Thanks for the comparison. I have a stumpjumper expert like you demoed and your review is spot on from my experience. I have actually raced the stumpjumper in the high position at Blankets Creek and felt I did about as well as I would have on my cross country bike. One thing you didn’t mention in your review is the stumpy has a flex stays to help offset the elimination of the horst link. I always enjoy your videos, keep up the good work.
Hey Clint, Thank you for this comparison I was personally looking forward to it since on "paper" those Bikes are in the same category. I ride my Stumpjumper now since ~10 moths and every time I take it out of my garage I immedialty have a smile on my face. I'm 5'11" on a S4, and it always surprises me how stable and "planted" this Bike is Downhill if you are going fast. I also notice basiclly every single ride how dead silent it is. The overall weight is also very decent and the Internal storage always has my tubeless repairkid in it and a banana ;) I also use it on a daily basis to move around in my Town ( visit my Brothers, drive to the edge of my Village where my Sled Dogs and Husky Farm is and do some shopping. I often Bike to my Trail system on some tharmac but mostly fireroads, so I switched the tyres to Fast Trak T5 rear and Ground Control T7 front which even in Snow work so far for me. I'm considering for next Spring to invest in some Carbon wheels ( maybe Elitewheels PRO36 with DT-Swiss) But we see.. Also Stumpjumper Experts where sold here for 4'000 Euro from the Specialized store and Carbon Comp models for 2'800 Euro from Dealers in Austria :) Cheers from Switzerland and keep up the god work.
Great comment. I think road and commute tests should be included with mountain bike reviews. We mountain bikers use MTB's for more than conquering trails.
Thanks for the video Clint. I owned both this year and decided the to keep the Stumpjumper. I found it to be a much faster climber and more playful overall. I upgraded the DPS shock to 2024 Float and that made it a better descender. Granted it is still not as plush as the Smuggler with the Float X but that's the trade off. The Stumpjumper is a much quieter and premium feeling bike where as my Smuggler rattled due to pivot slop and felt cheaply finished. Ultimately I treat the Stumpy as a long travel XC bike here in the Canadian Rockies.
@@tinshield The cable routing is certainly not as refined as other brands. You have to separate the stays and main triangle and go to town with a flash light. They also left a huge hole where the cables pass through the stays so now you have to deal with a loam shelf and a mud collecting cave.
I know this is an older video but I want to thank you for this comparo. It was really useful as I made my decision. I recently purchased a Smuggler frame and could not be happier aside from occasionally hitting the chain stays with my heels when I pedal. Built it up with GX, Hayes A4s, Hunt Enduro Wide wheels and a Yari up front with a custom tuned FAST damper. It’s an awesome bike for riding here in Southern California. Thanks, Clint!
So, as a Smuggler owner, one thing that keeps coming to mind watching these videos is your critiques of the bike in climbing and XC settings based on it’s extra length compared to its competitors. For me, I am 6’1” and perpetually between sizes on bikes. I tend to find XL’s in most brands a bit too long and unweildy but feel amazing when descending through rough stuff, I also tend to be more stretched out than I prefer when seated. In most companies L I tend to like the seated position but find the bikes a bit too short and twitchy on descents. For a long time, the solution for me was size XL Santa Cruz bikes as they tended to run a little shorter so were just right on descents, and I could slide the seat forward and run a shorter stem to get the seated position decent. But they have since gotten longer and put me back where I started. But Transition running longer in there current bikes has filled that gap, I have never ridden a bike that fit as well as the Smuggler. It has become my do-it-all bike, though it will be a bit under-gunned if I go to the bike park which has me debating an allow Spire for park and shuttle duties.
I bumped the travel on my Smuggler to 150/140. It's a very surefooted climber and very capable downhill. I haven't ridden a stock one but I don't think I'd want to lose that extra travel or BB height.
The Stumpjumper frame for $1750 right now is an amazing deal. They’re one of the lightest 130mm frames as well. I have a 2021 S-works I built up. I even did an XC race on it.
@@thiosemicarbizidebenzoylal2921 not sure what a DS is but with many frame only options north of $3k, it’s a great deal for the frame you’re getting IMO.
Thank you very much for the comparison with StumpJumper! It will be interesting to know what the new generation of transition spur will be like, if there is one at all )
Hey nice comparison. Stumpy low setting bb drop is 42mm. And 35mm in high. Flip chip is a big deal. I have a custom giant trance x. Dunno if you tried the giant. Give it a go if not. It’s 150/135 and the flip chip changes bb drop from 40 to 30.
If I could choose, I'd take the Smuggler and install a wide drop bar for XC rides. Need full sus bike on long, bumpy FL trails like Conservation Leeve Greenway Loop and low position helps in headwinds😊
@@ClintGibbs true, but it would still retain most of the lightweight traits, pedaling efficiency, and springiness from the flexstays that set it apart from the Evo. Kind of a hyper aggressive lightweight trail bike.
