frantik

I snagged this Jamis Dakar Comp yesterday.. seller listed it on Craigslist without a picture but mentioned "weird colors - pink and purple" (way to upsell the bike buddy), and also mentioned it had Deore XT (which is how I found it). I emailed him asking for a pic and didn't hear back for a day or two.. but then guy sends me a pic of a sweet MTB with not only XT components, a lugged frame in awesome colors!

I'm already pretty excited about the bike, but I do some research to try to find out as much as possible about early Jamis bikes. There's not much out there, but I did find on the Jamis website, they have a short history of the company. One of the entries in the timeline mentions in 1987 the Dakar went from fillet-brazed triple-butted Ishiwata tubing to lugged Prestige tubing in an effort to make a lighter frame. I can tell the bike is lugged from the pic and the colors and lack of ubrake strongly suggest it's post 1987, so I start to get even excited!

Finally the day comes to meet to pick up the bike. The seller calls me and we chat a bit.. he makes sure he sent me a picture, making sure that I knew it was "pink and purple, with green tires". He said he always meant to get it painted over but never did. I'm thinking, THANK YOU FOR NOT PAINTING IT OVER!! Apparently he is the original owner and was originally planning on buying a lesser model, the Dakota. The sales person offered him a free upgrade to the Dakar just because of the colors As realestvin said, I'd pay extra for the paint!

Bike is a mix of Deore XT and Deore, Tange Prestige MTB frame with a Tange MTB fork. Seat post is Suntour XC, stem is Ritchey Force. I'm guessing on the year but SLR brakes and 7speed SIS with hyperglide didn't come out until 1989 model year, and in 1990 Shimano switched to trigger shifters. Component dates on the brakes are march 1988, so it could have been an early 1989 model manufactured in 1988.

I'm not 100% sure but maybe the front wheel is not original.. the hub is slightly more modern than the rest of the bike, and the front rim is black while the rear is silver, though the rims appear to be the same model. Perhaps the original front wheel was stolen or something. They're drilled for presta tubes too... this is definitely not a recreational mtb! There's no brazons for a rack either (though there are for fenders)

The bike has signs of heavy use and no signs of neglect or abuse. It needs a good cleaning but everything seems to be in great shape. Even the seat post is greased and chain oiled. The owner was getting rid of it because he had upgraded to a more modern MTB. I don't doubt this thing has gotten plenty of miles, and I'm happy to put on plenty more.

As far as plans for it.. I hate to change it from stock, but I don't like plain flat bars. I have a trekking bar which i might try out on it. Eventually it will probably get the drop bar treatment, though I will have to find the perfect stem and brake levers before i do that.

"As found".. even came with period correct water bottles, one with a 90s Gary Fisher logo and another with some 80s art from Specialized. Weighs in just under 28lbs

blilrat

Great color! I'll bet most of those scratches come out when you clean it up. If you change out the tires, let me know. I have a bike those tires would look cool on.

Bikedued

You can still buy the Specialized bottle cage brand new! Amazing what gets held onto by some companies. There were four on the 94 Burley tandem I once had, and we have them in stock.,,,,BD

Oh man, I always overlook the obvious. Nice bike!! I haven't had a lugged mtb in quite some time, and I am starting to get a little ticked off about it. Chromed and lugged would be ideal, but I wouldn't turn away a painted one. I hope the first weekend back in Houston, I walk up on a 23 inch 83 Stumpy garage queen for $30. That would make my year!

3speedslow

Great score !

Is the whole front wheel/back wheel mismatch gonna drive you crazy like it does me on a bike ? Like I said elsewhere, I hope this is a keeper bike. I have heard Jamis is an older bike company that was originaly known as Jeunt,French spelling j-something and It is still owned by the same family.

Glad that you found a great example of this early MTB, hold on to the parts you change out so you can go back. Certainly dodged the bullet by not having to deal with a repaint !

Regards, 3SS

Bianchigirll 

I love it! I was at a powdercoat shop on Wed checking prices and colors and that is sort of my ideas.

wrk101

+1 Fantastic find: Prestige frame, XT components, and hey, I am liking that paint scheme!!

4funbikes

Very cool.
Jamis had very decent bikes at the time. I've had an explorer XR and a dakota of the same vintage pass through my hands; both were nice frames.

realestvin7

Looking good, Billy Ray!

Lol

TimmyT 

Nice score. I kinda like the green tires. I'll use your deore xt trick on my local CL.

T-Mar

Actually, post 1987 is prime teritory for a U-brake. They were really popular in 1988 and 1989. In fact, a 1988 Jamis ad shows the Dakota having a chainstay mounted U-brake, fillet brazing and solid color finish. What's the serial number?

Chris_in_Miami

Awesome find, and you're lucky the previous owner never managed to paint over the "weird colors!" I remember drooling over these in the bike shop back in the day (ended up with a Cannondale M800 instead...)

Slammin

Pink & Purple!! LOVE IT! Enough said.

ColonelJLloyd 

Those tires are cool.

puchfinnland

that bike needs purple bottle cages....they are quite rare!

cyclotoine

I am thinking '89 is the earliest possible. I would guess '91-'92.

