I am about 5ft 9" and was advised to a size medium for demo purpose, I found the cockpit ie distance from seat post to stem too short, does anyone else find this with specialised sizing, I rode the bike for 5hrs this weekend but just couldnot get used to it….its technical climbing up steep stuff was great, will the bike be the same with a longer stem or is the top tube length too short ? I just feel that when I am going to spend between £2-3K on a bike I don't want to be changing stems or tyres on the bike…anyone out there got a trek fuel ex how does that compare to the new stumpy and zesty as well ? Do i need 140mm front and rear would 120mm suffice ?? I am looking for a new 5" travel replacement bike…

I demoed a FSR Xc last year and had the opposite problem with my 6' 4" frame on a large,

I think the route of the problem is the angle of the seat post, it doesn't pount at the bottom bracket

therefore as you raise the seatthe top tube sort of gets longer and the seat angle slacker.(if you check the spec the seat angle is quoted as 71-74 degrees) I was miles back unable to keep the front wheel on the ground. I sort of improved thing moving the saddle around on its rails, but I really needed an in line post

My hunch would be that you just need the saddle moving back in its rails or a seat post with more lay back

I was put off at first but I'm going to try again next spring. You need a dealer who will sort all this out for you as part of the bike setup. Bike treks in Ambleside said they would sap things like saddles and stem even after you'd been for a few rides to make sure you had the correct set up. I think swapping stem tyres tec is par for the course on any bike, but should be done by the dealer at cost, eg swap a 50 pound seat post for a 60 pound one and the bike goes up by a tenner

Next year I'll demo the same bike and see if I can replicate the position of my current bike before I set off

I was looking at these 2 as well, and in the end went for the Trek EX9, and I love it. I am quite long in the body and there is plenty of room. I was won over by what i think is the better level of technology on the Trek (tapered steerer, 15QR, and the DRCV RP23) and I think the full-floater design in general is brilliant – I find I hardly need to use the pro-pedal and 120mm travel is more than enough for the xc and trail riding I do.

I have owned a couple of specialized in the past but unless you need 140mm travel I don't think the (2010) stumpy is as good. Whilst not that important it's fine that the EX9 also looks amazing especially in the flesh. The stumpy's a bit dull looking.

I've also demoed a Zesty, and if I wanted 140mm that's the bike I would go for, though I think they are pretty expensive now and I was also put off by the new carbon swingarm on the 514.

Obviously what suits one may not suit another. You should try and demo them all if you can….

Trek fuel EX seems to come up well for a long body. I've got a long body/short legs and found it to be pretty roomy in a medium.
Also the suspension is pretty good and bottomless for 120mm, the full floater set-up and abp pivot seem to work really well.