Whilst the cycling world goes mad over carbon Stumpjumpers this, EVO that, high-end shocks and bikes that cost a lot more than most of us have in our bank accounts at any one time, we took the opportunity to have a closer look at the 2019 Specialized Stumpjumper Comp Alloy 29. As it says on the tin, it's made of aluminium and costs £2,500 making it the second cheapest Stumpy you can buy. 

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Late last week we took Georgia from Specialized out on a guided tour of our local trails and in return she brought us one of the new Stumpjumpers the internet has gone mad for recently. We wanted to take a look at an alloy version of the bike as we reckon they might be a pretty popular sight out on the trails. 

As you will have read in our previous article on the new Stumpjumper, the bike has had a full makeover for 2019 (yes, this is a 2019 bike already....). There are two travel options available, the regular Stumpjumper with 140mm of rear travel and 150mm forks and an ST, (code for short travel) version with 120mm at the rear and 130mm up front. We've got the regular Stumpy here, the longer travel of the two, which gets the same geometry as its carbon brothers the Comp Carbon, the Expert and the S-Works and also still has the flip chip and therefore the same adjustable geometry. 

The Alloy Comp 29 also comes in a 27.5" wheeled version and there's a women's specific bike too, all for the same price of £2,500. For that money, you get Fox Float Rhythm 34 forks with a 51mm offset and a Fox Float DPS Performance shock with Specialized's Rx Trail Tune. Spesh say this is a tune they developed specifically for the Stumpjumper: "Suspension performance is highly dependent on frame, wheel, and rider size, so we use our Rx Tune to get each bike to land in the middle of the adjustment spectrum, and this gives you the biggest possible range to fine-tune your ride. Another focal point of the tune was matching the suspension characteristics between wheel sizes—we developed a specific Rx Tune for each platform. So, no matter what wheel size you prefer, you’ll get perfectly linear suspension."  We plan to get a couple of different bikes in for test so it will be interesting to see what this means out on the trails and in comparison to each other too.  

The alloy frame is still asymmetrical like the carbon version, reminiscent of the brands downhill bike, the Demo. 

The alloy bike also benefits from the ribbed chainstay protector which Georgia told us has been developed using slow-motion footage of the chain in action when riding downhill. The brand identified the areas of the chain which impacted on the chainstay and designed this rubber protector with raised hollow blocks to dampen the noise and stop the chain slap and make a quiet ride, check out the video above. 

The drivetrain on this Comp model is a mix of Shimano and Race Face kit with an SLX 11-46t cassette and an XT mech paired with a 30T chainring and Race Face Aeffect cranks. Shimano takes care of the braking with SLX brakes and a 200mm rotor up front. You might also be pleased to hear the bike has a threaded bottom bracket too!

Specialized have specced the Comp with their Roval Traverse rims which have a 29mm internal diameter, onto which is a Butcher GRID 2.6" tyre up front and a Purgatory GRID 2.6" at the rear. The cockpit comprises of Spesh own brand parts; the uber comfy (for ladies and gents) Phenom saddle, 780mm wide bars and various size dependant grips. 

At the lower end of the price range the Stumpjumper's get X-Fusion dropper posts rather than the new longer 160mm Command posts to keep costs down. On the size small bikes there will be 125mm droppers but the rest of the sizes get a decent 150mm of drop. 

The aluminium models will be the first to land in a bike shop near you, followed by the carbon bikes. That's good news for us, we are looking forward to getting the alloy models in for test, a women's version included. 

• www.specialized.com
• Buy a Stumpjumper Comp Alloy 29 here
   

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