oldsrocket1965

It's easy to find old Specialized mountain bikes because the models names haven't changed. What's similar to the Hardrock, Rockhopper, Stumpjumper, etc. in the Trek, Giant, Kona, etc. lineups?

Was specialized the biggest selling of the bunch during the 90s? I feel like I see way more vintage Specialized for sale than the other brands.

tjkoko

My 1993 Specialized Rockhopper was resurrected from the dumpster in 2000 and to this day it has provided a very pleasurable cycling experinece. It now sports 1.5 inch tyres, a rear rack along with Wald Collapsable Baskets and a CatEye Velo 7 speedometer....along with new cables. Upcoming are a new 12-28 7-speed cassette, bottom bracket and pedals with clips. A '57 Chevy, weight don't matter. This clunker will outlive me.

bikemig 

Old stumpies are great. So are the old lugged Trek mtbs (900 series I believe) and the lugged bridgestone mtbs are beautiful. Those are the top three lines for me when it comes to vintage mtbs.

Specialized was, I believe, the first company to mass produce mountain bikes and it gave the company a real edge. There are 4 vintage specialized mtbs in my family so I'm partial to them.

oldsrocket1965

I'm hoping to find a rigid fork bike with 7 or 8 speed cassette. The later Rockhoppers seem to have that. But there are a lot with 7 speed and I'm not sure if they use freewheel or freehub. I've been warned against freewheel.

I want to put slicks on it and use it as a street bike. It's like a hybrid only more bulletproof.

oddjob2

I would consider a TREK 850, 930, 950, 970, 990.
Gary Fisher Hoo Kees, Tequestas, etc.
Also Miyata Ridge Runner or Terra Runner.
Schwinn PDG Series 40, 50, 70.
Giant ATX 760, 780


The Trek Steel Hybrids are plenty bulletproof.

tjkoko

1993 RockHopper = 7-speed CASSETTE.

FastJake

Don't focus on make/model. You will miss a lot of opportunities. Instead, browse the local craigslist for mountain bikes and see if they match your criteria. Look for better components like STX/Deore/LX/XT/XTR instead of the bottom barrel stuff. But even Acera/Alivio from that era is pretty serviceable.

+1 a steel hybrid with a well built set of wheels will be every bit as durable as a MTB. They make great commuters. Plus they often have better geometry for a drop-bar conversion if you want to go that route. Then you've almost got a road bike that can take the abuse of a MTB.

oldsrocket1965

Thank you! This is all helpful information and advice.

oldsrocket1965

So are most of these bikes with the 21 speeds using cassettes? I've just been ignoring them.

bikemig 

+1 on this advice.

bikemig 

These bikes are likely to be a 7 spd cassette with a 130 mm rear drop out. But I would not sweat it if the bike comes with a freewheel. Wide ranging freewheels are easy to find and these are pretty tough bikes. I have a 1991 team specialized stumpjumper with a freewheel and it has taken a lot of offroad abuse over the years.

Just picked up a 1990ish specialized rockhopper with deore lx stuff and thumbshifters for $50. Those bikes are out there; just keep looking.

oldsrocket1965

Which steel hybrids would you look for? I was under the impression the hybrids were are more recent and only aluminum and carbon.

FastJake

Trek MultiTrack was probably the biggest one from back then. Look at the 720/730/750/790. Avoid the 700. But there were many others as well.

I have a 730 that I pulled from the dumpster. Turned it into a drop-bar winter commuter. It's heavy but is almost as capable and just as durable as a MTB. They will fit pretty big tires too. Mine fits 700x38 easily with fenders. Without fenders I've seen people put 29x1.75 or even 1.95 tires on these.

Trakhak

Aluminum versus steel is nothing to worry about for your purposes, except that the steel hybrids and mountain bikes are likely to be somewhat older models. Nothing wrong with that.

Just find one of the many hybrids or mountain bikes out there, aluminum or steel, that have been ridden less than 100 miles and look virtually brand new.

USAZorro

I have a Giant Iguana. They seem to go for pretty cheap, but mine rides quite nicely. It's a rigid frame/fork with the beefiest steel non-suspension fork I have ever seen. It also seems to have a number of design similarities to a Bontrager Privateer, which listed for 2-3 times the price when new.

Darth Lefty 

You can't throw a rock around here without hitting a Trek 820. They're not that nice, though.

Cool stuff is out there... Specialized Sworks mountain bike frame

oldsrocket1965

Are the Trek 720/730/750/790 series Multitrack similar to the 7200/7300/etc.? Is there much difference between the 700 and 7000 series? Did they turn into the current FX series?

oldsrocket1965

It seems like the steel Trek hybrids can be found for around the $200 mark. There are almost new Diamondback Insight 1 going for that same price and less. Is it better to go with an older steel bike which probably has better components over a newer hybrid with inferior components? Does the geometry of the newer bikes make much of a difference? Is there even an improvement?

Darth Lefty 

More or less, the 7000 series was the switch to aluminum frames, and the FX and DS series split from there with suspension going to the DS series.

This is generally true across the Trek lineup at the time, road bikes and mountain bikes too.

oddjob2

There is nothing wrong with a Multitrack 700. Honestly, you can't tell the difference when riding from a 720 or 730. The steel Multitracks are nicer until you get to the 2006 and newer FX 7.1 and up series.

FastJake

Yes. The 720 is roughly comparable to the 7200, the 730 to the 7300, etc. depending on the specific year. The 7000 series just have aluminum frames which are perfectly fine. Around the early 2000s the 7000 series started getting suspension forks (horrible choice IMO) and they made a few oddball "7500 FX" and "7700 FX" bikes to roughly take the place of the old MultiTracks/rigid 7000 series bikes. Then they started calling a very similar line 7.1 FX, 7.2 FX, 7.3 FX, etc.

Things change over the years but the current FX series is basically the modern equivalent of the old MultiTracks.

There is nothing specifically wrong with the Trek 700 but like the 820 it's so low-end and better used bikes are so easily available that I see no reason to settle for Trek's bottom of the line model with a mostly hi-ten frame and lots of steel components (seatpost, bar, stem, etc.)