2020 Specialized Stumpjumper EVO Comp Carbon 29 Bike

(discontinued)

Build

I got the EVO as a fill in bike because I needed a bike to race enduro and whatI wanted was not available at the time. When the aluminum bike was released it sparked my interest because the geometry was lifted off a downhill bike, it only had 150mm/140mm of travel, 29 inch wheels and the price was reasonable (I am a shop employee). I had never owned a 29er before this bike and figured it would be a decent bike to learn the wheel size on. I got the S3 which felt good for my 5' 10'' height. Since I had ridden the stock aluminum evo, I knew that there were some components that would be replaced out of the box. I laced up some Dt 350 hubs to a EX511 in the front with a Ex471 on the rear. I am accustomed to the ride quality of the DT wheels and feel that they make the bike feel more solid, planted and predictable when compared to the stock wheels. Another thing that I changed out of the box was the NX transmission, I did leave the cranks. I replaced the NX with a XTR 11 speed shifter and a XT derailleur and cassette. XT is like the T-2000, it won’t die and for a privateer racer that is important. Lastly, I changed out the stock bar for a OG Enve dh bar cut to 780. The last change I made to the bike was changing the air spring to a 160mm. I did this to raise the bb and bar height. I never rode the bike in the low setting because even the high setting was close to too low.

Riding

I'll start with where the Evo excelled. Corners, jumps and smooth terrain is what I enjoyed riding on this bike. Specialized bikes have always cornered and jumped well in a predictable manner. One characteristic that surprised me with this bike was the longer chainstay. The long chainstay is a departure from what Specialized has done for a long time. The EVO never felt skittish at speed unlike other Stumpjumpers that I have ridden and really encouraged pushing the pace. This confidence was both a positive and a negative, because it could get you in trouble with only 140mm in the back. Another area that this bike excelled was on steep terrain. Looking at its geometry that should not be surprising. As for the negatives of this bike, my only real complain would be the rear suspension. I feel that it was easy to bottom and had to over spring it by a lot to compensate for that. Due to the over sprung nature, your feet would get a lot of feedback. I know that on the new demo they wanted to reduce feet feedback, awesome to see. It seems like there is a running joke about FSR and hanging up on square edge impacts and the EVO had this problem. The bike would violently flinch on some impacts and lose composer more than other bikes I have ridden. As for climbing, the EVO goes uphill fine for what it is. I did need to take wider lines on switchbacks, but I was never unable to ride up anything due to the bike.

Bottom Line

The Stumpjumper EVO is a fun bike that has really good geometry and very average rear suspension. The bike really requires attention to line choice but can be ridden fast. Overall it is a good bike.