Happy 2nd birthday to my Spesh Stumjumper hardtail. She’s carried me safely through many a ride, in fact she’s been my main bike throughout the two years I’ve had her. I’m begining to lose count, but I reckon this must be my fourth Stumpy. To my mind the Stumpjumper hardtail is the XC race frame par excellence. It feels fast, and by golly it is fast. Ask anyone who’s ever owned one, and if you ain’t never owned one then you ain’t never rode an MTB. Anyway, as it’s her birthday I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how she’s wearing.

Superficially she’s lookin’ good, she’s been well cared for, I’m fastidious about bike care. The only marks on her are transit marks from her forays into France. I’ve made no upgrades to her, so she’s pretty much a stock bike, bit’s have worn, and been replaced as you’d expect. Two years riding in all sorts of weather and terrain has taken it’s toll as follows…

First of all, the FSA headset has never been touched (apart from lubing), and is as smooth as new. Likewise the LX shifters, and front half of the cable outers. The brakes have never needed bleeding, and the wheels rims are still round and straight.

Front Wheel – Specialized Stout hub, 28 spoker, light as a feather, straight as a dye, has only needed one set of bearings that took around 10 minutes to fit.

Rear Wheel – Shimano LX, has needed new bearings and cones, plus freehub body. One broken spoke replaced. I reckon this is the achilles heel of the bike.

Fox Forks – RL80s have performed faultlessly. When I noticed a small amount of play in the bushes I sent them off for a rebuild. No signs of wear on the stauncions, still going strong.

Saddle – Halfway through it’s second winter it was starting to look a bit tatty, nothing wrong with it, but like I said, I’m fastidious, I had the chance to replace it, so I did.

Front mech – Last September, it fell apart. It had taken a few knocks, and I had straingtened it a few times, but finally I had to replace it.

Bottom Bracket – Octalink, can’t beat ’em last ages. Been changed once.

Drive Chain – 4 chains, 2 cassettes, one set of rings, one set of jockey wheels. Not bad considering what it’s been through. Bear in mind that the middle and granny rings are steel (slight weight penalty, but last much longer).

Brakes – Three sets of pads. When the first set wore out I tried some EBC ones that seemed to last no time at all. Went back to shimano ones, much better.

To sum up, not bad considering the work she’s done. She’s due for a birthday makeover. She’ll get new chain, cassette and rings, also a new set of disc pads and discs. That’ll see her ready for some early spring action. Bring it on!!!