow burners and are amazing. Soft, supple and sexy. And the forks are sweet too! ( boom, boom!). Some 165mm cranks, higher rise bars and a few more weight saving/sexy upgrades are on the cards.

 
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Soul-Rider

Likes Dirt
This is the first complete bike that I’ve bought in years. So the build pics are possibly the most boring on this site (though the forks are complete porn). Most of my bike building happens in short, rushed, disorganised sessions. Often after three beers and with two or more children hanging off my leg. So just picking up a perfectly tuned and ridable bike from my favourite bike shop was a revelation. Nevertheless, soon it was time to take what worked perfectly and start to screw around with it.



The project 321 hubs combine the precision of a Swiss watch with the toughness of an Abrams tank and the sound is almost sensual!
The Evo bottom bracket sits about 30mm from the ground so quick ratchet pedal strokes are easy with the freewheel's 1.7 degrees of engagement.

I'd love to put some sexy carbon cranks on her to save some weight but that same low BB has left the stock NX cranks looking like they've been attacked by a dog with barb wire braces. A pair of GX cranks in 165mm would be perfect, but I can't bring myself to spend money on something that looks so stock! (yes, I am a wanker).



I actually prefer the stock bar/stem combo to the Race Face set on her at the moment and may soon change them back. The Sensus grips are also an inspired choice from a manufacturer with a 4000 page catalog of their own cheaper parts. First time that I haven't had to replace stockers after three rides.

It has to be said that the included tyres are a bit crap. The Specialized Butcher is an awesome tyre but the included OEM set have a really hard crappy compound compared to the aftermarket version of the same tyre. Oddly they are still labeled "Gripton Compound". "Gripnot-a-bit" would be more suitable. I'm still running one of them as:
A: it hasn't punctured yet
B: compound doesn't make a huge amount of difference in Central Australia as there is no grip anyway.

The Specialized does everything well and it's an awesome alternative to the steel, single speed hardtail that normally accompanies me on the trails. A BIG thanks to Outback Cycles in Alice Springs for their help with the beast. And a big thanks to any 'burners that have actually read this much banal drivel about a strangers bike that may be 2000+ kilometres away!
 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
I can't congratulate you giving money to the big S on principle. But it is a nice looking bike.

PS. Get some spare pawls and springs for that hub. The first time it skips, stop using it immediately and replace the springs and carefully inspect the pawls and drive ring. I've stripped the drivering out of P321 gen 2 and its game over for the hub shell.

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beeb

Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
PS. Get some spare pawls and springs for that hub. The first time it skips, stop using it immediately and replace the springs and carefully inspect the pawls and drive ring.
Springs? I thought the P321 hubs use magnets to engage the pawls and the I9 torch were the ones that had springs?
 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
Springs? I thought the P321 hubs use magnets to engage the pawls and the I9 torch were the ones that had springs?
The Gen 1 and 2 P321 hubs used a Torch freehub. The Gen 3 uses the magnetic freehub.

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Soul-Rider

Likes Dirt
I can't congratulate you giving money to the big S on principle. But it is a nice looking bike.
I may have to politely disagree with you on this point.

Yes, Specialized is a bit like Toyota. They are everywhere, and are often bought by people that don't really look any further. And yes, the legal team should be properly hung drawn and quartered!

But the bikes and parts they make tend to be really well thought out and work well... like Toyota!
Take SWAT for instance, truely "rider focused innovation".
When every company is trying to shed grams to make their bikes look good in the catalog, Specialized add a glove box to the down tube and hides tools in the steerer!
And the Roval wheels have little these awesome little plastic plugs instead of rim tape. They're light and they don't lift up and crumple like tape. Store water bottles in ya bibs, yep that was specialized too.
The EVO line of models have always been really progressive, with big forks and tyres on light trail bikes, well before it was a cool thing to do.
The old 26" Enduro with full coils and 2.5 tyres, the EVO Camber with a Pike stood out in a sea of bikes with flimsy 32mm forks. These guys were doing "lunch ride" bikes 2 decades before yeti. And finally, the new Stumpy brings truly progressive geo to those that can't afford a Pole or Nicolai.

Like any big company they are not above criticism, their list of missteps may be almost as long. But they've been there from the beginning and continue to do some pretty cool things IMHO.
 
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Ultra Lord

Hurts. Requires Money. And is nerdy.
I may have to politely disagree with you on this point.

Yes, Specialized is a bit like Toyota. They are everywhere, and are often bought by people that don't really look any further. And yes, the legal team should be properly hung drawn and quartered!

But the bikes and parts they make tend to be really well thought out and work well... like Toyota!
Take SWAT for instance, truely "rider focused innovation".
When every company is trying to shed grams to make their bikes look good in the catalog, Specialized add a glove box to the down tube and hides tools in the steerer!
And the Roval wheels have little these awesome little plastic plugs instead of rim tape. They're light and they don't lift up and crumple like tape. Store water bottles in ya bibs, yep that was specialized too.
The EVO line of models have always been really progressive, with big forks and tyres on light trail bikes, well before it was a cool thing to do.
The old 26" Enduro with full coils and 2.5 tyres, the EVO Camber with a Pike stood out in a sea of bikes with flimsy 32mm forks. These guys were doing "lunch ride" bikes 2 decades before yeti. And finally, the new Stumpy brings truly progressive geo to those that can't afford a Pole or Nicolai.

