Have this exact bike, and had it out for the first time yesterday. Pretty impressive. Climbed better than I thought even though heavy. Brakes were a 2 finger operation....not the best feel. I think that would be the first upgrade I would look at. It tracked downhill very well. I laugh looking at it...looks like a chopper with the head angle, but I am coming from a 71 degree head tube hard tail, a major difference. I think I will flip the chip and and go for the increased head angle. I was not a big fan of the color, but did not want an all black bike, so went with the blaze. Looks good and has grown on me, but the Specialized paint schemes are far behind other bike manufacturers. Overall, pleased with this bike.
The flip-chip isn't on the suspension yoke on this bike, it's on the horst-link pivot next to the rear axel. Since there is confusion out there on that I did a video on that topic specifically on my channel. Nice job James!
Got mine a few months ago.... AMAZING smooth awesome bike. I just made some upgrades with the brakes and rear shock and there you go, bike for days!!!! Nice review on point for sure 👌🏼👌🏼
@@ioanj86 pike select 140mm and for the shock the súper deluxe ultímate. I Also upgraded the brakes to the magura MT5 E-bike for more stopping power and thats it. I think my next upgrade will definitely be the Crankset. Bottom line all the upgrades costed me $800,00.- because i sold the other parts, this pandemic helped for sure, everybody's looking for parts nowadays and not all the shops have stock.
I got one of these in November. Rode it through fall and snow in the winter too. Just got to ride it last weekend with things finally drying out. Totally love it and highly recommend. (Great review BTW)
@@willchart1 i am coming from a 2020 trek marlin 6by the way The fact that i got ot at 15%off, the dropper seat, the fox 34 rythm and fox dps rear. I heard more negative things about the x fusion rear suspensions , so when i has 2k to drop on a full sus trek fuel ex 5 or giant trance, a buddy lf mine who has a yeti sb 450 advised me to keep my 2k and save another 1k cuz that will get me a better bike with components that will not need to be upgraded.
I just purchased this bike for a steal at $2100 brand new but in the white sage/black color. It's a pretty sweet rig. I didn't even bother with the stock suspension, immediately pulled it off out of the box and installed a factory fox 36 grip x with a factory float x. Next up is the drivetrain
I've been trying to buy this bike (a Stump Jumper alloy) for well over a year. I didn't think they were actually real? I just thought Specialized was a tease. Good for this guy getting his hands on a real actual bike. Wish I could get one. Never thought it would be so hard to give someone (a company) $2500 for a bike...
I got mine the first week they came out. I took it to the best trails in northern California and santa cruz! Until it gave me a broken collarbone 😭 Getting back on the trails next month 🤞
I'm a happy owner of this bike for about 14 months now. I will be upgrading the Eagle SX to the GX derailleur and shifter and maybe add the XX1 gold chain for some bling later. The SX just shifts too slow and sloppy for my likeness and I'm told the upgrade will be very noticeable. The brakes are fine for me and I even felt comfortable with them downhilling at Killington. Only other upgrade I might do at some point is upgrade the rear shock. I'm a pretty tame rider by comparison to some of you hard pounders :)
It's DEFINITELY in the horst link on alloy models. I have the 2021 comp alloy and switched it to the hi position yesterday because of too many pedal strikes. The shop where I bought it even told me it was in the rear shock, they were wrong! Took maybe 10 minutes total to switch it. Only difference I felt were a lot less pedal strikes
Thank you for the thorough video of this nice Specialized! Currently riding specialized pItch (2011) last year model before they discontinued. Truly ahead of its time bike, thats why it still serves me well although at this point all components been replaced, upgraded some several times. Looking to buy new bike now, and here is the dilemma: my bike weights 31lb so for me to go drop 4k and get a bike (although with badass frame) that is 35-36 lb feels wrong, i get that the weight isnt everything of course, but on long trails it is a huge factor, and helps having a bike that is actually do it all. As much as i love specialized bikes, i just dont like having a heavier bike to replace my old Pitch. So thats why i so far only found Canyon spectral as a true upgrade from my old pitch. That spectral is gonna be under 4k more like 3.3 and will be 30.2 pounds. Now that gives me a badass bike and confidence that i can loose another 2-2.5 pounds on basic inexpensive upgrades. Whats your thoughts on this option, and if you know of a trail bike that would fill in the spot of my pitch ? PS: im gonna do 27.5 not 29 for the next bike.
@@computerbob06 ended up going with YT as for same price I get better components and lighter bike than specialized, not disappointed at all really good bike, after some tweaks and adjustments it's fire! Love it.
Thank you for the video its great. I have been riding since 2018 & I have been riding a Specialized Rockhopper pro hardtail. I am now ready to step up to FS MTB. Now my question is how does this mtb compare to the Transition Centinal?
Got the one same color, and S5 size when I'm 197cm tall. Fits me well I think. The bike is a bit heavy have to say with it's 16,5 kg. But for first full suspension gear I love it. It climbs almost as good as descends.
