Can anyone who has a stumpy fsr 29 er give me some feedback before I take the plunge to buy one – looking at the carbon expert or if I can get a good deal, the s works version – ride a mixture of long day Lakes routes and some trail centres – don’t mind the climbs and getting a bit careful in my old age when going downhill

Alternatives would be new Ibis Ripley or Santa Cruz Tallboy LTC in XT build or wait for the new Yeti SB95C

Probably my first and last big spend purchase so dont want to get it wrong

Currently ride an old Whyte E5 and Whyte 19 hardtail both of which have been great fun over the last 6/7 years

Any views would be appreciated

EDIT: Nothing useful to say.

Me and my mate have both have 2013 carbon stumpy FSR 29ers.
Like it a lot. Not the spriteliest up hill, but then neither was the Zesty I replaced it with. But not bad. Really nice over rocky ground, and has improved my descending no end. So a big thumbs up from me. Definately the best all round trail bike I have owned. Stuck a 50mm stem on and a dropper post, and its improved even more for me. This is just my opinion, but I went for the comp level, and at the end of the day, it is really stiff, has a carbon frame and a well dialed and highly regarding suspension system, weighs about the same as a Tallboy LTC which costs in the region of double the money, ok, its a specialized, so isnt going to wow the trail centre car park hero’s but I’d rather have the extra 3k in my pocket and take my family on holiday 🙂

Built up one of the BikeScene Stumpy 29er FSR frames recently, absolutely loving it for all riding. Definitely makes anything vaguely techy miles easier compared to anything I’ve ridden before, depends what you’re after.

Seems fairly efficient for long trundling rides as well.

Used to find my Pitch really awkward for chucking around, due to it’s length. Curiously this is just as long, but has a considerably higher front end, which seems to balance it out nicely.

I’ve been eyeing up the bikescene stumpys, I’ve heard bad things about low bb height on the earlier bikes so has this been resolved on the 2012 frames?

Thanks to everyone who replied. Rode a demo bike again today in the lakes and it climbed so easily over rough ground compared to my old whyte E5. My only feedback was that over fire road type surface it was a little unsettled -far more capable the bigger the hits.

I’ve heard bad things about low bb height on the earlier bikes so has this been resolved on the 2012 frames?

Not really, Specialized have always had low bb heights. Never been an issue here personally, I’d imagine that’s part of the stable feeling it gives.

Also drooling over a Stumpy 29er on Bikescene.

The Evo version has a lower bb, seemingly the non-Evo one is the one to go for…..

I prefer the colour scheme of the Evo tho 😕