@@ehvoslef I have both the EVO and the regular Stumpy. The EVO can be dialed to the same geo. Put some lighter wheels on the EVO rather than over forking the regular one. The EVO rear end is more capable with better traction as well. It's even more supportive when pedaling. Not saying it's faster but it pedals better.
@@tinshield I'm curious, do you have the same *S* Version on both. I'm 5.11" and found the S4 on the regular one to handle much better for me, but on the EVO The S3 did fit maybe a tiny bit better over the S4.
@@IIISentorIII I’m 5’10” on S4’s but I could definitely fit an S3 but the stack height would be too low for me. I run a 35mm rise bar on the Stumpy but don’t need it on the EVO.
Great review Clint, honest and helpful. I think the evo is more of a compairable to the Smuggler...but you already know this...what part of Florida do you live? We are considering the Tallahassee area to move to .
That stumpjumper is really stiff laterally so it pumps amazingly in turns. I never could get my shock tuned right no matter what I did. It would always feel harsh off the top and go through the travel too easy. Larger volume tokens made it a little better but didn’t fix it.
Hi Clint, Little off topic but hope you can help me out. I have a Spur and was wondering what tire combos would help dampen the ride? I have a Dissector up front that I would like to put in back and maybe use a Minion DHF or Minion DHr2 in the front?
I’m a Maxxis fan. Recon is a good all around tire. If you want a bit more grip with still good rolling resistance, I like the combination that’s currently on my smuggler which is an Assegai front and Dissector rear.
I run Ground Control T7 front and Fast-Trak T5 rear on my Stumpy since 10 months and I'm happy. I honestly couldn't get along with the T9 Butcher, it's an amazing tyre for sure but way to slow for me. My Brother runs a Dissector front and Recon in the rear ( slightly faster on Asphalt, tiny bit less grippy in the front on the trail).
Hi Clint. I know this is an old video but I’m thinking about buying a Smuggler. I primarily ride e-bikes but I pedal Amish occasionally to train. How does the Smuggler climb compared to the Stumpjumper? I don’t think you went into detail about that. Is the Stumpjumper more or less efficient uphill?
I honestly didn’t notice much of a difference between the two in terms of climbing. If I was forced to pick one I would say the stumpjumper but it’s marginal. I think that bike was a tad lighter and the flexible seats make it a bit more springy. But the difference are so negligible I don’t think that would be a deciding factor unless you wanted to steepen the geometry of the stumpjumper. But if I was doing long climbing I would want to have it slack for the descents.
Would love to see you try a lightweight E-MTB like the Transition Relay or Levo SL 2.0 just to hear your thoughts. My Levo SL is basically a SJ Evo with a motor, removes all downsides from horst link for climbing, great fun in both FL and the mountains, hard to go back to a normal bike now.
The elephant in the room isn't the price, it is that Specialized made that bike a good 4+ years ago and it performs as well as the Smuggler, yet has one less pivot and is a shorter wheelbase! Not to mention the cable routing is far better!
I wish specialized made the frame symmetrical. I can't see paying the extra for the foo foo bikes. Im not a fan of the cable coming out near the head tube on the Transition. The smuggler is better looking for sure.
Hey Clint does it really make a difference if you say that though? I think that its like saying dial 1 before you dial a phone number. I think everybody that watches YT knows the the drill. And actually that's one of the things I LIKE about your channel is you don't say it after every video. TBH it becomes really annoying to hear it after after every video. Most of the YT channels I sub to dont say it and its refreshing....
Really wanted the Smugger. Was just out of my budget. Picked up a Canyon 125 CF. So far been really happy with it.
Thanks for the comparison. I have a stumpjumper expert like you demoed and your review is spot on from my experience. I have actually raced the stumpjumper in the high position at Blankets Creek and felt I did about as well as I would have on my cross country bike. One thing you didn’t mention in your review is the stumpy has a flex stays to help offset the elimination of the horst link. I always enjoy your videos, keep up the good work.
Hey Clint,
Thank you for this comparison I was personally looking forward to it since on "paper" those Bikes are in the same category.
I ride my Stumpjumper now since ~10 moths and every time I take it out of my garage I immedialty have a smile on my face. I'm 5'11" on a S4, and it always surprises me how stable and "planted" this Bike is Downhill if you are going fast. I also notice basiclly every single ride how dead silent it is. The overall weight is also very decent and the Internal storage always has my tubeless repairkid in it and a banana ;)
I also use it on a daily basis to move around in my Town ( visit my Brothers, drive to the edge of my Village where my Sled Dogs and Husky Farm is and do some shopping.