Have you checked the date code on the derailleurs?

frantik

thanks for the nice comments everybody

Yes, it's definitely a keeper! The wheel mismatch doesn't bother me too much, though it would be cool to have them matching.. the hub looks too modern for the bike.. though honestly i wouldn't mind upgrading to a modern wheelset

As far as the Jamis brand, in my research I learned Jamis was an independent company that was bought in 1990 by G. Joannou Cycle. One of the original Jamis employees still works for the new company apparently. This bike was produced right around the time of the acquisition.

LOL i was thinking maybe i should have kept that to myself

I thought by 1989 under chainstay brakes had almost been eliminated. I know Diamondback dropped them for the 1989 model year on all but one low end bike.

I found this 2009 Jamis catalog which has some pictures from past years: https://www.jamisbikes.com/catalog_ar...IS_CATALOG.pdf You can see the 1989 Dakar is solid red and has rear cantis. The Jamis site says "Yes, the fillet brazing of the original Dakar was indeed exquisite, but these bikes are being raced and the racers are begging for lighter bikes.".. that's interesting the Dakota was filet brazed

I looked for a serial # and could only find a 3 digit # which I will PM you


The derailleurs are a bit dirty and i can't see the codes, but the front derailleur is plain Deore (as opposed to Deore II which came out in 1989), plus it's partially covering the tubing sticker so it makes me think perhaps it's not stock. All of the date codes I could see are for 1988 EXCEPT the thumb shifters which are NL and NG, which does suggest the bike is a 1990 model year at the earliest. I was thinking maybe it was possibly early 90s.. I don't think it's any later than 1993 though, since apparently Jamis changed their logo that year.

inkandsilver

That thing is awesome. Nice score.

mohatt

In simple terms, you scored, big time. Those early-ish Jamis MTBs are fantastic. I have a similar era Klein, and was still considering at the time getting a Jamis. I would say something like, "if I were to get a new bike" or "my next one will be" a Jamis, almost every week. They have a smooth, confident handling ride--not as flashy as the Fat Cities or Kleins of the day, but every bit the quality, and a ride quality I still remember and pine after from test rides (serious, off-road, multi-hour long winter rides in Alaska). Great bike!

dyander

Wow, that looks great and probably rides even better. Reminds me of my latest acquisition of similar era and equipment, only in celeste.

Glennfordx4

Great find Frantik, Jamis bikes always seem to fly under the radar (which can be a good thing for us) their early MTB's were some of the best bikes around for there price point, the older Boss Cruisers were nice also. The shop I work at has been a Jamis dealer for 25+ years and my boss knows a good deal about them, last year he hooked me up with a 1996 Jamis Dakar which by then was a full suspension MTB using a Noleen 6.5" rear shock & a Rock Shox Judy XC up front. I have everything ( except time ) to build mine back up & it should be a sweet ride. I would like a hard tail like yours better, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth so to speak, just love the colors.

Glenn
My 96 Dakar as found,

frantik

yeah, trust me, the fact that I scored big time isn't lost on me As I said in another thread, this is the grail bike i didn't know I was looking for this bike rides super nice on or off road. Handles great and is easy to throw around. It's only 2 lbs lighter than my Univega but feels like it's a lot easier to control the frame while riding.

funnily enough, your full suspension Dakar is probably a few pounds lighter than mine.. according to the Dakar history they were putting out sub-25lb suspension bikes in the mid 90s


I feel bad wanting to modify the cockpit.. but flat bars are just not for me. gotta find suitably high end bits if i do a drop bar conversion tho..

frantik

So I just spotted ANOTHER one of these bikes on CL.. if it were closer I would pick it up to flip. But it's an hour away. If you can ride a 16" mtb and are in the SF bay area, i'd check out this bike --> https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/bik/3617142990.html





Looking at the pics of that bike has made me ponder a few things..

My bike is a mix of mostly Deore with an XT RD, XT thumbies and XT headset. The pictures above show pretty much all Deore drive train. not sure about the thumbies.

The XT thumbies on my bike have date codes that are way different from the date codes. My bike also has round chain rings, but is from an era when it would have come stock with biopace. The switch from biopace to round rings could explain why the FD is partially covering the tubing sticker (cclearly not stock) The dork disc and reflectors are also missing. I'm thinking the original owner did some upgrades.. basically he did everything i would do to this bike I'd assume the XT headset is original but not sure if that means any of the rest of the XT was original or not.

I also noticed the bike pictured has a Ubrake, but that is likely due to the small frame size.

I'm still pretty confident that this bike is a 1989 model year, but thinking there is a possibility it may have been a 1988. I sent an inquiry through the Jamis website, I'm hoping they can provide a little more info

BluesDaddy

Scott AT-4 bar is exactly what you want.
https://r.ebay.com/WfVJJM

realestvin7

I've got 4 different sets of Scott bars but none of those.

frantik

lol.. that would be period correct.. but awful looking. I have a trekking bar that i may put on it until i get all of the parts together to convert it to drops though