Troy Brosnan's and Jared Graves' Specialized S-Works Stumpjumpers - EWS Round 4, La Thuile, Italy
Jared Graves (left) rides a 29-inch-wheel, 135mm-travel Specialized S-Works FSR Stumpjumper. Troy Brosnan is racing the 150mm-travel, 27.5-inch-wheel version.
PB's Matt Wragg interviewed Team Specialized's Troy Brosnan and Jared Graves at La Thuile to talk about how they prepared their bikes for EWS Round Four in Italy. Brosnan, who is currently second in the World Cup DH series, is taking a "break" from his day job to race enduro. His weapon of choice is the 27.5-inch-wheeled S-Works Stumpjumper, while Graves, a former World Cup DH pro and EWS champion, chose the 29-inch-wheeled version. With both men coming to the EWS from successful DH careers, it was interesting to learn about the similarities and peculiarities of their race bikes, suspension setups, and component choices.
Troy says he normally rides a medium-sized frame when he is back home, but he chose a large for this event to give his Stumpjumper a more downhill bike feel to match the severity of the terrain. To that purpose, he chose a 170-millimeter-stroke RockShox Lyrik fork to slacken out the front end of the 150mm-travel chassis, which is suspended by a conventional-looking Monarch Plus RC3 shock. At 143 pounds (65kg), the diminutive downhiller says that he runs his fork at 25 to 30 percent sag - a bit softer setup than he uses for his Demo - with two, maybe three air volume spacers to prevent bottoming. Brosnan admitted that they were still working on the shock tune, so he could not give us any useful numbers.
Brosnan is riding 11-speed SRAM XX1...
...With the levers relatively close-in to fit his small hands.
Brosnan runs 2.3-inch Specialized Butcher tires, presently with the Grid casings set at his DH race pressures of 27psi for the front and 30 to 31 for the rear, because, "Butchers take a fair bit of pressure to work. ...You can lower the pressure to get more grip, but then they don't roll that good..." If he needed more grip, Brosnan mentioned that he was leaning towards downhill casings for the race. "I'm wondering, going between the Grid casing and the downhill casing. That's my main focus on tires right now. ...With the downhill casing the knobs are a bit taller and you got a bit more deeper tread, so you probably want to keep the same pressures."
Barely enough room for a bottle under that Monarch Plus reservoir shock in Brosnan's large-sized frame.
...And his 150mm RockShox Reverb Stealth dropper couldn't be any taller. Slammed to the stops, it barely fits his pedaling height.
"My brakes, that's the main thing that I like to have really good. I have little hands so I gotta run my levers in real close, but then I also like them to bite real soon. So, my poor mechanic has a hard time trying to bleed them and doing pad advances, but we've definitely got them dialed right now." Brosnan uses SRAM Code calipers for their braking power, paired with Guide levers, which he prefers for their feel. Rotors are 180mm in the rear and 200mm up front.
Brosnan trusts carbon handlebars...
...But he doesn't trust carbon rims.
For enduro racing, Troy like his handlebar a bit lower for better pedaling. He uses a 38 millimeter rise for DH and 30-millimeter rise for his EWS bike. And, he is particular about his rims. No carbon, please. He likes the lighter feel of carbon (he rides Renthal Lite carbon bars), but doesn't trust the durability of carbon rims for descending, so his race bike gets 30-millimeter-wide DT Swiss EX 1501 aluminum wheels - the same rims he uses for his DH bike. Troy wants his saddle slammed for the steeps, so he uses a 150-millimeter RockShox Reverb Stealth dropper - which would not have been possible if the seat tube of his large-sized frame was any taller. At full insertion, the post exactly matches Brosnan's extended pedaling position.
Lyrik 170mm-stroke fork up front, and 150mm of rear-wheel travel.
SRAM Code calipers for power, driven by Guide levers for feel.
Troy's drivetrain components are pretty much out of the carton: an eleven-speed SRAM XX1 ensemble, including a 32-tooth chainring, backed up by a Specialized top guide. Pedals are HT, which Brosnan reportedly has been using since the Gwin era. Overall, Brosnan's bike is a straight-forward build, but the devil, as the cliché goes, is always in the details. The only unanswered question was; "Why he chose a Stumpjumper over the Specialized Enduro 650?" Perhaps Jared Grave's answer applies to Brosnan as well.
Looks like he's running a 32-tooth chainring under a Specialized top guide.
