On a trip to Phoenix I rented what was described as a “premium full suspension bike.” What they had in my size (XL) turned out to be one of these in S5:
www.specialized.com
Yes, admittedly a rental bike, so you expect a few issues and try to forgive. And yes, the obvious corrosion in the bottom bracket area indicated a certain general lack of regard as to routine maintenance on the part of the shop that rented it to me.
However… this thing is an abomination. Aren’t we fond of talking about how it’s hard to buy a bad mountain bike these days? The Stumpjumper Alloy with SX Eagle is a glorified department store bike that retails for north of $2200. In particular:
- The dropper action was so stiff that it was very difficult to even drop the post with a thumb press - sometimes a whole hand was required. By the end of the ride my thumb was sore.
- The SX Eagle group would routinely refuse to shift at all despite many adjustments to cable tension. Often it would suddenly remember that it was supposed to shift nearly 30 seconds after I asked it shift, throwing the chain wildly around at the worst possible moment. I have seen vastly better performance from a $17 Shimano Altus derailleur. I also noted with grim amusement the Truvativ bottom bracket - SX Eagle must be the lone holdout for this obsolete garbage.
- But the star of this embarrassing show was the Tektro Gemini Comp brakes, which were without a doubt the worst brakes I have ever used on a bicycle, and that includes the used cantilever brakes on the Bianchi Volpe beater I used to ride to college classes in late 90s. They could not even suggest that the bike slow down, but were also very grabby / which required an adjustment to riding style where I would have to ride the brake hard well in advance of any turn or descent. Thankfully, Phoenix riding doesn’t really include any descent longer than 3 seconds - had this been on more alpine terrain the brakes would have made the bike legitimately dangerous. I can’t rule out that maintenance issues played a part here, but I have Shimano hydro brakes that I’ve neglected for years before and they’ve never behaved remotely like this.
The suspension was hot garbage but with the other issues I barely noticed. It’s shocking to me that Specialized put their name on a crap barge like this and then sells it for north of 2 grand. I’ve ridden budget bikes from Marin that are multiple leagues of quality above this one. What’s happening here Spesh?
Stumpjumper Alloy
The Stumpjumper Alloy brings all-new suspension kinematics and progressive geometry into a full-alloy package that's both lightweight and extremely dura...
Yes, admittedly a rental bike, so you expect a few issues and try to forgive. And yes, the obvious corrosion in the bottom bracket area indicated a certain general lack of regard as to routine maintenance on the part of the shop that rented it to me.
However… this thing is an abomination. Aren’t we fond of talking about how it’s hard to buy a bad mountain bike these days? The Stumpjumper Alloy with SX Eagle is a glorified department store bike that retails for north of $2200. In particular:
- The dropper action was so stiff that it was very difficult to even drop the post with a thumb press - sometimes a whole hand was required. By the end of the ride my thumb was sore.
- The SX Eagle group would routinely refuse to shift at all despite many adjustments to cable tension. Often it would suddenly remember that it was supposed to shift nearly 30 seconds after I asked it shift, throwing the chain wildly around at the worst possible moment. I have seen vastly better performance from a $17 Shimano Altus derailleur. I also noted with grim amusement the Truvativ bottom bracket - SX Eagle must be the lone holdout for this obsolete garbage.
- But the star of this embarrassing show was the Tektro Gemini Comp brakes, which were without a doubt the worst brakes I have ever used on a bicycle, and that includes the used cantilever brakes on the Bianchi Volpe beater I used to ride to college classes in late 90s. They could not even suggest that the bike slow down, but were also very grabby / which required an adjustment to riding style where I would have to ride the brake hard well in advance of any turn or descent. Thankfully, Phoenix riding doesn’t really include any descent longer than 3 seconds - had this been on more alpine terrain the brakes would have made the bike legitimately dangerous. I can’t rule out that maintenance issues played a part here, but I have Shimano hydro brakes that I’ve neglected for years before and they’ve never behaved remotely like this.
The suspension was hot garbage but with the other issues I barely noticed. It’s shocking to me that Specialized put their name on a crap barge like this and then sells it for north of 2 grand. I’ve ridden budget bikes from Marin that are multiple leagues of quality above this one. What’s happening here Spesh?
