Hi All,

First, if I or a moderator needs to make my addition to this thread a separate thread let me know. I am adding on to this thread as the bike I have closely matches ones in this post.

Several weeks ago while walking my dog I found this Specialized Rockhopper Sport being given away for free. I took it home as I thought it would be a good project for me to learn some basic bike mechanic skills. While attempting to date the bike I came across this thread. After reading through it and decoding the serial number, PY216715 based on the information from T-Mar, I had a question on the component difference from the ones on the OP.

The one I have has Shimano EXAGE components and not Deore LX. Does this change anything in the dating (or does it mean anything at all)? I do not see a country of origin sticker .but as you can see this has several band sticker as well as what I think is some sort of registration sticker from a company. As for the fade in the pain, I dont see a fade but since reading this post my eye now sees the top tube as a slightly lighter color than the head tube or seat tube but that could just be the lighting or me seeing something that is not really there.