Troy was among the first DH pros to choose HT pedals. Graves also uses HT.
Why the Stumpjumper 29?
"I had one at home since January, and I had been meaning to try it out. When I got home from Ireland, I had a couple of days off. I was sort of pissed off with the trip in general and just decided to push the reset button on the season, so to speak. My bike was still sitting in the box, and I wanted to go for a bit of a spin, and this was sitting there, so I jumped on it and, honestly, from the instant I first got on the dirt on it, I absolutely loved it. I wanted to hate it. I've always been kinda’ against 29ers. But, I think there are all sorts of stereotypes about 29ers - they don't corner well and they're not good in the tight stuff - but that was from years ago when geometry was not figured out yet. I can honestly ride it just like a 650 or 27.5, or whatever you call them. It's fun, its playful and the sizing of this bike in particular - it just fits me really well. It's spot on and I'm loving it right now."
Graves gets SRAM's X0-level Eagle 12-speed transmission powered by a 34-tooth chainring. (He runs a 36t on his 27.5 bikes.)
Eagle's hyper-engineered hooked tooth profile did not deter Graves from adding a proper MRP chainguide.
When asked why he chose a Stumpjumper over an Enduro, Graves said that initially, he liked the geometry of the Stumpjumper over the Enduro, but the reality was that there was no choice - Specialized has no Enduro 29s left, and he intimated that he has yet to ride an Enduro 29, so he can't provide a comparison between the two bikes. Will Graves "convert" to 29-inch wheels? Not for the entire season, it seems. Graves says he will ride the big-wheel Stumpy for the next two races and probably switch back to his 27.5" wheeled bike for the Whistler EWS.
Graves says that only two RockShox Super Deluxe shocks have been modified with special linkage hardware to fit the Stumpjumper 29. The position of the air can is reversed, which suggests that the incorporation of the metric shock is still a work in progress at Specialized.
Graves rides a 160-millimeter-stroke RockShox Lyrik fork and its 135-millimeter-travel rear suspension is powered by one of RockShox's new metric shock, a Super Deluxe RC3, modified to work with the Stumpjumper's yoke-style shock extension. Graves says that there may only be two in existence, and curiously, the damper is reversed on his bike - which (considering how late it is in their development cycle) provides a strong hint that the next generation of Stumpjumpers and possibly, Enduros as well, will not use the extension at all.
Fork pressure is set at 92psi with three volume spacers. Graves says that he simply tells RockShox how he wants the shock to work and lets them do the magic - but his last pressure reading was 210psi. For comparison's sake, Graves weighs 178 pounds (81kg).
SRAM Guide brake levers well inboard, powering Code calipers.
Graves always runs a 200mm rotor up front.
Tires of choice are Specialized Butcher 2.3-inch with the tougher-but-not-quite-DH-strength, Grid casings. Graves says they weigh about 1000 grams each and he runs 26 pounds up front and 29 to 30psi in the back. "They feel too squirmy when you start getting close to the 24psi range."
Graves is a fan of carbon rims on his 29er, but admits that he switches back and forth from carbon to aluminum rims when he feels that there is a chance he'll break a wheel. "You can't deny how nice carbon wheels run and how nice they feel."
"I'm running the old ghetto tubeless - that was my go-to setup. I had that everywhere in 2014 and 2013. I hadn't run it since tires and rims have become more tubeless specific. Hopefully it helps prevent flats. It also gives that buffer between the tire and the rim - it takes the sting out. What people don't realize is that for us, mostly it’s a case of we don’t get our flats by slashing the tire. Nine times out of ten it's pinching the entire tire, like we would a tube. It used to be a way for non-tubeless tires and rims to seal the air, but now, it's a way of making a protective buffer between the tire and rim - hopefully, less chance of breaking a rim, and less chance of flatting a tire. That's the theory. We'll see how it goes."
Narrow bars: Graves says he overhangs the grips to get them to 750mm wide. The stem is inverted, and there is no spacer.
The IRcc Command Post only has a 125mm stroke (unless Graves is rocking a prototype). We expected a 150mm dropper.
Ghetto tubeless: Graves says that except for the past two seasons, he had always used sliced inner-tubes to convert his wheels - primarily to cushion the tires in order to stave off pinch flats. For EWS number four this season, he returned to the tried-and-true conversion.
