The Specialized Stumpjumper EVO Comp Alloy is extremely popular due to its modern versatility and broad availability. This complete bike comes equipped with some great parts to give you a great trail experience for your buck. The Fox 36 Rhythm fork, Fox Performance Float X, SRAM NX Eagle drivetrain and SRAM Code R brakes give you great performance for your money. But, there are definitely some upgrades that will noticeably improve your on-trail experience. In this article, I will share our top 3 upgrades to the Stumpjumper EVO Comp Alloy along with some noteworthy runner-ups.

• Upgrading the brake levers will increase braking power and feel.

• Upgrading the shifter will immediately improve the feel of your shifting.

• The handlebars can be improved to increase feel and lower weight.

Whether you’re a seasoned rider who likes the geometry and package of the Stumpy EVO Comp Alloy, you’re bound to catch the mod bug and feel the itching desire to upgrade the performance of your new bike. While the upgrade options are endless, we’re going to break this down into 3 sections or “waves” of upgrades. These will be grouped by immediate changes, and the first and second wave of performance upgrades.

The Specialized Stumpy EVO Alloy Comp's spec of components is pretty good right out of the box, but as you ride and progress, you will likely desire more performance from the bike as well

The first thing you will need to do is purchase pedals.

Most all bikes, come with what are called “test-ride pedals'' which are just a cheap, plastic pedal meant to pedal the bike in the parking lot and get a feel for it. We don’t recommend riding these on the trail, but instead, immediately installing proper pedals.

If you ride clipped in, you likely have your own pedals to install. But if you’re a flat pedal rider, you will want to install adequately grippy flat pedals so your feet don’t instantly slip off which can cause injury on the trail. We recommend starting with composite pedals like the OneUp Components Composite Pedals for a great budget option, or the Deity Deftrap Pedals which have a nice concave surface for your footbed to grip into. There are many composite pedals out there, but those two are a great bang for your buck options.

Pedals like the Diety Deftrap are an excellent choice offering great performance and value. Unlike the test-ride pedals, you won't be slipping off of these.

The second thing we recommend doing is checking if the bike shop set up your new bike’s tires as tubeless.

The Stumpy EVO's tires are tubeless-ready, meaning the only thing you need to do is install the tubeless valves, put in some tubeless tire sealant, and pump them up. Tubeless tires save weight, drastically decrease the likelihood of getting flat tires, and make the bike ride more smooth since gives your tires more ability to conform over rough terrain.

Lastly, check to see if you like the grips.

Grips are very affordable, and are something you can likely afford to upgrade before even leaving the shop. If you feel as if the stock grips are either too soft or too firm for your liking, or the grip pattern is just uncomfortable, try some aftermarket grips to see if you like those better. We highly recommend MTB grips like the ODI Elite Pro, PNW Loam Grips or a number of models from Deity.

Grips are often looked past, but remember that your grips and pedals are where you are always making contact with on the bike. We recommend feeling comfortable and confident with your two major touch points as much as possible.

After buying your bike, you probably hit the trails immediately. If you’re a newer rider, you may even feel like the bike feels perfect from the get go. Eventually, however, you may start to feel certain areas of the bike could benefit from improvements over time. I joined forces with the crew at the shop here at The Lost Co, and we all came to agreements on what we would change first, so here is what we recommend.

First, we would upgrade the brake levers of the stock Code R to the SRAM Code RSC Brake Levers.

You’ll often hear us mention that the SRAM Code brakes are some of our favorites on the market, but we’re referring to the Code RSC’s. The Code R’s, however, lack some of the technology packed into the RSC model. “R” stands for Reach Adjust, “S” stands for SwingLink, and “C” stands for Contact Adjust. The Code R just has reach adjustment, is a very simple lever design other than that. The RSC’s SwingLink is an internal mechanism that increases the brake’s modulation and power output. This feature alone is worth the upgrade. With the SwingLink, you will immediately notice a more crisp, precise brake lever feel with more power output and modulation than the Code R.

We promise, this upgrade will not let you down.

This is the type of gift that keeps on giving as it will future-proof your bike setup as your riding improves. Not only will this immediately improve your experience when slowing down, but that leads to more confidence on the bike. More confidence leads to more aggressive riding. With the RSC levers, you now have some of the best brakes on the market to slow you down with your crazy descents. The calipers between the Code R and RSC are exactly the same besides the finish (R=matte black, RSC=gloss black) so just installing the RSC levers truly transforms your Code R’s into the top-tier RSC model for a fraction of the price of upgrading the entire brake.

Turn your Code R's in the Code RSC's simply by installing RSC levers for more power, modulation, and adjustment.

While you have your brakes apart for the lever installation, we also recommend peeking at the brake pads to ensure you do not have organic brake pads. Depending on the OEM factory, we’ve seen certain brakes get organic, certain get semi-metallic and certain get metallic. If you have organic, definitely switch those out to a metallic brake pad which will increase stopping power, decrease brake fade and add longevity. If you have no idea what organic or metallic means, do not fret, we broke all the different types of brake pads down and what you can expect from each.

Second, we would upgrade the shifter to either the SRAM X01 or SRAM GX shifter.

This complete bike comes with a full SRAM NX Eagle drivetrain, which is designed for decent performance while keeping the price way down. While the entire drivetrain can be upgraded, this is costly and even requires changing your rear hub’s driver (which can be tricky to track down). What we would do is just work with the NX drivetrain and make it feel as good as possible.

