Specialized Stumpjumper EVO vs. Stumpjumper - See How They Compare 75

Modern, aggressive geometry goes against tried-and-true performance. What is this EVO thing all about?

jeff.brines
2/18/2019 9:05am
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Related:
Specialized
Tested
Trail / All-Mountain
29er
75 comments

View replies to: Specialized Stumpjumper EVO vs. Stumpjumper - See How They Compare

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Matt Dogg
5 years ago
Thanks for the review and your helpful comments, Jeff. Right now I'm split between the EVO and the NX carbon Sentinel ($400 more) for my next bike. Is there anything else major you're like to call out between the two? I've ridden the Sentinel several times and really like it.
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jeff.brines
5 years ago
Lets just put it this way, I own a Sentinel, I don't own the Evo. 'Nuff said eh?

The Sentinel is a 140 bike that feels like 140 (or maybe more with a good damper). Its also designed around a 160mm fork, which is a plus and the BB is more reasonable.

Which shop do you like better? Where do you ride? Do you race?
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Matt Dogg
5 years ago
Jeff - I ride the mountains of northern Utah mostly, with some southern Utah desert riding thrown in a couple times a year for good measure. Lotsa pedaling, lotsa searching for fun dh lines. I demoed plenty of bikes last year and the 140r/160f(ish) 29ers are my sweet spot. I'll do the occasional race for fun but on the dh am just racing myself and my crew, no stress. I currently ride an XL 2017 stumpy 29 with Topaz rear and dual position Lyrik (160-130) up front and am digging the steeper STAs and slacker HTAs on the newer bikes. I have no brand allegiance.

The evo is a few bucks less but I like the BBH more on the Sentinel, like you said. If I went evo I'd throw in a 160 air shaft and run it in the high position, mostly to keep from destroying crank arms and pedal spindles (which i did last year). Maybe an evo with a Topaz would help that rear end? I wouldn't go coil or long shock it though like some evo owners are doing. I might try to raise the bb a little more with an offset bushing. Just thinking out loud. I already have a carbon wheelset and fresh set of e13 rubber (semi slick rear) to compliment either bike.
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Roots_rider
5 years ago
Nx sentinel is a killer deal. I would recommend saving up a few bucks and finding an xd driver or wheelset (atleast rear wheel) with an xd driver and getting a gx cassette for it. That nx cassette is a boat anchor
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Matt Dogg
5 years ago
That's the plan, Roots. The wheelset I have built and ready already has an xd driver so I'll throw a gx cassette on there because why pay for a $120 project321 standard driver just to be able to run a boat anchor cassette, would rather drop $200 on a gx cassette right out of the gate. And yes, I'm stoked that Tranny is offering a carbon Sentinel at a reasonable cost.... i rode the Sentinel in both alu and carbon and the alu is offensively heavy. The NX Ripmo is $4200 but I've ridden both and like the Sentinel better.
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boaz
5 years ago
This is such a great comparative review. Thanks Mr. Brines!
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Fox
5 years ago
“Charging into new, gnarly terrain at mach chicken...” nice one, Brines.

The evo is such a unique bike for the money. It’s actually pretty unique regardless of the price. Specialized really did well with this one and there are a lot of guys with these bikes on the mtbr forum that are loving them. In today’s market, how can you argue with such a cool ride at such a reasonable price?

But alas, I am all about charging into new, gnarly terrain at mach chicken, often alone, deep in the back country of SW CO, far out of cell range, so I may wind up on something else that affords a little more room for pilot error.
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jeff.brines
5 years ago
I believe my original words were "mach loony" but the editors stewed day and night for "mach chicken". A writer is lost without a good editor eh?

In all seriousness, yeah, this is a bike for those who are precise at speed. If this isn't you, there are better steeds out there...
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Salespunk
5 years ago
I own both of these bikes right now plus a HTLT. My builds are a little different since I have the SWorks SJ and have put XO1 on the Evo along with SC carbon wheels so take my comments with a grain of salt that it is not an exact comparison.

My experience is that the Evo SLAYS steep rocky sections a "mach chicken" with the stock suspension. I ride a lot of these types of trails and the Evo is by far my favorite bike I have ever ridden for those types of trails. I have set PR's on every steep/fast section even over my HTLT with a custom tuned X2 and Fox 36 with a Push ACS3 kit. I have over 1K miles on those same trails with the HTLT and less than 150 on the Evo to put it into perspective. Will type up more on a separate post, but do not be afraid of the Evo for these situations. BTW also won the first Enduro race of the year on it by quite a bit. It pedals fantastic.
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Fox
5 years ago
Great info, Salespunk, thanks. You are one of those I was referring to above that is having a very positive experience with the Evo.
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jeff.brines
5 years ago
Curious, what do you weigh? What class are you racing? (not trying to be a dick, I think both of these matter from my experience)
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Salespunk
5 years ago
I weight 180 and race Masters 40-50, but would have been 4th in Expert at my last race. Have been top 5 at National Championships in the recent past. Also top 5 on almost every Strava segment locally against fast Pro's. I live in San Diego which has a crazy amount of high speed chunk on the local trails. Chris Powell in the Jeremy McGrath video posted up a few days ago is one of my teammates and I am usually 5-10 seconds behind him on DH segments for comparison. The trails in that video are some of the smoothest I ride.