I often Bike to my Trail system on some tharmac but mostly fireroads, so I switched the tyres to Fast Trak T5 rear and Ground Control T7 front which even in Snow work so far for me.
I'm considering for next Spring to invest in some Carbon wheels ( maybe Elitewheels PRO36 with DT-Swiss) But we see..
Also Stumpjumper Experts where sold here for 4'000 Euro from the Specialized store and Carbon Comp models for 2'800 Euro from Dealers in Austria :)
Cheers from Switzerland and keep up the god work.
Great comment. I think road and commute tests should be included with mountain bike reviews. We mountain bikers use MTB's for more than conquering trails.
Ever ridden a Santa Cruz? Tall Boy or Hightower would be interesting to compare.
The Tallboy is like the OG short travel ripper. You really can't lose on a Tallboy.
Stumpjumper Evo and Canyon Spectral 29 are my 2 dream bikes. I'd be happy with either one.
Thanks for the video Clint. I owned both this year and decided the to keep the Stumpjumper. I found it to be a much faster climber and more playful overall. I upgraded the DPS shock to 2024 Float and that made it a better descender. Granted it is still not as plush as the Smuggler with the Float X but that's the trade off. The Stumpjumper is a much quieter and premium feeling bike where as my Smuggler rattled due to pivot slop and felt cheaply finished. Ultimately I treat the Stumpy as a long travel XC bike here in the Canadian Rockies.
Based what I've been reading/seeing it seems this wasn't a great effort by Transition. Is the cable routing as bad as some say?
@@tinshield The cable routing is certainly not as refined as other brands. You have to separate the stays and main triangle and go to town with a flash light. They also left a huge hole where the cables pass through the stays so now you have to deal with a loam shelf and a mud collecting cave.
@@sprungmass wow! Sounds ridiculous.
Love transition bikes every bike in their lineup rides so good hard to stray away from them!
💯
I know this is an older video but I want to thank you for this comparo. It was really useful as I made my decision. I recently purchased a Smuggler frame and could not be happier aside from occasionally hitting the chain stays with my heels when I pedal. Built it up with GX, Hayes A4s, Hunt Enduro Wide wheels and a Yari up front with a custom tuned FAST damper. It’s an awesome bike for riding here in Southern California. Thanks, Clint!
Good vid. I was between the two. Went with SJ due to price point and weight/climbing ability. Smuggler looks like a superb bike.
So, as a Smuggler owner, one thing that keeps coming to mind watching these videos is your critiques of the bike in climbing and XC settings based on it’s extra length compared to its competitors.
For me, I am 6’1” and perpetually between sizes on bikes. I tend to find XL’s in most brands a bit too long and unweildy but feel amazing when descending through rough stuff, I also tend to be more stretched out than I prefer when seated. In most companies L I tend to like the seated position but find the bikes a bit too short and twitchy on descents.
For a long time, the solution for me was size XL Santa Cruz bikes as they tended to run a little shorter so were just right on descents, and I could slide the seat forward and run a shorter stem to get the seated position decent. But they have since gotten longer and put me back where I started. But Transition running longer in there current bikes has filled that gap, I have never ridden a bike that fit as well as the Smuggler. It has become my do-it-all bike, though it will be a bit under-gunned if I go to the bike park which has me debating an allow Spire for park and shuttle duties.
I bumped the travel on my Smuggler to 150/140. It's a very surefooted climber and very capable downhill. I haven't ridden a stock one but I don't think I'd want to lose that extra travel or BB height.
The Stumpjumper frame for $1750 right now is an amazing deal. They’re one of the lightest 130mm frames as well. I have a 2021 S-works I built up. I even did an XC race on it.
No its not. You can get DS carbon frames for under 800 bucks that are just as good or better.
@@thiosemicarbizidebenzoylal2921 What is a DS frame. Never heard of DS and search doesn't show a company.
That is a good deal. Though I wish they weren't sold out of the S-Works Stumpy for 2K.
@@thiosemicarbizidebenzoylal2921 not sure what a DS is but with many frame only options north of $3k, it’s a great deal for the frame you’re getting IMO.
@@TC-hl1ws I have an S-Works and my friends have the regular model. Not much difference honestly. Factory shock and a carbon link is it.
Thank you very much for the comparison with StumpJumper!
It will be interesting to know what the new generation of transition spur will be like, if there is one at all )
I'd like to see the YT Izzo vs the Smuggler.They look similar.
Hey nice comparison. Stumpy low setting bb drop is 42mm. And 35mm in high. Flip chip is a big deal. I have a custom giant trance x. Dunno if you tried the giant. Give it a go if not. It’s 150/135 and the flip chip changes bb drop from 40 to 30.
If I could choose, I'd take the Smuggler and install a wide drop bar for XC rides. Need full sus bike on long, bumpy FL trails like Conservation Leeve Greenway Loop and low position helps in headwinds😊
Maybe Stumpy vs Spur?
