Winning Bike: Curtis Keene's Specialized Stumpjumper EVO 29 15

XX1 with a dangler.

Wake me up when a 29er makes the EWS podium,then I might pay attention to this.
Marketing doesn't turn my cranks,sorry.

Okay, wake up. Tracy Moseley won the first EWS round on a Trek Remedy 29.

Thanks! I have one eye opened now,let's see what happens.

Im so confused. First you sell me on the Enduro 29 and now I want to buy the Stumpy 29. Geez I wish, Specialized marketers and racers would just pick the same winning bike all the time so I would know which one to buy! Winning bikes are the only bikes I buy and all I buy are winning bikes!

Winning with a shock you can't even buy for the bike and specialized doesn't put on a stock bike!

If you want to be anti-Specialized, just say so. Pros run black box, prototype, development, custom stuff all the time. It's both part of their job and one of the perks. According to your logic, Gwin should be barred from running his Fox 40 and Fox rear shock. That sounds silly, doesn't it?

I'm actually not against specialized at all. In fact, every bike I own is a specialized! I have a stumpjumper evo, a demo 8, and even a Tarmac! It just kills me that every picture of a pro specialized riders bike has a rockshox rear shock, including the prototype pictures before it was even released and yet specialized refuses to put on on a bike! It kills me!

In fact, with enduro getting more popular, it would be nice to add a shock like the rc3 or even the fox float x to handle it better than it already does.

Perhaps you should frame your frustration as a question rather than a criticism, then? I, too, have a Tarmac. S-works SL2 ca. 2009 in pristine minty condition waiting to be built up. My first mtb was a 92 Stumpy M2 rigid I bought when I was 13. Still have it. About a year and a half ago I got back into the sport after about a 15 year absence for various reasons. I built up an S-works Epic with a full XX kit. About this time last year, I realized I was more into down than up, sold the Epic, and bought a 12 Enduro Expert Evo that was truly an amazing machine. Because of the proprietary shock, I ended up buying my current ride, a Yeti SB-95, over the winter while my proprietary shock was away at Fox for an annual. Sold the Evo when the shock came back. When I send my Yeti's shock in for an annual, I can borrow a demo shock from a local shop, or buy any 7.5x2 shock on the market, drop the right mounting hardware in it, and keep on riding. Zero involuntary down time was and is a primary concern of mine when looking at bikes. I still love the Big Red S, but why the proprietary shocks? Other than the Brain setup and the bikes it's attached to, I have yet to see Spesh put out a truly legit (non-marketing or market-coercing) reason for the proprietary shocks.

Wow MrPower no Diet Coke at the vending machine this morning?

if you think elite pros run "stock" suspension, you are greatly mistaken

In order to get a win Curtis has to abandon the "enduro ready" Enduro 29er and ride the stumpy instead. Hilarious!

Come ride the course and make up your own mind before you start to snark, eh? Every course is different. Keene has his choice of bike to run and after practicing on the course, this is what he chose. The Canyons course has a lot of pedaling and just like there is no need for anything more than a 5" 29er, you won't find any fast times thrown down by anybody riding anything over 6" in a 26er or 275.

KEEEEE!!!!

Keeping the "dream" alive. Well done CK.