Like any big company they are not above criticism, their list of missteps may be almost as long. But they've been there from the beginning and continue to do some pretty cool things IMHO.
His point is less about the bikes they make and more directed at their legal department.

And some proprietary shit they’ve since stopped doing.

Edit: ah I missed the point you made about the lawyers. As you were mate.


Nice bike, the geo numbers are on point for a good time.
 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
I may have to politely disagree with you on this point.

Yes, Specialized is a bit like Toyota. They are everywhere, and are often bought by people that don't really look any further. And yes, the legal team should be properly hung drawn and quartered!

But the bikes and parts they make tend to be really well thought out and work well... like Toyota!
Take SWAT for instance, truely "rider focused innovation".
When every company is trying to shed grams to make their bikes look good in the catalog, Specialized add a glove box to the down tube and hides tools in the steerer!
And the Roval wheels have little these awesome little plastic plugs instead of rim tape. They're light and they don't lift up and crumple like tape. Store water bottles in ya bibs, yep that was specialized too.
The EVO line of models have always been really progressive, with big forks and tyres on light trail bikes, well before it was a cool thing to do.
The old 26" Enduro with full coils and 2.5 tyres, the EVO Camber with a Pike stood out in a sea of bikes with flimsy 32mm forks. These guys were doing "lunch ride" bikes 2 decades before yeti. And finally, the new Stumpy brings truly progressive geo to those that can't afford a Pole or Nicolai.

Like any big company they are not above criticism, their list of missteps may be almost as long. But they've been there from the beginning and continue to do some pretty cool things IMHO.
Fair nuff.

How do you find the suspension? Pinkbike just did a nerd out on it. https://m.pinkbike.com/news/behind-...d-stumpjumper-evo-29-suspension-analysis.html Sounds like you made the right choice going for the dpx2.

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Soul-Rider

Likes Dirt
Gidday Oddjob and Ultralord

I sound like a total fan boy!
The legal team need to be told to pull their head in. That shit may be the norm in the corporate world but it doesn’t have a place in our sport. They’re push bikes not life saving drugs or war planes!

Specialized also have a long history of pointless proprietary BS and I’m not sure if buying and enforcing the copyrights to the Horst link was smart or a dick move. Probably a bit of both!

They did get 29” wheels right. But you can bet that they would have patented them too if they had the chance!

Anyway, the weekend is here and it’s time to hit some trails!
 

Soul-Rider

Likes Dirt
The pinkbike article was brilliant, a total nerdgasim!

Vital also did a really good review on the EVO too, with a lot of straight talk about the performance of the suspension.

I don’t find bottoming out to be an issue as stated on pinkbike. But I have had to run some extra pressure to hold the pedals up off of the floor.

I think that you have to remember that it’s a progressive trail bike not a light Enduro bike. It’s really efficient and gives great traction but I could see faster riders than me on double black runs finding the end of the travel. But I’d be happier racing an XC on this then, say, a Transition with the same amount of travel. And I have raced XC on it!
 

Soul-Rider

Likes Dirt
Here's an update as the Stump has changed a fair bit.
A matchy, matchy red Box stem now tops off the coil Helm fork. And on the rear a new Ohlins 210x55 Shock have come to play. The longer shock gives her 165mm of travel and is so yellow and so smoooooth!




And next we have the Stump in it latest guise. 29" Roval Traverse wheels have lifted the BB from the ground scraping (and pedal bashing) 326mm to 341mm. The Pike is a little under gunned at 140mm but the colour is sweet. It will soon be swapped to a Lyric/36/DVO in 150-160mm. I'll possibly then add an offset bush to maintain the bb hight.



The big wheels have been a fun and ultimately successful experiment
The subterranean bottom bracket was great for winch and drop style trails with amazing cornering and stability. However, constantly timing pedal strokes on Alice's rocky trails was a tiring and soon the short DH sections didn't feel worth the effort. And whilst some stability has been lost the bike now feels a little more dynamic, like the higher centre of gravity makes it easier to tip side to side while changing lines or something.
There is a 29'er version of the EVO but it has a shorter reach, lower BB and shorter TT measurement than the 650b version and at 184cm I'm loving the sizing and shape of this frame.
Worth all the effort and cost hough? Whew! I'm not sure that I've spent this much money on a single bike! It was a great bike at a good price when new and the plan was to keep it that way. But I've been completely absorbed in a constant cycle of change and upgrade, always smitten by her unapologetic, no holds barred character. Now I still need a 29'er fork to complete her and I'm left kind of shaking my head at the whole process. The Evo has however morphed from an irregularly riding "bike holiday" bike to a very happy regular ride that make me smile every time she's out. There just may have been better ways to get to this point!
 
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