As astute readers will remember, I mentioned my new mountain bike (Stumpy comp 29) a while ago, and just recently have I gotten a chance to spend much time on it. This past Sunday I made the trip down to the Center Trails after work for a bit of a ride. The trail was in killer shape, my bike was awesome, riding with my coworker Bret was great, overall one helluva night. I neglected to take any photos of the ride, or nay new photos of my bike, but other than the grips(now Ergons), it is bone stock. The bike rode really really well. It's light, snappy, stiff, and very quick handling. It is better in almost every way than my uber fancy Jamis I had last year. The parts are nothing exceptional, Reba fork, Elixir brakes, SRAM X-7 and X-9 shifting bits, all good workhorse component choices. The DT Swiss wheels are pretty light and roll really well, especially at this price point, the durability is a bit suspect. I'm not terribly hard on things, I'm usually pretty smooth, but I've already had to touch up the true on these things a couple times, and I've hardly ridden them. Here's hoping they weren't built as well as they could have been and they're okay now.
One part of the build I was unsure of is the tires. New model from Specialized, S-Works Renegade. At a listed 1.95 inches wide, and with a ton of tiny knobs, I wasn't sure they'd be the right tire for anywhere, let alone my locale. Having put some miles on these, I gotta say I love them. Perfect for hardpacked trails with occasional damp spots, loose bits, and general trail obstacles. At 430 claimed grams for a 29 inch version, they're super light, and the sidewalls and understandably thin, so they're not going to hold up anywhere there's a bunch of rocks. The 1.95 width is probably closer to a 2.05 or bigger in reality, and set up tubeless they roll really well, and grip like crazy. i've only had minor issues with them is greasy corners and super loose dry climbs, but in both those situations almost nothing was going to work well. Another big plus is that they set up tubeless as easy as any tire I've ever used.
I'm a big-ish guy who really likes 29er hardtails, and this is one of the quickest handling and tightest turning bikes I've ever ridden. The chainstays are really short, a scant 435 mm, which in only 11 mm longer than the 26in version. This helps the bike accelerate like crazy and makes lofting the front end easy, and keeps the wheel base tight for sharper handling. Compared to the Jamis, this thing is 100% more race ready, fits me better, and with a modicum of tweaking/adjusting is super comfortable. If the weather would cooperate I'd have tons of miles on this. More updates (and pics) as I ride more.
Showing posts with label stumpjumper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stumpjumper. Show all posts
Friday, June 10, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
best day of the year: new bike day!
Yesterday (Wednesday May 4), I finally put my new mountain bike together. It's been in the shop for at least two, if not three, weeks, but because of the weather and my generally busy life, I had no motivation to put it together. I assembled it and hit the trail:
Brand new Specialized Stumpjumper Comp 29. So far so good. Snappy, stiff, fairly light, killer bang for the buck, but I've only ridden in on one lap through Sycamore and a few miles of pavement to and from, so I'll have to give a more detailed review after I spend more time on it, but I'm excited to have a new toy to play with. More updates as I ride it more.
After my ride, as is my custom, I drank a beer. This time it was something pretty terrific from Sierra Nevada, their Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale. As the bottle explains, the compounds that give hops their flavor/essence/scent etc are called alpha acids and they peak just before the end of the growing season, effectively right at harvest time. Hops are harvested in the fall and there are two hop harvests world wide, one for the northern hemisphere, and one down south. This beer is made from fresh hops from the southern half of the globe and the flavor is great. Multilayered, piny, smooth, deep, everything a hoppy beer needs to be, nothing it doesn't. Sure it isn't some insane ipa that kicks the door in with hop power, but it's a clean fresh hop ale that works in every way possible and necessary. Obligatory photo:
Brand new Specialized Stumpjumper Comp 29. So far so good. Snappy, stiff, fairly light, killer bang for the buck, but I've only ridden in on one lap through Sycamore and a few miles of pavement to and from, so I'll have to give a more detailed review after I spend more time on it, but I'm excited to have a new toy to play with. More updates as I ride it more.After my ride, as is my custom, I drank a beer. This time it was something pretty terrific from Sierra Nevada, their Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale. As the bottle explains, the compounds that give hops their flavor/essence/scent etc are called alpha acids and they peak just before the end of the growing season, effectively right at harvest time. Hops are harvested in the fall and there are two hop harvests world wide, one for the northern hemisphere, and one down south. This beer is made from fresh hops from the southern half of the globe and the flavor is great. Multilayered, piny, smooth, deep, everything a hoppy beer needs to be, nothing it doesn't. Sure it isn't some insane ipa that kicks the door in with hop power, but it's a clean fresh hop ale that works in every way possible and necessary. Obligatory photo:
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