SRAM's Eagle twelve speed ensemble is almost as hard to come by as 29-inch Specialized Enduros. Graves' bike has the X0 version, backed up by a full-span MRP chainguide. There are whispers in the pits that the Eagle chainring's hooked tooth profile does a less than perfect job of retaining the chain, and while our experience does not substantiate that, we will keep a close watch to verify that rumor. Graves says that he runs a 36-tooth chainring on his 27.5-wheel bikes, but drops down to a 34-tooth on his 29er.
Graves has no issue with carbon rims on his 29er, but admits that he'll switch to aluminum rims for rough courses when he is on his 27.5-inch-wheel bike.
Both Graves and Brosnan run Butcher Grid 2.3-inch tires front and rear, but if practice dictates otherwise, they may switch to the DH versions.
Graves is a big boy, and he speaks well of his brakes, which are also a combination of SRAM Code calipers, powered by Guide levers. On big courses like La Thuile, Graves runs 200-millimeter rotors on both ends - but will sometimes switch to a 180-millimeter rear rotor to reduce the possibility of bending one in the rocks. Conversely, he prefers narrower handlebars than present fashion dictates. He overhangs his grips slightly to extend the width of his Renthal Fatbar Lites to 750 millimeters. His Renthal stem is flipped upside down and the spacer is eliminated to mitigate the extra height created by the 29-inch wheels.
"To be honest, they [the aluminum Renthal bars] were the only ones we had in the van. I'm not really finicky about alloy or carbon. I run the carbon's usually, 'cause they're strong as hell and they're lighter, so why not? I've never had an issue with them. They have the exact same rise and sweep and they feel the same ...and consistency is all that matters to me."
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"my poor mechanic has a hard time trying to bleed them and doing pad advances"
"doesn't trust the durability of carbon rims for descending"
"the Eagle chainring's hooked tooth profile does a less than perfect job of retaining the chain"
"overhangs his grips slightly to extend the width of his Renthal Fatbar Lites to 750 millimeters"
I am sure the sponsors are absolutely delighted with this article!
Sure both Troy and Jared are Gods and they would smoke me on semi-slicks but... Maxxis iz bettahz!
In ALL of specialized there isn't a single Enduro 29?
Maybe you aren't really giving the athletes themselves trouble, but when the sponsors come and see this as the top-voted comment, I can imagine a memo being issued to the PR guys: "Double-check any bike check articles for negative commentary!"
Keep MTB honest: Be kind to those that are.
Last year a lot of stores were left with a lot of '15s when Specialized was wanting them to buy '16s, hence why I was able to snag a '15 brand new for $2400(thankyouverymuch), and why dealers didn't order as many this year,and Specialized didn't produce as many as last year.
Rumor Control has it that a 27.5+ is coming down the pipeline-shocking, eh?
But are you telling me that there is not one house to rent in all of Tuscany?!"
- Stumpy
- Enduro 29
- Enduro 650B
- undecided, Jared knows what he is doing
- Jared should quit Specialized and go back to Yeti
- Enduro should be ridden blind and uphills should be timed too. EWS not a real Enduro
- I feel like I want to masturbate in Batman suit tonight, but if Taylor Swift walked into the room naked and wanted to have sex with me, I'd ask her for anal stimulation due to my male insecurities, manifesting themselves by telling World Champions what to ride .
let me know if you wanna borrow the batman suit sometime
@chize sorry for sounding like a douche-turd, no hard feelings, I just tried to be funny. To myself...
Oxymoron why neither Troy or Jared or Specialised didnt want the Enduro 275 for the big course!
Well I guess the results will tell us at the end and if marketing won the day, rider won the day, or rider and correct package won the day!
Personally Id like to see Enduro brought back to 2013 setup, one bike for entire season, stickers on frames forks rims etc, to show no big budget cheating, stop using the EWS like a marketing tool and get back to honest Enduro riding!
Blind courses no practice for days and days, destroying local trails and giving pros advantages, one course walk then race, one bike for season or bike type .
Tracey Mosely used a 29er correct me if I wrong for all 3 of her championships and didnt mess with the perfect ingrediance for her! Proves it imo!
EWS dont become the UCI........you r fast going along that trail....!
A model trek has now dropped!
Cause the answer is "NO" that's not what it takes... that doesn't have anything to do with organizing a race and I'm not sure what point you were trying to make. Maybe you replied to the wrong thread?
