The Specialized Stumpjumper is a mountain bike produced by Specialized Bicycle Components. When it was first produced in 1981, the Stumpjumper was the first mass-production mountain bike. The Stumpjumper is still in production, although its design has changed significantly since it was first sold. Stumpjumpers have been raced professionally by riders including Christoph Sauser and Ned Overend.
Specialized started to produce the Stumpjumper in 1981, making it the first mass-production mountain bike. [1] [2] The first Stumpjumper was produced in Japan and was based on a design for a custom-made bike originally marketed by Tom Ritchey, Gary Fisher and Charles Kelly. [3] Specialized's founder Mike Sinyard has explained that the company's aim was to "make a bike on a production basis but as though it was a custom bike". The first Stumpjumpers had welded steel frames because the lugged and brazed frames that designer Tim Neenan wanted to use were not available at the time. The original bike had a modified BMX stem and handlebars based on Magura motorcycle handlebars. [4] The bike was equipped with 15-speed [5] Suntour ARX GT gears, originally designed for use on road bikes, and the Stumpjumper also featured Mafac cantilever brakes and a TA Cyclotourist chainset, both designed for touring bikes. [4] It had no suspension. The bike weighed just under 30 pounds (14 kg). [2]
After the first production run in 1981, around 500 were imported to the United States over the course of the next year. [4] [6] [7] The original Stumpjumper was sold for US$750 as a complete bike or $395 for the frame only. [4] Specialized marketed it as an affordable and versatile bike for a new sport, namely mountain biking, [4] and used the slogan "The bike for all reasons". [8] Initially, bike retailers were skeptical about the Stumpjumper, with some asking Sinyard what he was doing with a "big kids' BMX". [8] However, the first shipment of 125 bikes sold out in six days. [9] According to sports journalist Ben Hewitt, the Stumpjumper "was a resounding success" and its introduction contributed to the rapid rise in popularity of the new sport. [5]
An original Stumpjumper is displayed in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. [10] [11] A limited edition reproduction of the original Stumpjumper, featuring modern components and named the Stumpjumper Classic, was produced in 2007 to mark the bike's 25th anniversary. It was available for US$1,300. [12]
Specialized continue to produce the Stumpjumper, which, like mountain bikes in general, has evolved significantly since 1981 and seen iterations in full (front and rear) suspension and hardtail (front suspension only) options, with the former named the Stumpjumper FSR until the Stumpjumper line-up became full-suspension only. [13]
Professional mountain bikers who ride Stumpjumpers include Christoph Sauser [14] and Ned Overend. [15] Overend won the 1990 Mountain Bike World Championships – the first ever event of its kind – on a carbon-fiber prototype Stumpjumper. [2]
A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling. Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, which often makes them heavier, more complex and less efficient on smooth surfaces. These typically include a suspension fork, large knobby tires, more durable wheels, more powerful brakes, straight, wide handlebars to improve balance and comfort over rough terrain, and wide-ratio gearing optimized for topography, application and a frame with a suspension mechanism for the rear wheel. Rear suspension is ubiquitous in heavier-duty bikes and now common even in lighter bikes. Dropper seat posts can be installed to allow the rider to quickly adjust the seat height.
Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, such as air or coil-sprung shocks used as suspension, larger and wider wheels and tires, stronger frame materials, and mechanically or hydraulically actuated disc brakes. Mountain biking can generally be broken down into distinct categories: cross country, trail, all mountain, enduro, downhill and freeride.
A derailleur is a variable-ratio bicycle gearing system consisting of a chain, multiple sprockets of different sizes, and a mechanism to move the chain from one sprocket to another.
Gary Christopher Fisher is considered one of the inventors of the modern mountain bike.
A groupset or gruppo is a bicycle component manufacturer's organized collection of mechanical parts. It generally refers to all of the components that make up a bicycle excluding the bicycle frame, fork, stem, wheels, tires, and rider contact points, such as the saddle and handlebars.
A racing bicycle, also known as a road bike is a bicycle designed for competitive road cycling, a sport governed by and according to the rules of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).