The first part of the drivetrain we would tackle is the shifter, which is the single part of the drivetrain that you are constantly touching. The NX Eagle shifter is constructed out of mostly plastic parts both internally and externally. GX is very similar, but uses a metal down-shift lever and has some slight internal upgrades. The GX Eagle shifter feels slightly better than the NX, and costs around $50.

Jumping up to the X01 Eagle shifter, however, is a true upgrade which will make your NX drivetrain feel much more crisp and precise. The X01 Eagle shifter’s down-shift lever uses a bearing with adjustable positioning, the internal mechanisms are upgraded with a nicer spring and more precise ratchet teeth. The X01 Eagle shifter costs under $100, and will be a noticebly pleasant improvement in your entire experience of shifting gears.

Upgrading to an X01 Shifter is quick and easy with a huge payoff in the feel and quality of your shifting.

Third, we would upgrade the bike’s stock handlebars to either a nice alloy or carbon fiber, bar depending on your budget.

The stock bars are not a performance component, and really just intended to keep the cost of the complete bike down. These bars feature a very thick material that is not only downright heavy, but it also just feels odd on the trail. Entry-level handlebars like these tend to either ride too stiff or too flexible, leading to discomfort throughout your hands and upper body while riding through chunky terrain.

Just past your grips are the handlebars themselves, and a nice handlebar definitely makes the bike just feel all around better. Starting around $80 are some performance alloy handlebars like the RaceFace Turbine R, which we’ve had plenty of experience with over the years. Their construction is not only lightweight, but they also ride very smooth with an excellent level of comfort and precision in your steering.

If the alloy bars sound nice, then consider an upgrade from those - carbon fiber handlebars. While they do cost more, carbon bars are a popular choice due to their weight-savings and ultra comfortable feel on the trail. The OneUp Components Carbon Handlebar are extremely popular for exactly these reasons. They ride very smooth due to their profile/shape, which is optimized for just the right amount of flex and compliance to absorb chatter and vibration. The weight savings of handlebars is also important because it’s one of the highest points on the bike, and higher-up the weight is from your center of gravity, the more it affects how heavy the bike feels overall. Plus, they just look pretty dang cool with a sleek design and matte black appearance. You can also add a little color with a OneUp Handlebar Decal Kit. Either way, upgrading to a nice aluminum or carbon handlebar will decrease weight and immediately improve how comfortable and precise your bike feels.

Carbon handle bars, like the OneUp Carbon Bar and alloy handle bars, the the RaceFace Turbine R, will increase comfort and provide more precise steering.

So you’ve ridden your bike for weeks, maybe even months, and you want to take your bike to the next level. At this point, it’s fair to say the mod bug has officially burrowed itself under your skin. Here’s what we would recommend after you’ve reached the point of figuring out exactly how you like to ride, and over time you may have found some weak points of the bike.

Touching briefly on brakes again, you may want even more stopping power and you’re aware how every bit helps. Upgrading to the SRAM HS2 rotors, which are are thicker at 2.0mm, translates to a slightly more firm bite point and lever feel. Since there is more material with the thicker design they will also resist heat more on long descents, which leads to less brake fade and more consistency.

Beyond that, what we’ve seen as the weakest spot of this specific Stumpjumper build are the wheels.

If you do upgrade your wheels, this is a great time to also upgrade your rear cassette to shed weight and increase shift quality.

The stock wheels use a HG style hub driver which only works with the NX model of SRAM Eagle cassettes, but during your wheel upgrade you can move to the SRAM XD style driver which accepts the GX, X01 and XX1 model of cassettes. The GX Eagle Cassette costs around $230, and its entire design will enable your drivetrain to shift more crisply and smoothly; all while shedding a few grams. However, the X01 Cassette will increase that shifting performance even more, and its X-Dome design leads to weight savings of half a pound over the NX cassette (which is huge in MTB world). This is also unsprung weight, which usually makes more of a noticeable difference when it comes to complete performance of the bike and its suspension.

While these cassettes might look very similar, the X01 (right) increases shift quality and decreases weight compared to the GX (left).

Before we leave the topic of wheels, I will also talk about the tires connected to the wheels.

While the stock Specialized Grid tires aren’t necessarily bad, there are better options out there, depending on how aggressive you ride and your weight. If you’re having issues with getting pinch flats or feel the stock tires are too squirmy, now would be the time to upgrade to something more durable and sturdy.

A Maxxis tire in Double Down casing, or Schwalbe in Super Gravity in the rear would likely help. You may even feel the need for a CushCore tire insert if you feel like you’re hitting your rim while charging through rough and rocky trails.

We have extensive resources on Maxxis Tires, Schwalbe Tires, and CushCore.

Lastly, we would put some effort into making the suspension performance improved since suspension is really one of the main components which leads to the overall performance of a full-suspension mountain bike.

Luckily, the stock Fox 36 Rhythm fork and Float X Performance shock perform quite well. If you think your fork is good, but not great, you can upgrade the damper with the GRIP2 Damper Upgrade Kit to have the same damper as the most expensive Fox Factory 36 fork. You will now have low and high speed compression, and low and high speed rebound for a more accurate setup procedure.

Beyond our recommendations above, there are many parts we did not touch on, and we did not cover scenarios involving broken parts while riding. Of course, if you break a certain component then you will need to replace it, and you might be able to upgrade it at the same time. If you have any specific questions on either any of the parts we covered or did not cover in this article, feel free to contact us at The Lost Co as we are more than happy to help you create the perfect bike that is best for you and how you like to ride.

Happy Trails!

Got questions? Feel free to shoot us an email or give us a call!

360-306-8827

sales@thelostco.com