I had the pleasure of hanging out with some cool people not long ago. I really didn’t want to hang out, but they didn’t have enough bikes for me to actually get to ride very much. I guess it was a combination of people being greedy, not enough bikes, and possibly not enough communication of people waiting for the bike that you would be taking out.
All that said, I got to ride a Camber and the S-Works Stumpjumper with SRAM XX1. I’ll talk about the Camber first because it will be short and sweet. I don’t know why Specialized makes it. I’m not impressed one bit. I can tell you when they had a 26″ model it made a lot of sense. Now, it’s just too close to a Stumpjumper. Bottom line, the Camber and the Stumpjumper should not share the same size wheels.
As for the Stumpjumper, I didn’t like it. I don’t like long-travel 29ers. It really rode like throwing a saddle on a pig. They don’t make sense. A large part of the advantage of big wheels is being able to use shorter suspension travel, lightening it up overall. In the best case scenario, you could use a hardtail instead of a full suspension. So, perhaps if you feel the need to ride a downhill bike on your local XC trail, this could be the bike for you. If not, don’t buy the hype.
I just want to add a disclaimer; This in no way reflects the quality of the bikes or parts. If you’ve talked to me or read some of my other posts, you’ll know I’m a huge fan of Specialized. Their warranty, service, parts, and customer service are not matched by anyone in the industry currently.
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