I'd like to see you do a comparison between the Stumpy Evo and the Santa Cruz Hightower V3.
Stumpjumper is so versatile. Would be interesting to try a float X in back and fox 36 in front.
That’s getting close to the Stumpjumper EVO
@@ClintGibbs true, but it would still retain most of the lightweight traits, pedaling efficiency, and springiness from the flexstays that set it apart from the Evo. Kind of a hyper aggressive lightweight trail bike.
@@ehvoslef I have both the EVO and the regular Stumpy. The EVO can be dialed to the same geo. Put some lighter wheels on the EVO rather than over forking the regular one. The EVO rear end is more capable with better traction as well. It's even more supportive when pedaling. Not saying it's faster but it pedals better.
@@tinshield I'm curious, do you have the same *S* Version on both. I'm 5.11" and found the S4 on the regular one to handle much better for me, but on the EVO The S3 did fit maybe a tiny bit better over the S4.
@@IIISentorIII I’m 5’10” on S4’s but I could definitely fit an S3 but the stack height would be too low for me. I run a 35mm rise bar on the Stumpy but don’t need it on the EVO.
Great review Clint, honest and helpful. I think the evo is more of a compairable to the Smuggler...but you already know this...what part of Florida do you live? We are considering the Tallahassee area to move to .
love the bike amazing
That stumpjumper is really stiff laterally so it pumps amazingly in turns. I never could get my shock tuned right no matter what I did. It would always feel harsh off the top and go through the travel too easy. Larger volume tokens made it a little better but didn’t fix it.
you should try and get the Relay that is going to be way better than the Norco you tried awhile back.
Awesome!
Hi Clint, Little off topic but hope you can help me out. I have a Spur and was wondering what tire combos would help dampen the ride? I have a Dissector up front that I would like to put in back and maybe use a Minion DHF or Minion DHr2 in the front?
I have a Stumpy Evo with the same tires. They’re a total slog.
Any recommendations for trail riding? Loose over hard pack.
I’m a Maxxis fan. Recon is a good all around tire. If you want a bit more grip with still good rolling resistance, I like the combination that’s currently on my smuggler which is an Assegai front and Dissector rear.
I run Ground Control T7 front and Fast-Trak T5 rear on my Stumpy since 10 months and I'm happy. I honestly couldn't get along with the T9 Butcher, it's an amazing tyre for sure but way to slow for me.
My Brother runs a Dissector front and Recon in the rear ( slightly faster on Asphalt, tiny bit less grippy in the front on the trail).
Hi Clint. I know this is an old video but I’m thinking about buying a Smuggler. I primarily ride e-bikes but I pedal Amish occasionally to train. How does the Smuggler climb compared to the Stumpjumper? I don’t think you went into detail about that. Is the Stumpjumper more or less efficient uphill?
I honestly didn’t notice much of a difference between the two in terms of climbing. If I was forced to pick one I would say the stumpjumper but it’s marginal. I think that bike was a tad lighter and the flexible seats make it a bit more springy. But the difference are so negligible I don’t think that would be a deciding factor unless you wanted to steepen the geometry of the stumpjumper. But if I was doing long climbing I would want to have it slack for the descents.
Would love to see you try a lightweight E-MTB like the Transition Relay or Levo SL 2.0 just to hear your thoughts. My Levo SL is basically a SJ Evo with a motor, removes all downsides from horst link for climbing, great fun in both FL and the mountains, hard to go back to a normal bike now.
The elephant in the room isn't the price, it is that Specialized made that bike a good 4+ years ago and it performs as well as the Smuggler, yet has one less pivot and is a shorter wheelbase! Not to mention the cable routing is far better!
Curious what is the maxxis tire setup on the smuggler?
I wish specialized made the frame symmetrical. I can't see paying the extra for the foo foo bikes. Im not a fan of the cable coming out near the head tube on the Transition. The smuggler is better looking for sure.
I just can’t sign up to pay that much extra money for the name and boutique status. My inner frugality won’t allow for it.
Just got the t type stumpy for that exact reason. That and the weight savings
Stumpy can be made to a 25 lb bike. That frame and shock is 5 lbs. amazing
Not a single pivot. Flex stays are a pivot point
No, flex stays are NOT a pivot point. Regardless, single pivot means that the rear axel pivots around a single pivot - the main pivot above the BB.
Hey Clint does it really make a difference if you say that though? I think that its like saying dial 1 before you dial a phone number. I think everybody that watches YT knows the the drill. And actually that's one of the things I LIKE about your channel is you don't say it after every video. TBH it becomes really annoying to hear it after after every video. Most of the YT channels I sub to dont say it and its refreshing....
You won’t hear it from me very often… Just a reminder every once in a while for people who don’t know.