Ken Block's Glow in the Dark Specialized S-Works Stumpjumper

Feb 15, 2019 at 9:12
by James Smurthwaite  
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Ken "Gymkhana" Block may be best known for his tarmac drifting skills but he's no stranger to a bit of dirt too. He's long been a passionate mountain biker and even starred in an episode of This isPeaty.

For his latest bike he wanted something a little different so when Specialized sent him an S-Works Stumpjumper, he took it to Death Spray customs in England and returned with a black and white livery based on the 1991 Ford Escort RS Cosworth he drove in the Gymkhana 10 video.

Oh, and we forgot to tell you this bike's party trick. It glows in the dark. Take a look through the wax-on, wax-off gallery of his stunning new bike below.


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The S-Works Stumpjumper in front of the Hoonigan Ford Focus RS RX from Gymkhana 10 and the Ford Fiesta WRC Ken raced at WRC Spain.

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#KillAllTyres - not a bad motto to live by

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Ken's race number is featured all over this bike

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Even the Specialized Boomslang pedals get a custom touch

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A lean, mean and sometimes green machine

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'Ain't care' becomes 'Ain't car' on Ken's human powered ride

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A ride so nice you almost wouldn't want to get it muddy

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This isn't Ken's first custom bike, check out his space themed Demo 8 here.

Author Info:
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145 Comments
  • 178 4
 Shoulda named it the LSD-Works.
  • 6 4
 LOL!
  • 4 2
 @stiingya: ROFL!
  • 4 2
 @foggeloggliod: lmfao
  • 3 5
 @dobermon: I vote for Sam Hill having it betterz.
  • 1 4
 @WAKIdesigns: i dunno, he who dies with more toys
  • 4 4
 @TimBigHitFSRII: Elon Musk then...
  • 1 3
 @WAKIdesigns: his are sure big
  • 2 5
 @dobermon: The first iteration of that mustang was the best. The turbo version is a bit too much for me. As for driving either of them.... It takes a lot of practice and patience to be able to drive a 700-1000hp car without balling it up when you hit the throttle..... I'd be willing to put the time in!
  • 2 2
 Is this really an appropriate comment?
  • 2 2
 please clarify to pink bike users everywhere what you mean?
  • 81 2
 Right on!! That looks awesome!! Love to go riding someday Ken! If we shuttle, you gotta drive and do some donuts please!! #howsyourdayglowing
  • 12 2
 We need to make this happen... AND film it!
  • 2 1
 Put on some glow in the dark tires on his car so that we're getting glow in the dark donuts. Your modern day crop circles. Aliens need to keep up if they still want to qualify as extraterrestrial intelligent life.
  • 55 7
 Tippie did it first!
  • 6 3
 That was my exact reply to a friend who showed me this
  • 3 3
 @pelli: Pelli commented first
  • 4 3
 Niner did it before him.
  • 8 1
 That doesn’t mean it isn’t cool as shit!
  • 2 2
 Brett Tippie your move!
  • 2 1
 Tip also does lots of night rides too so he can show the glow
  • 25 2
 Man... its almost like the unreal expectations that models set for young people, my bike is pretty rad, but nothing like this. I feel inadequate lol
  • 13 9
 you feel inadequate because your bike doesn't glow in the dark? Those stars my mom put on my ceiling growing up were pretty sweet, but I think I'll pass on the bike.
  • 16 1
 Desire is the root of all suffering
  • 17 1
 Is it glow in the dark or is it glow under ultraviolet light? If it's the UV then it's only any good if he takes it clubbing!
  • 13 2
 Next week gimkana with 1100 hp kenevo up val di sole
  • 11 2
 Ken has all the best toys. I'm sure he'll have no problem getting this thing muddy
  • 7 1
 If he rides his bikes like his cars, it will also have glow in the dark discs as well (sparks are optional)
  • 13 11
 Ken is indeed a smart business man.
I’ve never liked DC and I think it’s a terrible mainstream skate brand... And for the rally / drifting part.. Yeah I like some of it, but come on.. Any WRC driver will do gymkhana with two fingers up their nose.. Ken is nowhere to be seen in WRC....
On the other hand. Yes he’s a huge influencer and probably a cool dude to hang with. I really digged the LA gymkhana, probably because I know all the spots... And yes, I’m liking the bike a lot...!
  • 9 7
 Never get the hype about him. In my eyes it is nothing special. Like you said it, WRC guys smoke him.
  • 7 2
 He started rallying very late (late 30s?). Really you can’t compare a full time WRC career to his.
  • 4 2
 @ukr77: I don't follow rally at all but once read an article about a driver who got his first car when he was six years old, an old veedub beetle with blocks screwed to the pedals to bash around the family farm.

