Say hello to Stumpy

Ever since Andrea and I started mountain biking in places that actually had mountains (like Pisgah or the Kingdom Trails) I've felt like my old Grey Gary (a Gary Fisher HiFi Plus) wasn't the right bike for the big descents and trails. It's been a great bike to me, never let me down including the month it spent in New Zealand. But Grey will be up for sale shortly, I'll be listing it on Kijij or Craigslist and someone else will get to enjoy riding it.

And the only reason I'm parting with Grey is because I have a new bike for 2013. It took me a while to decide on which bike I wanted, there are a lot of great bikes out there from a lot of small and large companies. Key things I wanted were for it to be a full-suspension 29er and that it had to have at least 120mm travel front and back. Those two criteria helped narrow it down. Eventually I picked the FSR Stumpjumper 29 from Specialized. I've never owned a Specialized before, it's not because I haven't liked them though. Their road and mountain bikes are used at  the top levels of the sport and the designs are outstanding.

My Stumpy (I'm sure I'll come up with a better name once I spend some time riding) is an aluminum frame, has the thru-axles that are becoming standard on a lot of mountain bikes, 130mm of travel front and back, a 2x10 drivetrain that has a wider range than my older 3x9 and some great big discs for braking on the descents.  Brand new and shiny, looks great in gloss black and red. See for yourself...

And if you're wondering about the green sign in the background it was a gift from Andrea's dad and step-mother. I am thinking I might turn it into a table for in the camper. it reads "Expert Mountain Bikes Only".