@@Jamesthebikeguy 16.22kg is heavy for a 'trail' bike. Some DH bikes aren't that heavy. Five years ago, I purchased a new 2016 Stumpjumper Comp (medium alloy frame, 27.5" wheels, no pedals) and out of the box it weighed 13.6kg. This year I purchased a new 2021 Orbea Occam H30 (large alloy frame, 29" wheels, no pedals) and that weighed 15.08kg. I managed to get the weight down on the H30 to under 13.5kg with lighter crank, wheels, tyres, stem, handlebars, grips, seat, discs but that cost around £700GBP. I've since sold it. To me, anything over 14kg is very heavy for a cycle, mtb or road. I did have an emtb 3 years ago but sold that after 18 months as I got sick of the weight (23kg).
A lot of bike for the money - especially now it's 10 months old (£1800 UK) and it's great that if you want to upgrade, just upgrade the parts bacause the frame is sooo good! So many brands fit all sorts of goodies on their frames but the only way to upgrade is to buy a better bike!
I have this exact spec in all black, went with the S2 but I think the S3 would maybe be a more stable choice, super bike though and having a lot of fun, which is the point. The first change will probably be the rear shock, if not the brakes
So I have a Polygon T7 that has been lost by FedEx but may show up tomorrow. Question is I have a local bike shop that actually have this bike in stock. Which would you choose? Heard SRAM SX is not good.
Starting to get into MTB. The technology and specifications are amazing!! Three bikes I'm looking at are: Specialized SJ Alloy Giant Trance Trek Fuel Ex-5 Looking at doing trails and downhills. Any recommendations of which of these would be the better of the three?
this is hands down the best bike iv ever laid my eyes or hands on, a local shop had one but it had a sold tag on it.. this bike YOU CANNOT GET ANYWHERE if anyone can find an satin/black S4 L-XL LEMME KNOW!!
Help pls, which one should I get? Im planning on just biking in the valley, some mountains and just around the community. Giant Reign 2, Giant Trance or this one?
@@Jamesthebikeguy Yes and no the shop only had a black one in s4 and I had decided to get the blaze coloured one as in this video and got sized up for a s3. Bike gets delivered end of May hopefully, I live in New Zealand.
Nice look at bike! Couple little things, the shock is 190 x 45 on sizes above s2, and tk damper on fork is open or closed only, no incremental levels. And noted on previous comments flip chip is on the chainstay not the shock.
So I upgraded from my diamondback catch 1 to this bike because I thought it is better just as what most of the people say, “ diamondback is an old bike company and they are not good anymore, and specialize is better” so I upgraded to this bike because the price was the same as my diamondback. I was lucky that I didn’t sell my diamondback, because this bike is not good. My 2 problems are with the shocks and brakes. Brakes are just terrible, they overheat very fast and they don’t provide a good stopping power, so I decided to upgrade and then I discovered that upgrading brakes will cost me 200 USD to 300 USD Also the rear shock is just not enough, I weight 250 pounds and with max pressure on the shock, when I set on the bike the shock already uses about 50% of its movement. Now for the front shocks, they are good but they are 140 travel, comparing them to the bike I have they are not good, because my diamondback is 150 travel and cheaper. I couldn’t return the bike so I had to sell it, I lost $1000 in one month and then I just went back to my diamondback. Yes diamondback is not as popular as before, but there $2500 bike equals $3500 bike from another brands. Also every one says diamondback weight too much, my bike weight 34 pounds, and this bike weight 34 pounds too so they are the same
Depends would you ever see yourself upgrading the suspension on the Comp? If so maybe skip the Comp since you don't want to pay twice for suspension. Otherwise if the Comp is an ideal spec, I would suggest figuring out how to make it happen
smoth bike brakes are smoth too i try my friends canyon cabon fiber and my stumpjumper feels better ,and no matter your height get a large s4 is just perfet
@@Jamesthebikeguy As predicted by me a week ago; the levo gen 3. Specialized have really upped their game again; design going back to the drawing board with constant new innovations; that’s why I think they are #1 manufacturer
I'd have gone with an alloy SJ if they offered a higher spec version. My Carbon Expert is still on backorder. Was given March-April estimate, so hopefully soon! I stopped in to my buddy's shop the other day and he had a '21 SJ Alloy Comp in the S6 size. That big boy has a 200mm dropper and I swear the saddle height was about up to my navel! The guy buying that bike was supposedly 6'7". I'm 6'1" and don't get to feel short very often.
You could do anything, but most likely it would ruin the geometry and it would definitely void the warranty. Do so at your own risk, but it wouldn't make much sense to
I own this exact model everything is the same. I don't think the flip chip I'd up top I believe it's down on the rear triangle. If you look at it it seems to be there and not up top. I'll have to look through the owners manual but I don't think it's up top
@@Po7ent I would say the giant barely has better suspension. Not saying the Stumpy is bad in any way because it feels great on my stumpy but specs wise the trance is better. But I would say the dropper is better on the Stumpjumper because the Giant house brand droppers are not reliable
The welds on the Specialized aluminum frame never look good - especially the 6" long one on the new side arm design. It takes away from the beauty of this frame. The carbon frame looks 1000X times better.
