It’s considered a gravel bike, but the new Specialized has something in common with vintage mountain bikes. Obviously, the new bike offers better performance in nearly every regard, but it’s the versatility that links it to the past. In the early days of Specialized’ first professional team, Team Stumpjumper, the team raced on pink StumpJumper mountain bikes outfitted with ATB drop bars and knobby tires. A bike that eventually led to the development of the RockCombo.
In a way, the new Specialized Crux is similar. Technically a gravel bike, the Crux now pulls double duty as a ‘cross racer thanks to its minimalist, super light design. At the same time, you can load it up with 700c x 47mm or 650b x 2.1″ tires and go tackle true-off-road terrain. Like those early bikes, the new Crux is designed to ride just about anything with style and speed.
Which is exactly why Specialized is honoring those early pink bikes with a modern “CruxJumper”.
Like the RockCombo tribute Diverge builds from Unbound, the CruxJumper is mostly about the throwback paint job. Recreating the original pink hue of the Stumpjumper Team, the CruxJumper Team is ready for action as-is.
This particular build includes a SRAM RED AXS eTap 1x drivetrain, Specialized Roval carbon wheels, and Tracer Pro tires.
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Vintage Specialized Stumpjumper Team
Next to the CruxJumper in the booth, Specialized also had the bike’s inspiration—the original Stumpjumper Team model. We’re not sure if it’s fully original, but we’re hoping to get some more information on it soon.
While the original equipment of the bike got the job done, most riders probably aren’t going to want to go back to cantilever brakes and bar-end shifters.