A safety bicycle is a type of bicycle that became very popular beginning in the late 1880s as an alternative to the penny-farthing and is now the most common type of bicycle. Early bicycles of this style were known as safety bicycles because they were noted for, and marketed as, being safer than the high wheelers they were replacing. Even though modern bicycles use a similar design, the term is rarely used today and is considered obsolete outside circles familiar with high wheelers.
SR Suntour is a Taiwanese manufacturer of bicycle components, formed in 1988 when Osaka based SunTour (Maeda) went bankrupt and was purchased by Sakae Ringyo Company, a major Japanese maker of aluminum parts, particularly cranks and seat posts. SunTour's sales and commercial success peaked from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s.
Biopace is a tradename for a type of ovoid bicycle chain ring manufactured by Shimano from 1983 to 1993 The design was intended to help overcome the "dead zone" where the crank arms are vertical and riders have little mechanical advantage.
A freehub is a type of bicycle hub that incorporates a ratcheting mechanism.
Keith Bontrager is a motorcycle racer who became a pioneer in the development of the modern mountain bike. Between 1980 and 1995, he was president of his own Bontrager Company, which continues to develop components for Trek Bicycle Corporation after Trek bought out Bontrager.
Specialized Bicycle Components, Inc., colloquially known as and stylized as SPECIALIZED, is an American company that designs, manufactures and markets bicycles, bicycle components and related products under the brand name "Specialized", as well as the premium and professional oriented "S-works".
Bicycle Quarterly is a magazine examining the history of bicycles, their design and evolution, with emphasis on Randonneuring bicycles. Articles evaluate equipment and bicycles for performance and function, and include footnotes. The magazine was formerly known as Vintage Bicycle Quarterly.
A bicycle handlebar is the steering control for bicycles. It is the equivalent of a tiller for vehicles and vessels, as it is most often directly mechanically linked to a pivoting front wheel via a stem which in turn attaches it to the fork. Besides steering, handlebars also often support a portion of the rider's weight, depending on their riding position, and provide a convenient mounting place for brake levers, shift levers, cyclocomputers, bells, etc.
Mike Sinyard is the founder and chairman of Specialized Bicycle Components, an American manufacturer of bicycles and cycling components. In 2022, he retired as the CEO of Specialized Bicycle Components, a company he had led for 48 years.
MAFAC, or Manufacture Arvernoise de Freins et Accessoires pour Cycles, was a French manufacturer of bicycle brakes and tool kits. MAFAC was founded in post-war France under the name "Securité", which changed to MAFAC in the Autumn of 1947. Initially MAFAC made cantilever brakes, brake levers, and tool kits. Early MAFAC brakes were built in the cantilever configuration with a separate brake arm on each side, actuated by a straddle cable. Later MAFAC brakes were of a center-pull design in which a straddle cable links the two overlapping arms of the brake. Like the cantilever design, it is actuated by pulling from the center of this cable. MAFAC's rubber brake hoods, originating in the late 1940s, had built-in adjusters, allowing adjustment of the brakes while riding. The center-pull brakes were designed to clear fenders, front rack mounts, handlebar bags, and large tires. This made MAFAC brakes one of the most popular models from the late 1950s through the 1970s.
Centurion was a brand of bicycles created in 1969 by Mitchell (Mitch) M. Weiner and Junya (Cozy) Yamakoshi, who co-founded Western States Import Co. (WSI) in Canoga Park, California to design, specify, distribute and market the bicycles. The bikes themselves were manufactured initially in Japan by companies including H. Teams Company of Kobe and later in Taiwan by companies including Merida. The Centurion brand was consolidated with WSI's mountain bike brand DiamondBack in 1990. WSI ceased operations in 2000.
Bicycle drivetrain systems are used to transmit power on bicycles, tricycles, quadracycles, unicycles, or other human-powered vehicles from the riders to the drive wheels. Most also include some type of a mechanism to convert speed and torque via gear ratios.
The International Cycling History Conference (ICHC) is an annual event devoted to applying academic rigor to the history of bicycles and cycling. The first conference was held in Glasgow, Scotland in 1990. The proceedings of each conference are published afterwards.