Best trail bike – Stumpy or Stumpy Evo

Looking at treating myself to a new trail bike. Quantocks, Exmoor, Mendips, Welsh trail centres, possibly few Lakes trips. I’m ’wheels on the ground’ so I’m thinking standard Stumpy rather than Evo? I’m also leaning towards carbon rather than alloy purely on weight.  I enjoy climbs and descents. Lots of reviews praising Evo as great all-round trail bike, not much on non-Evo.
Any thoughts? Anyone riding similar terrain on one of these bikes?

Go for the regular stumpy, it looks like you want a bike that leans towards the fast pedally efficient side than the ploughing slack sled side, it’s easier to build up the regular stumpy light than it is the Evo.

I have an Evo alloy with a coil, mullet, OChain, insertsl, big brakes, it’s a weapon downhill but the stock build and geo is way closer to what I have now than the bike I’d want for the riding you describe. If you were riding the lakes every week then the Evo would be the one to go for.

Thanks that’s my current thinking. For clarity I also have an Epic Evo Comp, but I’m thinking standard Stumpy might make that redundant (although not a good time to sell with all the deals).

 For clarity I also have an Epic Evo Comp

Given that msot people ae overbiked, most of the time, and the Epic Evo is an absolute ripper of a bike… I was actually going to suggest going that way anyway!

I’d save yourself the cash myself…

The Stumpy Evo is far more of an Enduro bike these days than it is a trail bike anyway, the regular Stumpy makes more sense if you’re not riding big enough terrain to justify it. But I suspect you’d have more fun on the bike you already own anyway!

I’m happy with my Stumpjumper Carbon. Very capable and pedals well. Seems quite happy so far on various trails and I like the kind of riding  that you have mentioned. Fun bike

I’ve got a regular stumpjumper and it’s a joyful antidote to a cumbersome enduro bike. If can still perform fairly well on enurdo style tracks upto medium difficulty, so it’s still versatile. To me of feels like an xc bike with a more robust feel.

I’m not sure there’s a huge weight difference between the two?

If so I’d go for the Evo.

Mrsstu has an Evo that she uses for
what most people consider to be some of the best steep Endro trails in the UK and also some pretty tame XC rides.
A slack head angle and steep seat tube angle ain’t going to slow you down when it comes to pedaling.
The Epic Evo would be way too close to Standard Stumpy to be worth owning both.
The Evo of both models would be a better pair to cover more options.

Thanks for the replies. What I’m gathering so far is that either would be fine.

I bought a Stumpjumper last year as a all round trail bike, and I sort of wish I’d gone for an Epic Evo…

I don’t think there’s enough between the epic Evo and the stumpy to be worth having both. I’d go Evo just on that

5labFull Member
I don’t think there’s enough between the epic Evo and the stumpy to be worth having both. I’d go Evo just on that

good shout

If you already have an epic evo, there’s no point going for the standard stumpy as there’s a lot off overlap, better going with a stumpy evo.

Great thing about the stumpy evo is it has so much bandwidth due to the adjustability in the frame. Want a good climbing light trail bike? Steepen the geometry and put a lightweight build on it and you’re sorted.

Alternatively, if you want an aggressive enduro bike, slacken everything off and give it a burly build and job done.

My stumpy evo was one of the first ones in the uk and nearly 4 years later, I still have it (bikes tend to only last a year with me…). Easily the best bike I’ve ever had, such a good all rounder.

Hey Matt…

I’ve a standard stumpy….but I’ve added the link to make it 150mm rear…. Stuck a slack HA in and got 160mm fox on the front… So basically overforked a stumpy to make a stumpy evo…

But…. I’ve also got an epic evo. Now I’ve got that, I’ll probably ride that 90% of my local riding tbh….

Stumpy will be for Enduro racing, gnar seasons, and BPW etc ..

You’ll prob find, if you go ‘one bike for all’, the standard stumpy will suit fine.

DrP

I’ve got the old stumpy Evo, like two versions older from before they started to address the dated geometry. So mine has 135mm travel and is therefore a bit more like the regular Stumpy of today in that respect, I do notice that the suspension isn’t the most efficient at times whether that’s the age of the bike or a simple reality of bikes with more than 120mm travel is up for debate, but for general trail duties and uplifts it does the job. The only other thing is that I’ve bumped the front travel up to 160mm (partly to address the dated geometry) but having a front end with a bit more travel/progression does seem to help sort a short-mid travel bike out on more gnarr terrain without being a massive compromise for general pedalling About (all IMO of course).

Honestly I think 130mm-ish more than enough rear travel for what you described wanting to do, and like many others have already said Epic EVO was my default thought too.

My only other thought is, does it absolutely have to be a specialized?
I’m assuming you’re after a slightly more rough and tumble version of the epic you already have without going full #Enduro. To that end, every time I think about replacing my Stumpy and start baulking at the asking price of Specialized bikes, I inevitably end up browsing the Bird website and mulling the Aether 9/Aether 9C as a stumpy contender, 4 bar/FSR suspension, 130mm travel, modern trail bike geometry, etc, etc; just worth a look just for comparison sake IMO…

I would go evo as the standard stumpy is great it’s not that different to the epic evo imho

I own the standard current Stumpy, and it’s great, but as others have said – if you’ve got an Epic Evo already get the Stumpy Evo. The standard one is literally like a half way house between the two, so differentiate more with the Evo.

My only other thought is, does it absolutely have to be a specialized?

No, but they seem to be the best deals atm. I’d like a Hightower, but too spenny.

If you’re keeping the epic evo, I’d go for the stumpy evo

I’ve got a Sentinel which is similar in intention to a stumpy evo – it rides the burlier end of what you mention fantastically  well. Especially with the standard air shock on it climbs ok / pedals along ok etc. With a coil on it feels like a mini enduro bike.

In your case I’d go carbon stumpy evo – because there’s nothing there it would be bad at – and if you want a more xc ride you can take the epic evo.

Yep I’ll change my original reply as you never mentioned the Epic Evo 😂

I’m not sure there’s a huge weight difference between the two?

If so I’d go for the Evo.

Yep the carbon Evo frameset is really light, I’ve held one recently.

With all the adjustments you can definitely keep it more “trail” than “enduro”, if you want to.

Would make a great pairing with the Epic Evo IMO.

Yep the carbon Evo frameset is really light, I’ve held one recently.

The downside of that, is, they crack, a lot. If you do buy one, make sure you run a different downtube protector, as there has been endless reports of minor rock strikes cracking frames, when they really shouldn’t be doing any damage at all.

Having had a Stumpy Evo, I always found the suspension let down the geometry of the bike, but then I’ve come to the conclusion, I just don’t like a Horst Link bike & the way they ride. I think the current Fuel EX is a better bike than the Stumpy, all round.

The downside of that, is, they crack, a lot. If you do buy one, make sure you run a different downtube protector, as there has been endless reports of minor rock strikes cracking frames, when they really shouldn’t be doing any damage at all.

Yes it’s got a heavy duty DT protector and extra mastic tape 😀

Sounds like OP will be treating it fairly gently though.

True the Fuel EX might be better still for him. Funny how they’re both quite challenging visually innit.

True the Fuel EX might be better still for him. Funny how they’re both quite challenging visually innit.

Yep, although it looks like Specialized have finally decided that the ‘side brace’ era is done now, which will help improve things. Rumoured to be no more Stumpy Evo when the new one comes out though.

The Trek, has tubes on its tubes 😆

Cheers for all the advice, picking up a Stumpy Evo tomorrow from LBS. Then off to ride 4 passes in Lakes on Friday 😀

Well you picked the right bike for that anyway.

Enjoy 😀