Ex-Demo: Specialized Stumpjumper Evo Comp Alloy 29 S2 Mountain Bike

As this is not a brand new bike, it may not feature the full original technical specification and is subject to change.

The ultimate trail bike that will let you get gnarly on big drops, huge kickers, rocks, roots and anything else you throw at it.

The Stumpjumper EVO Comp Alloy 29 isn't a "normal" trail bike. It has a slacked-out front-end and a longer top tube, so the EVO has heavier steering, exceptional front-end traction, and it begs you to boost every lip and perform cutties as often as possible. With all the speed that 29ers are known for, you're going to be able to speed down trails that you thought you couldn't touch without a full-blown DH rig.

EVO is for the shredders - the gnarliest trail riders who live for gravity riding. EVO uses the same style-specific sizing that's featured on the Specialized Demo. This sizing lets you choose the bike that fits the way you ride, not just by the seat tube measurement like with most bikes, and it narrows things down to two sizes, S2 and S3. These are longer, lower, slacker, and have seat tube and head tube heights that allow you to choose the size that best suits your style and terrain.

The other design goal was simply to build the ultimate trail bike, one that feels telepathic. It turns out that this feeling all comes down to stiffness. When the frame's telling your hands one thing and your feet another, your brain gets confused with the imbalance and the bike feels unstable. In order to fix this, Specialized had to get to work on dialing-in the materials and shapes.

Specialized continued down the suspension path with a custom Rx Trail Tune on both the fork and rear shock. Suspension performance is highly dependent on frame, wheel, and rider size, so they use Rx Tune to get each bike to land in the middle of the adjustment spectrum, and this gives you the biggest possible range to fine-tune your ride. Another focal point of the tune was matching the suspension characteristics between wheel sizes - a specific Rx Tune was developed for each platform. So, no matter what wheel size you prefer, you’ll get perfectly linear suspension.

Steps were also taken to make this bike easy to live with. Threaded bottom brackets make a triumphant return, and room was made for up to a 3.0" tyre. You're also free to run whatever aftermarket rear shock you want, since they're using standard metric shocks. Customisation is furthered with a Flip Chip that lets you to dial-in your Stumpy to your riding style. Switch it from High to Low and it drops your bottom bracket 6mm and slackens the head tube by half-a-degree. Little details also jump out to surprise you, like a newly designed ribbed chainstay protector that makes chain slap a thing of the past and nearly silences the drivetrain.

The build here keeps the "EVO" theme going, with ready-to-shred parts like a FOX DPX2 rear shock (140mm of travel), FOX Rhythm 36 fork (150mm of travel), SRAM Code R brakes, and Roval Traverse 29 alloy wheels. And when you top it off with SRAM's NX Eagle drivetrain, you'll have no problem getting it to the top of the runs, either.

• With its M5 alloy frame, 29 Trail EVO geometry, and 140mm of travel, the Stumpjumper EVO Alloy has been purpose-built to shred the most gravity-defying trails.
• A FOX 36 Rhythm fork handles suspension duties up front, with stiff stanchions and plenty of adjustability.
• The SRAM Code R brakes, with their four-piston calipers, bring some of the best stopping power out there. So, when that hard right turn or mid-trail feature sneaks up sooner than you thought, you'll still have time to shed some speed.