I appreciate gymkhana and am not so certain that any wrc driver could do it, and further appreciate that Ken block is using it as a more accessible format to introduce people to the joy of ruining tires, but probably the best thing about gymkhana is the parodies Razor made for the little drift cars.
  • 1 2
 @ecologist: "a more accessible format to introduce people to the joy of ruining tires" lolz
  • 2 0
 He didn't come up through Rally though. It's like you quitting your job and making it on the EWS or World Cup circuits in your 30's. Also it's fine saying any WRC driver will do ghymkharna but they#r'r not doing it or at least not like Ken
  • 6 1
 Useless but cool!
So I would need to carry a flashlight to ”change it” like the dinosaur shirt that my son has??
  • 1 1
 Years ago I had my motorcycle painted with glow paint. Looked badass. Problem was...the only time you knew it was glow paint was when it was in the garage at night and you just turned the lights off. It would glow beautifully like a psycho blacklight poster. If I was on the road at night or parked for bike night...it looked just like any other paint.
  • 1 1
 ha.. I think. Iron Horse (BMX) had a glow in the dark … maybe it was a Redline or FreeAgent BMX. I forget, it's been a while. Pretty sure is was a BMX of some sort. It was crazy how much it could glow. …….***

only problem, you needed to drench it with BRIGHT spot lights in order to charge up the glow and the glow lasted only about 10 minutes, if that. not to mention, safety hazard big time, sending a kid out in the dark on a glowing bike:

