LONGTERM RIDES
Team bikes ridden hard for a year
my month
HIGHS
I finally have time to ride the Stumpy -
Lots of new kit to test and get me thinking – New Specialized tyres and RockShox Lyrik fork feel seriously impressive so far
LOWS
The frame is starting to look tired with stains and scratches that are hard to cover up
ROB’S
SPECIALIZED STUMPJUMPER 15 EXPERT
£4,679
Our tech-ed-in-chief is back on the Stumpy and loving it
All the launch activity so far this year has been very exciting, but it’s also kept me very busy, so I had to park the Stumpy up for a while so I could focus on riding other bits and pieces.
I’m not complaining for a second – I’ve been to some amazing places and ridden some of the coolest kit and bikes. But I have missed the Spesh, and just how easy it is to chuck around on the trail.
Thankfully, I’ve been able to get out on it a bit more recently, and this has coincided with a welcome change in weather. I was getting seriously sick of cleaning bikes after such a grim winter – and none more so than the Stumpy, because of its matt paint finish, which I just can’t seem to get properly clean.
This bike has become my Trigger’s broom in many ways, as I work my way through new test kit. Since my last update, I’ve switched from a Fox 36 fork to the new RockShox Lyrik. This feels substantially different to the Fox fork, while the changes compared to the old Lyrik are more subtle. Setting it up has taken a little longer than usual because there are more external adjusters to play with, but I really like it so far.