Looking for an insane deal on a Stumpjumper 15? Pro Bike Supply has you covered! Use code "AwesomeUpgrade" and save today! https://www.probikesupply.com/collections/stumpjumper-15-expert-awesome-mtb-award-winner
The Specialized Stumpjumper won the award for “Best Trail Bike in 2025” in our Awesome MTB Trail Bike Buyers Guide, but why? The simple answer is it's a really good bike that performs great on a lot of different trails. The longer answer? Specialized did a great job of making the Stumpjumper very well versatile by making sure it could excel on a wide variety of trails by a diverse group of riders of all skill levels, leading it to be a no brainer recommendation. Confused? Let's talk about it.
The Specialized Stumpjumper 15 received a full makeover for 2025. It features 145mm of rear travel, 150mm of front travel, adjustable geo, and a new carbon link that cleans up the frame aesthetics from the previous version and adds stiffness. It also has a new rear shock designed by Specialized themselves. It’s called the Genie and Specialized claimed during the release that it was an air shock that felt like a coil. Now this is a bold claim but Specialized didn’t stop there, instead following it up with “the Stumpjumper is one bike to rule them all”. All of this proved to be very true!
Climbing:
The Stumpjumper is a very comfortable climber, sporting size proportional chainstays and a relatively steeper seat angle that allows you to make sure you are not wasting any power making your way up climbs. I constantly thought to myself how balanced the geo felt uphill, where I hardly had to shift my body weight to find the sweet spot in regards to traction.
The Genie rear shock also has a good amount of support in the initial stroke on climbs, allowing there to be minimal pedal bob, letting you run the shock in the open setting when making your way up trails. Now the Stumpjumper still has a more traction oriented suspension design, so out of the saddle hard sprints do highlight a bit of pedal bob. However it was very manageable and the bike overall is a great climber.
Downhill:
Now most people skip straight to the descents, and the Stumpjumper seems like it wants to too as soon as you open it up! The first thing I noticed about the Stumpy 15 is how playful it felt in corners. It really inspires you to kick it around and have fun while making your way down higher speed flowier sections.
The next thing I noticed was how awesome that Genie rear shock feels. As soon as I entered the chunk, the Genie felt like it had transformed into a coil shock, wanting you to push the bike more the rowdier things got. The nice thing was the end stroke to the genie still felt like it had a ton of support allowing you to still be able to play around with the bike, something that I feel is lost when I run a traditional coil shock. It’s not marketing, the Genie really is an air shock that feels like a coil!
Now where things really started to get awesome, and also what led this bike to win bike of the year, was when i started to push it in different terrain. Sure high speed trails were awesome, with a slightly lower bb and longer chainstays. However when I took the bike into steep tech that required much more precision and line choice, it became very apparent every ride that the Stumpjumper 15 was very well rounded. The higher stack height allows you to control the front end of the bike and put the Stumpy exactly where you want to on slow tech. Helping with this is also the bike's stock 64.5 degree head angle and longer reach feel. It’s not too slack, not too steep, but just right. The bike feels equally comfortable on steep tech as it does high speed downhills.
Why Did it Win?
And this is where we are going to get back to why I think the Stumpy is the best trail bike of 2025. The Stumpy 15 feels like a very relatable mountain bike. Anyone from a new rider to an experienced pro can appreciate the bike and its geo. Want to race it? Go ahead, it's plenty capable and can get even more stable with a few geo adjustments. Hate racing? The Stumpy makes a great all day trail ride bike as well. Live in BC? Awesome, the Stumpy rides great in steep tech. Want to take it to your home trails in Florida? Go ahead, the Stumpy pedals amazingly, you will be stoked!
Sometimes being well rounded is a great thing. While “Specializing” is awesome and has its place, mountain biking is a rapidly growing sport, and it's awesome to see the Stumpjumper 15 cater to a wide group of riders. Unfortunately, if you still want to run mechanical drivetrains, the carbon Stumpjumper 15 won't cater to you, but there is always the alloy one!
Great job Specialized!
-Mo Awesome
In the market for a Specialized Stumpjumper 15?
Use Coupon Code: AwesomeUpgrade
Comments