No offense taken, context is important.
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Hunterchek
5 years ago
Such an awesome review, my Evo 29er is absolutely bonkers, the rear shock tune is less than stellar imo(saving up for a dhx2). But we the people require kinematics graphs!
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jeff.brines
5 years ago
I actually ended up liking that DPX2 more and more, and I had the opportunity to test a few "special" shocks on that bike. There is room left on the table here, but maybe see if you can't slap a cheap coil on (with the right spring of course) as that might be a better option.
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PlunderPath667
5 years ago
Do you think the harshness is because the wheelpath seems almost totally forward? A decade ago when i had to short-shock all of my trailbikes to get decent geo, the square edge performance always sucked afterward.
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jeff.brines
5 years ago
Honestly, I don't know why I felt what I felt from the rear of the bike. The usual suspects are absent when looking at the kinematics.

Maybe it was the wheel path, but I've ridden other bikes with very similar wheel paths without noting this sort of anemic-ness (its a word) from the bike's suspension action.

Realize, it wasn't "bad", it just felt like less travel. Harsh for a 140mm bike. About what you'd expect from a 110-120mm bike.

I know I'm supposed to be reviewing a dead stock bike, but for a period of time I had the opportunity to throw a black box shock built for the bike on the Evo. This was omitted from the review, as it wasn't really fair in a comparison kind of way, and pushes the limits of what I was reviewing. Even with that top level damper it never felt like other 140mm bikes. It was better with that shock, and I even knocked off a few best-ever laps around here. But if I was riding off my game even a little bit, the bike let me know...and confidence dwindled.

My gut feel is it has to do with the leverage ratio being too high off the top, and the damper being unable to control this very effectively - especially with super big negative air chambers we have these days, but I'm guessing. Maybe a longer stroke/eye to eye shock would have been the fix. Who knows.

I also think if it felt more like the Sentinel, which is what I was expecting, the line between the Enduro and the Stumpy would blur further. I'm thinking Specialized wanted to keep this thing sporty...and have people go toward the Enduro who are looking to lean back and hold on.

...all speculation, of course! Maybe a bigger nerd than me can figure this one out...but it wasn't just my notes that reflected this harshness. Every bigger/faster person who I know who threw a leg over the bike said the same thing.
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Hunterchek
5 years ago
Curious if you or anyone you know who has ridden the evo with a coil on it? I wonder if a nicely tuned damper with a coil around it would take care of the harshness?
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andyjr77
5 years ago
Interesting you mention both long shocking it and a coil - that's precisely what I've done. I'm running a 216x63 Vivid R2C Coil, 3mm off set bushing and in the low position on my 275 S3, giving the same "effective position" as the standard shock in the high setting. Stroke is limited to 57mm giving 163mm travel, and I'm on a 500lb Nukeproof SLS spring at 175lbs ride weight.

It's night and day different from the standard shock, way more midstroke support, but none of the harshness which many of us found with the standard shock. Maybe it's a coil thing, maybe it's the extra headroom of a WC DH shock on a trail bike and the huge oil volume, I don't know.

I've coupled it with an MRP Ribbon Coil up front at 170mm, and the thing flies. I'm setting PBs on local tracks that I set previously in the summer, and we're in the middle of a typical wet, slippery UK winter right now.

There's definitely an argument to treat the Evo as a "platform" for upgrade on suspension, and interestingly, nearly all of us owners I know of have independently ended up with similar setups.
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jeff.brines
5 years ago
FWIW, this is something I really did want to do to the bike but for obvious reasons I wasn't allowed to do. Like I said, I had to omit the whole BlackBox shock from the review, so long shocking with a coil *absolutely* would have been out. (though I have a suspicion this is what Jared and Curtis are doing)

Specialized doesn't want people long shocking the thing as it obviously voids the warranty. That said, for the price, I'd absolutely buy the bike, push the fork's travel to 160mm and then pickup a coil in the dimensions you suggested for the hell of it. Doesn't need to be some swanky coil, any coil that is valved right with the right spring will do.

With a simple tire swap and shock swap you could go from "efficient trail bike" to (possible) "enduro weapon". Pretty cool.

The geo is so good I could see this working well, and you'd be all in around $4K...with a bike shop involved
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jeff.brines
5 years ago
There is a way to reduce the negative a bit...if I was still testing the bike I'd actually give it a go.
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Superpi
5 years ago
Have you seen an improvement with the maxxis tires? The OEM Grid tires seems to have not so much grip as expected! a lot of rebound, and not so confident on the front! I have you experiment this kind of behavior with aftermarlket ones?
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jeff.brines
5 years ago
Superpi,

Yeah, I hated the stock tires, at least on the Evo. Total speculation, but it seems Specialized had a batch of OEM tires that were megahard compound (technical term). The tires on the non Evo were the same tire, but were a lot more compliant.

Still, like you said, they didn't bite super well, at least on harder surfaces. They were great in softer dirt, but rock, roots, etc - EEEK!

Going to my old friend the DHF was a good way to also test the capabilities of the bike, being tires are probably the 3rd leg of the tripod when it comes to bike handling (geo, suspension, tires)

Specizlied then sent a new set of tires, which were also great. Maybe not Minion DHF great, but really damn close...

In short, change em. You'll be happy.
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