IMO, what attracted people to Enduro racing was that it was racing that was most like the riding most of us do. One bike, ride up to ride down. Don't go back and to the van after each lap and change out shocks or wheels or tires OR Bikes.... You run what you brung...
I miss Graves + Yeti.
This time it gives the impression that he is not really 100% involved in his set-up, like not the good shock, not the good link, last minute bar fix, etc...
La Thuile is moreover one of the steepest EWS event and he his running a trail bike instead of more downhill oriented bike like most of its competitors.
I remember Anneke Beerten telling she was asked by specialized to run the enduro 29 instead of the 27.5. I wonder if there is the same kind of pressure on Graves to run the stumpjumper given the incoming release of next-gen enduro.
Also, it really sounds like the Guide RE brakes (originally eBike marketed, but a Guide R lever set paired with Code calipers) is the hot ticket, and that SRAM will likely come out with the high end version of that brake (RSC Lever set, top end Code calipers, titanium/carbon hardware as appropriate) and brand them Code Ultimates or something.
This is actually a pretty cool bike check to me.
Ruh Roh.
I was thinking up picking up a spare frame before they come out with the new one as a mini DH bike. Not that I know anything but I strongly suspect the new Enduro will be a mini-DH sled style "Enduro" race bike, rather than the super aggressive trail slayer/Enduro bike it is now.
So just tell us about the new Bike already! This new Bike needs to kick YT, SC, and all the other pretenders square in the nuts, and grab back that top Enduro weapon crown.
1. Pro Core which costs US$230/ C$300 and weighs a pound.
2. ghetto tubeless probably costs nothing if you mooch some dead tubes at the bike park "dead tubes and tyres" bin and weighs 1/4 pound.
I wonder which system works best?
I've was running ghetto tubeless for two years and those "pinching the entire tire" Graves described are exactly the only kind of flats I kept getting.
I didn't realize you were just here to bitch about high prices and low prices and the supplies.
My bad, ignore me & carry on.
I didn't realize you were just being an ignorant f*ck.
My bad.
I thought Graves rode an E29 in one of the first races or press releases he did with Specialized? Also didn't realize he was still on TLD?
The Guide levers with the swing link however push the pads on the rotor faster before then increasing the lever ratio through braking, this gives a nicer feel than the standard levers (this feature is only in RS and RSC levers, not the R). Also in the guide there's a larger fluid reservoir, for a while it was all about cutting weight, then it came at the expense of fluid volume, they are going back to increasing the volume to allow the brake to self adjust better.
Also have a re-usable zip-tie so you can have the levers "pulled in" to the rider's ideal 'bite' position then do a full bleed using lots of fluid to force any air out on the caliper/ line and master cylinder.
If you are a pro and have full support this kind of thing is pretty standard (ie the perfect bleed to how the rider prefers the brakes set up).
A good shop mechanic will no doubt have his tricks to achieve the same result if you stop for long enough to ask them to do it (and bring beer). I know the boys at Fanatyk Co in Whistler are pretty good when it comes to setting up brakes to the rider-customer's ideal feel.
I really hope we see a Code Ultimate brake, which is the guide ultimate lever package as well as a guide RE-SC which would be the guide RE (e Bike marketed Guide R lever, Code caliper brake) with the RSC or RS lever package.
I'm tempted to have a play with it and see if I can improve the power through modifying the lever.
The other one is great modulation, good power, and light weight. SRAMnswer: Level Ultimate.
With the high volume sales action, and the fact that the RS levers haven't changed over time, for a fatarse like myself, running Guide RS levers on Code calipers sounds like 'the' answer, particularly if I'm on a frame which only accepts 180mm rotors out back.
Not that I'd do it of course, because it looks silly and my friends would laugh at me... ;-)
I have an Enduro 29er. Specialized purposefully dumbed down the geo on the bike, which is a real shame.
Are you recommending buying a Stumpjumper 27.5 yoke and putting it on an Epic 29 for a lower BB, and slacker HTA?
If so, cool idea. But if they are sold out, then apparently I am the last to know......
The single sided Enduro 'prototype' is a fake. I honestly can't see them moving too far from the current X frame, it's become a distinguishing feature.
I've noticed that most of the top athletes are using Code calipers. I've been itching to know why that is.
When they are ready they can come play with the Big Boys! #E29er. Lol.
Hart second in the world cup standings?