Announcing Our 2025 Demo Bike: The Specialized Stumpjumper 15
For 2025, we’re stoked to be back with Specialized (we worked with them in ’23 as well) to bring you one of the most heralded trail bikes on the market, the Stumpjumper 15. I know you’re thinking: just one bike option? Yes that’s correct, but hear us out on this one. We’ve been riding the new Stumpy for a couple of months now, and we’re more than impressed: this bike climbs well, it’s playful, it rips fast downhills, and it can handle all the chunk. We truly think this is a “one bike quiver” for Chasing Epic trips in 2025. You can find the full specs on our Demo Bike page HERE.
Over the last couple of months, we’ve taken this bike on 30 mile, 6k’ epic rides as well as some BC-equivalent tech on our home trails (trust us, they’re gnarly) and this bike can do it all. We went ahead and put together a quick review with our thoughts on the bike, as well as compiled some industry reviews published over the summer and fall – we think you’ll agree that this bike is perfect for this year’s trips!
Industry Reviews
BikeMag: This is a Really Easy Bike To Love
Enduro Mag: Jack of All Trades?
Flow Mountain Bike: The Best Trail Bike Out There?
Loam Wolf: One Bike To Do It All
Our Take: Climbing, Descending, Components and More
Climbing: Our local trails comprise most of the Front Range of Colorado, which means we have everything from steep fire roads for 2,000′ to some of the most technical chunk you can imagine (similar to climbing up parts of the Whole Enchilada, but not the Snotch!). Over the last couple of months we’ve ridden it all with the new Stumpy, and we’ve come away quite impressed. For those longer fire road climbs, we flick the climb switch – which isn’t quite a complete lock-out, but it’s close – and settle in. The relatively steep STA puts you in the right position for steeper climbs, and it’s a comfortable bike for long rides. When it comes to tech climbs, we open ‘er up and the rear wheel seems to hug the ground, providing tons of traction. For a true trail bike, these days it’s on the lighter side of things at just over 30#, which will certainly help for some of our epic rides in places like Durango, Crested Butte and Sun Valley.
Descending: Now for the fun part, going downhill. The new Stumpy is every bit as good as the outgoing Stumpy EVO, which was one of my personal favorite “do it all big bikes”. I rode that bike on everything from long high-alpine descents in Durango and Crested Butte to legit double black tech in BC, and felt comfortable on it all. Well, the new Stumpy is just as good, and maybe even better despite a touch less travel. The Genie rear shock gives the back of the bike a coil-like feel where it provides traction for days. The front of the bike has a near-perfect 64.5* HTA (which is adjustable between 63.5 – 65.5*), which means the bike is playful but a bruiser at the same time. I’ve ridden some SUPER steep stuff on the Stumpy, think 1000′ in less than a mile, and the bike felt totally natural and confidence-inspiring despite “only” having 150mm of travel. Specialized specc’ed a slightly lighter tune on the new Fox 36 Grip X2 damper, which makes it more plush off the top and it feels more like a Lyrik, a good thing in my book.
Components: The Stumpjumper 15 is a brand new bike with a few things to touch on, that our customers may not be familiar with quite yet. First is the hotly-debated Genie rear shock. There’s plenty of online discussion about it already so I won’t go into detail, but essentially the Genie has a gigantic air chamber that allows you to dial in the first 70% of its travel. I personally left mine in the stock configuration, which to me feels a bit like a coil shock but it still remains playful and poppy “enough”. I could potentially see adding a spacer or two for our Sun Valley trip, which would make the bike feel a bit more firm and playful, but wouldn’t give you that bottomless feel on the descents.
The second main thing I want to touch on are the Maven brakes – holy crap, I’m in love. These things are POWERFUL, and will likely take most riders a little bit to get used to – I was blown away by how strong they are, and how quickly they’ll stop all your momentum. It definitely takes a bit of practice to learn how to “feather” them properly, but once you do, you’ll really dig them.
And lastly, I think Specialized has done a great job with the adjustability and practicality of the new Stumpjumper 15. The geometry is pretty dialed in the stock configuration (64.5* HTA, 77* STA), but for the tinkerers out there, we can make the bike slacker or steeper to fit your personal preference. Additionally, the Genie shock can be adjusted if you want a setup that’s more playful or more of a DH sled. When it comes to frame features, the Stumpy has Specialized’s newest iteration of their SWAT in-frame storage, which means you can store a rain jacket, extra snacks, or whatever else you desire. I personally do anything I can to not wear a pack (except on trips, of course), and this helps immensely.
Now to address the obvious: our Whistler trip. Although we don’t include a demo bike with our BC trips, we do make them available with an extra charge. For a lot of folks, I think the Stumpy will be a great bike for our BC trip as it’s playful, poppy and can handle the steeps. That said, we totally get that some of you will want a bigger bike for those trails. So instead of stocking a bunch of Specialized Enduros, we’re also offering two longer-travel options- the 160/160 Transition Patrol (mullet) and the 170/160 Yeti SB160. Both of these bikes are similarly specc’ed as our demo bikes, and will be a perfect match for those interested in a little more cushion for tackling the rowdy BC descents.
*** Special thanks to our good friend Scott Cody for braving the cold and taking some killer photos for us!