1. boyees in the hood will steal it...
2. kid would crash looking at the glowing bike while riding
3. men for space will zap your kid with a PC3 Space Modulator
  • 39 40
 I really find it interesting how people such as Ken Block (a drifter) has established a brand and expanded into a social influincer, all the while feeling it’s entirely fake and disingenuous. I think if I was younger and more impressionable I might take it for face value, but now that I’m old and cynical and see videos like those MKBHD recently posted exposing celebrities including Oprah promoting Andriod tablets from an iPad that it honestly just makes me sad there’s so much money to be made flogging products. I guess that’s what you get in this ‘famous for being famous’ era we find ourselves in.
  • 12 3
 I’m just jealous I don’t get paid for simply using cool isht
  • 66 0
 Well he did start DC shoes from the ground up... Expanded that into snowboard gear and blew up from there. He's a smart businessman who loves his toys. He also happens to be talented.
  • 38 2
 You sir need to spend more time riding your bike. You seem stressed and focused on some really insignificant shit.
  • 12 1
 @cuban-b: the guy started DC....
  • 6 2
 I assume your favorite all time album is Moby's "Everything Is wrong"...
  • 14 6
 @Joeief: Insignificant manipulation of a generation of impressionable minds through big data, targeted marketing, social media and psychology. Silly shit really.
  • 9 1
 @Soilsledding: What do think TV was those of us born in the 70's... it's the same shit, different mediums for different generations.
  • 7 2
 you should listen to his interview with tim ferris, the guy understands marketing. hes not a fake IG influencer.
  • 7 2
 @islandforlife: The big difference today though is volume...as in there's so much more of it in your face now, 24/7. Also, the TV never followed you around all day in your pocket and monitored everything you did.
  • 9 0
 I saw him and Peaty riding at the local resort in Utah. I don't know what he's doing as far as social circles but in real life they kept a low profile. They were very low key, didn't draw any attention to themselves or request any special treatment. They looked like every other rider there having fun and very genuine.
  • 4 8
flag Serpentras (Feb 15, 2019 at 14:03) (Below Threshold)
 @arrowheadrush: eh what's that? DC comics ?
  • 7 1
 @Serpentras: DC shoes. one of the biggest skateboard/snowboard footwear and apparel companies in the world.
  • 9 1
 its like you dont know anything about him but act like you know his exact intentions........ watch any interview he does. Its geniuen as fuck. Gymkana files is a good start.
  • 2 1
 Not gonna lie, fell for his DC snowboard stuff when I was younger. All their stuff is shit, DC shoe glue fell apart and was flapping around. DC Snowboard delaminated within a few uses, and there’s not that much technology behind it. Then I grew up and realized it was all pure marketing- and realized he’s making that money though!!
  • 2 0
 @Soilsledding: I think you mean ‘significant manipulation’
  • 1 0
 @makripper: wow! No shit. I had no clue. I always just knew of him for having the bad ass drift videos.
  • 6 4
 @Soilsledding: a theocratic capitalist agenda being unfolded by unwitting slaves of desensitization through technology has made us become what we are today, Yay for capitalism
  • 5 2
 @lehott: “those capitalist pigs will pay those crimes, eh comrades? Yeah?”
  • 5 5
 @cuban-b: did you ever correlate that the corporations on social media have a tendency to present themselves as a human figure I'll be at there is someone behind the keyboard but overall I think it's a tactical maneuver to manipulate us into believing in corporations are humans and have human rights just a look at the ambiguity of our societal income and our annual GDP it's completely based off of what we can sell and what we can buy and it's completely marginalized by people who are only working within a certain oligarchy group. Those pigs won't pay they never will people are too ignorant and have little awareness to even notice that they are in a cage controlled by corporations why do you think pink bike is so exclusive?
  • 9 0
 @lehott: it’s a quote from Austin Powers International Man of Mystery
  • 2 5
 @cuban-b: excuse a moi? Never watched it
  • 4 3
 @lehott: you're not wrong, it's becoming a well established technique. If a brand manages to become your "friend", bingo. Twitter et al allows brands to ride the train along with all the human passengers, and thus have their message processed by the public in the same way as something funny/interesting written by someone you follow. T
There's so much trojan marketing going on it's not even funny.
  • 2 0
 @makripper: skimming through the thread, I'm surprised there is not also mention of the entire Hoonigan brand that he started up (I believe that he started at, but even if he didn't, he has a major role in it). There is absolutely no question that this guy understands how to promote something.
  • 4 4
 @BenPea: yea! Someone else sees thru the facade, real eyes realize real lies
  • 3 3
 @lehott: Products that aren't real (because most bring us nothing), made by people who aren't real (cos they're on the dark side of the world), bought with money that isn't real (because banks).
But we are where we are and it makes (our) world go around, kind of. No way this money tanker's getting turned around but it's fun to muse over.
#dystopiansaturday
  • 3 1
 @lehott: Can't wait to party with you guys. We can watch Austin Powers International Man of Mystery. I'm not a francophone, though, so I hope you go easy on me. Joking aside, punctuation would really help people take your perspective seriously.

I'm guessing you're in your 20's, struggling with the implications of being enlightened about the pitfalls of capitalism. For perspective, in the 80s and 90s people complained about xmas and valentines day being corporate holidays and how the masses are forced to spend their money. Now with the internet in town, there's someone new to point the finger at.
  • 3 1
 @cuban-b: yeah it's fine, there's no realistic alternative to be honest. We were never going to be much more than a blip in history. Not in our current incarnation. As long as the entertainment : suffering ratio remains below critical mass we're golden.
  • 2 3
 @cuban-b:
I'm just an individual that proceeds to become aware of the continuous facade of corporate and government oppression on a spiritual,physical, emotional and mental state. The internet is nothing but a tool and it is very useful but at the same time it's paradoxical because there's so much desensitization to the right informationI think realization is to see clearly that what I perceive, experience, think and feel is ultimately not who I am. One cannot find oneself in all those things which continuously pass away.
  • 5 1
 @lehott: “Don't take life too seriously - you'll never get out alive.”
  • 1 1
 Fake and Disingenuous? What do you make of 95% of the marketing on here?

