When the Specialized Epic made its debut last year, the first thing many people noticed was that the short-travel FSRxc had disappeared to make room for the newcomer. And that came as a bit of a disappointment to some. The Epic was a bit heavier than the FSR and had an on-off suspension action that FSR fans were unlikely to get on with. Sure, the Enduro has essentially the same design but it was a whole lot more bike…

But now Spesh have a short travel, fully active bike in the range again. The 2004 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR is pretty much an all-new bike and fills that lightweight, short travel gap. The frame’s made from Specialized’s own M4 tubing, with the front end taking on the now-familiar ORE tubing profile with all sorts of curvy bits and squared-off tubes. The top tube in particular is pretty remarkable as it flares out into a monocoquey bit running up to the seat tube.

The seat tube itself is something of a departure. FSRs of old had a seat tower and no seat tube as such. The Epic has a full seat tube, and the new Stumpy FSR has a split seat tube – it runs all the way from seat clamp to bottom bracket but splits to go either side of the shock, a little bit like a Cannondale Jekyll, which should prove to be a material-efficient way of doing things.

The other key feature is the Fox Triad shock, the latest in a line of Specialized-exclusive Fox shocks. The Triad has quite a lot in common with Scott’s Genius shock, featuring fully open, fully locked out and in-betweeny modes to suit all trail conditions. There’s no remote, though, so you have to flick the lever on the shock itself.

It’s certainly a looker – this is the £3,999 top of the range bike with XTR, Mavic Crossmax SLs and all that malarkey, but the range starts at a more wallet-friendly £1,500.