Bike Check: Jared Graves' EWS Specialized Stumpjumper
Race day for the 2nd round of the Enduro World Series is tomorrow - and our photogapher Tim Bardsley-Smith caught up with Jared Graves and took a look over his Stumpjumper in full race spec.
The Specialized Stumpjumper is a bike that is almost as old as mountain biking. But how it has changed… from a rigid steel bike to the full-suspension carbon fibre bike that Jared Graves will pilot tomorrow in round 2 of the Enduro World Series – there's not much that's similar, save for having two wheels, a handlebar, and relying on a human to make it go fast.
Graves' Stumpjumper 29 must be one of the cleanest looking bikes on the circuit, the design is dialled. He is also one of the riders pushing hard on 29" wheels. While we've heard rumours that other top riders have been testing 29" wheeled options, but not everyone is on the bikes at the EWS. Let's see if that changes through the season.
Why the Stumpy and not the Enduro? Well apparently Graves prefers the fit of the large Stumpjumper over the Enduro, and the shock gets 148mm of travel. He does run the fork up to 170mm at times. Specialized say he reaches for the Enduro model for the roughest courses.
LIke many in the top 30, Graves will be looking to improve on his result from Rotorua, where changing conditions destroyed the trails for the top-seeded riders.
Our photographer Tim Bardsley-Smith took a look over the rig after day one of practice. Will we see Graves take it to the podium tomorrow? Time will tell.