#irony
  • 1 1
 @sdken: "then you grew up..." and got in to MTB "and realized it was all pure marketing"

Not having much luck eh Wink
  • 1 0
 @neologisticzand: ah totally forgot about that. Yeah it's his baby
  • 2 0
 10 years competing WRC and WRX creating a huge company (DC shoes) and basically the creation of the Ghymkharna format, he's not just a social media influencer mate
  • 3 0
 I really dig that paint job. Sober or tripping.
  • 2 0
 If he rides his bike as hard as his cars, then what he needs is a lifetime supply of tires and wheels.
  • 2 3
 Love the bike, but not the glow. Block is there with the likes of Travis who can do rally because a). Xgames made it a thing & b). They have a f@@k load of $$$$$. On the WRC they are shit, but at their proper jobs they are ace. Live and let live, he rides a bike!!!
  • 1 0
 My off the shelf Knolly Warden from YEARS ago glows in the dark. Want to do a write up on my rad bike, we can shoot in front of my cars too...
  • 1 0
 You mean Death Spray Custom, not 'Death Works'? That's who has done some of his cars.
  • 2 4
 Could this be a new trend? I'm open to it... I'm older'ish and usually roll my eyes at dumb gimmicky products but something like this would be kinda cool maybe even useful for night riding perhaps? I live in SoCal and I ride at night during the hotter months of the year and I wonder if seeing the bike under you helps out at all or improves the experience? Something to look into maybe hmmm?
  • 2 2
 Looks like it’s under a black light.. in which it wouldn’t be glor in the dark. Just reactive to a black light.. but maybe it’s me
  • 2 1
 Ken shreds anything with wheels, tracks, or a plank. Hopefully I'll get to ride with him in Park City one of these days!
  • 1 0
 Waltworks bikes are in park city!
  • 3 3
 This is ridiculous. Crap like this makes me wonder why companies don't reel in their marketing department and unfit managers.
  • 1 0
 uuuh..... im sorry since when do u ride??
  • 1 0
 Easy to find when full of beer..
  • 2 2
 WOW that bike is insane!!....generally not a fan of Specialized...but id hit that!!
  • 2 0
 fucking cool.
  • 2 0
 That is awesome!
  • 2 1
 Doesn't looks like a specialized post to me....
  • 1 0
 Ken, no matther what just don't give it to Hert!
  • 1 0
 On One did this years ago with a Special Edition Summer Season
  • 6 7
 Nothing new.
www.pinkbike.com/news/Brett-Tippies-Glow-in-the-Dark-2013-Rocky-Mountain-Flatline.html
  • 2 0
 Niner had a production one way before that
  • 1 0
 Rocky did a one in 07 too.
  • 7 0
 Show me a "new" idea in design... It's cool, so what if it's not "new"? Enjoy it for what it is.
  • 2 0
 Kona did it in 2000 or around there
  • 1 0
 @muyguapa: Seriously, what does it matter if it's "not new" Where in the article did it even claim it was some "new" novel idea. Some people right?
  • 1 0
 @makripper: which kona? Stab?
  • 1 0
 Top!
  • 1 1
 Should’ve put AXS kit on this beast
  • 7 7
 hope he rides better then he can rally
  • 4 1
 i mean he's pretty good at both?
  • 3 3
 Shame about those super awful rim decals.
  • 3 3
 File under "Useless and Awesome".
  • 1 1
 I doubt, but would love to see him drift that shyt.
  • 1 1
 Okay it glows, but when not, daaamn that's a design!
  • 1 1
 Kinda cool but he’d be damn annoying to night ride with.
  • 1 0
 Warranty void
  • 1 1
 Hei..wanna go to the catwalk? The bike is suitable for catwalk surely
  • 2 5
 I really like how the bike looks when in the dark but you guys forgot to mention a little detail that really makes the bike cool... IT HAS A BOTTLE CAGE!
  • 2 4
 He has a video riding with Peaty on YouTube. He is an average park rider. Didn’t see a bunch of tricks but rides ok.
  • 1 0
 Is he at least better than Pastrana?
  • 2 1
 @src248: nope, never, no one is.
  • 6 6
 #kookOfTheDay
  • 1 0
 Bingo! Just like the demo, all the ads for the new bike, no footage of him riding....
  • 1 3
 Would have been better if this was an E-BIKE, and he was drifting it!!! Another looks like a SESSION bike, that is all!
  • 1 3
 What this the pedal ?
  • 1 4
 Looks like a ......
  • 1 1
 ..twat
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