7-11-07 // Online Exclusive: Specialized '08 Release

The head and steer tube of the new Stumpjumper taper from 1.5" at the base to 1.125" at the top.

There’s these plastic bags hanging from the trees and I can’t help but wonder what the hell they are, way up in the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains north of Madrid, Spain, blown completely from five hours trying to keep up to a bunch of Spanish hammerheads. There always there, past meandering streams and high, rocky hills; fern infused forests and savory singletrack—these weird bags full of flies. I can only assume this is how the Spaniards harvest the Spanish Fly, the supposed aphrodisiac that makes love a little more readily available.

I’m here for a little love, although it’s hurting right now. The sun beating down, the ride more up that it has been down. Specialized, the Morgan Hill, California bike manufacturing maven, has invited over 40 “journos” from around the world for a sampling of their 2008 goodies, due for public consumption shortly after you read this. After traveling for 24 hours straight, I’m able to shag a quick sleep before we’re right into it. By 11:00 am I’m on a state of the art, super sick, featherlight carbon fiber cross-country bike, riding deep into the pine and broom covered hills of central Spain.

The Specialized crew, which includes company president, Michael Sinyard, focused the launch on their new Stumpjumper, what Ned Overend, who is also in attendance, calls the best Stumpjumper built to date. Before the sun can hardly rise above the water-starved pines of the rolling and rocky Sierra de Guadarrama mountains, the cloth is pulled on the 08 S-Works Stumpjumper, a marvel of carbon fiber, surprisingly plush suspension, and speed.

The new Stumpy frame (w/o shock) weighs in at a feathery 2000 grams, 200 grams lighter than last year’s model. The frame features shorter chainstays and more standover height, as well as more seat post adjustability. But perhaps the most notable change to the frame is its new tapered steer tube. Because the new S-Works model uses Specialized’s own S120 fork they’re able to custom build the fork’s steer tube at 1.5-inches at the bottom and 1 1/8-inch at the top. Looking for increased strength and stiffness, Specialized engineers worked on minimizing sharp angle bends in the carbon geometry. What they came up with is a fairly radical approach to head tube steer tube integration.

The fork itself is Specialized’s S120, which, like the rear AFR Shock, uses the company’s FlowControl Brain technology, introduced on their 07 bikes. This year the shocks have been tweaked and refined somewhat, providing a highly adjustably, confident feel even if they do weigh practically nothing. The S120 weighs in at 1450 grams.

The rear AFR Shock, uses the Specialized’s FlowControl Brain technology.

The new Stump is 200 grams lighter than the '07 model.