I don't have a big collection of cool bikes, so I am pretty excited about getting one I've actually wanted for a while! 100$ on CL, went and scooped it up on my lunch hour. Will post more pictures once I get home. I plan to just clean it up and ride it for now and see how I like it. It is a bit small perhaps so I'm prepared to maybe let it go later. Still I'm excited, should be a fun little bike I think.

20180109_122424 by Luan Pham, on Flickr

20180109_122520 by Luan Pham, on Flickr

20180109_122436 by Luan Pham, on Flickr

20180109_122503 by Luan Pham, on Flickr

20180109_122713 by Luan Pham, on Flickr

20180109_122546 by Luan Pham, on Flickr

20180109_122647 by Luan Pham, on Flickr

Nice score! Those shifters are some of my favorites. That should clean up nicely!

Very nice! First version, with the "biplane" fork!

That was a good deal.

Thanks guys! I am pretty stoked, I was hoping for the cool goldish saturn rims, or some other deep rims that i've seen on these older stumpys. The ones on there look to be lower in the range...? I got it off the original owner though so according to him its all original.

Cool find. looks 83' or early 84'. Araya are not highly regarded in road as there have been rims produced for decades prior with fine tuned/established brands. But they were the king of BMX wheels unless you went to more exotic wheels like Z Rims or Skyway Mags. Those are most likely stock on Specialized sealed hubs. They will look like they have a little lock ring on the outside of the hub if so.

Sweet!!!

Who says there aren't deals out there?

Remember that Specialized was having a hard time keeping up with demand- so if the ran out of the Saturne rims or whatever, they substituted what they could. They look to be decent eyeleted rims. BTW- the crank doesn't look to be "spec" either, but I think you came out ahead.

Mine is an 84- it came to me with a replaced rear wheel and rear derailleur- my guess is the Mountech did it's thing and seized up and threw itself into the spokes. Necessitating a new wheel and derailleur. Fortunately, the owner used an M735 Deore XT unit and an LX/Weinmann wheel.


Congratulations!!! That's a really special bike!

nice! I am enjoying mine. I just picked one up last month for $150- so you did better than I. I took it "off-road" for the first time the other day. with the recent rains its been my go to while my road bikes wait..

Awesome bike! You will soon come to hope the size works for you. Great to see one of the early ones.

Nice find and it looks like my size so drop it off up here please. lol

haha, I just may end up having to get rid of it in the end. But i will have fun for now just getting familiar with the bike in general. Maybe I'll be able to get it nice enough to pay for a nicer one in my size later on.

What were your co-workers reaction when you wheeled that dusty bad oh in to the office?

TBH I would have welcomed some sideways glances at the very least! lol Most of the guys here could care less, not sure if some even noticed I wheeled a bike in. Well now the ride home, got a trunk rack so it'll have to get wet. But strait to the garage when I get home! Paint is pretty bad alredy, alot of light rust and scratches. This might be a decent powder coat and sticker kit candidate...

The Golden one brings up an important issue that came to me while looking at your pics. The fatal flaw on those Mountech rear derailleurs is that they'll self destruct if that third pivot runs for awhile full of grit. It was one of several spikes in the Suntour coffin. If you're gonna ride it as your foul-weather Ford, do yourself a favor and bolt on a different long cage RD. My favorite cheap, set it & forget it RD is a new Shimano Altus.

Very nice pick up. Sugino AT cranks are the bee's knees.

Great Catch!

Candidate for a drop bar conversion?

Thanks for the heads up on the RD guys, I had no idea! I'll have to get something to swap out before I take it for a real ride then, just to not risk anything.




MNHarv: Not sure on this one yet, I've thought about it for my rockhopper...

20180107_144304 by Luan Pham, on Flickr

Maybe I'd switch the commuter set up over to the stumpy and make the rock hopper the drop bar gravel grinder!

Couple more shots of the paint condition

20180110_065152 by Luan Pham, on Flickr

20180110_065132 by Luan Pham, on Flickr

20180110_065118 by Luan Pham, on Flickr

And the beloved fork crown:
20180110_065300 by Luan Pham, on Flickr

And one of these deallys...
20180110_065241 by Luan Pham, on Flickr

And one more shot just because!

20180110_065050 by Luan Pham, on Flickr


Also looking at RD on amazon and looks like the Altus is like 19$ shipped and a Deore is 39$ shipped... Deore totally worth the extra clams?

Let me know if you are going to ditch that stem/bar combo. I need one for my Stumpy Sport. I would be happy to help you recoup some of your purchase price of this bike.

And congrats on the score! I had the same thing happen for $100. It's even a similar size!

Not too many modern derailleurs I'd put on that bike.

For "business" I'd go V-GT Luxe.





For "because I deserve it" MII Cyclone GT.





And for "because my bike is badass," the 3 pulley Suntour XC:

I agree completely with Golden Boy's recommendations for vintage long cage derailleurs, provided the objective is to restore/retrofit the bike with something period correct. My recommendation for the Altus was based entirely on the assumption that you wanted to swap in something inexpensive and dependable so you can ride the bike. With those guidelines I stand by my suggestion. The Deore would be a waste of money in either case, for different reasons. A waste for resto purposes because it would look out of place. A waste for just making it dependable because the Altus is all of that. As a bonus, the Altus would play nicely with your original shifters. The only change you might want to make for trouble-free shifting is a chain with one or two more links, to make up for the big lower wheel on the Altus. I consider the chain a consumable anyway, depending on measured stretch and condition.

Nice score on that one! I've got the same year frameset albeit a hair bigger and silver. Am a HUGE fan of fully lugged* MTN framesets and have been trying to pick them up as I find them through the years. Also, have a fully lugged Univega, Panasonic, Peugeot, Takara, Trek 800 Series, and a beautiful Miyata Blue Ridge Runner. So many projects!




*forks included**
**they are hard to find

I have the deore on mine, probably for the same reason as everyone else- mountech issues. it works fine but does not match the bike at all. The FD was an alpine grearTech which did not work well at all. I just put a cyclone on today: whicih works beautifully.

I am now looking for a decent RD that is not the mountech (which I have.. but am scared to use now) that fits the era.

Deore: just does not look right!


also just got the proper suntour left shifter replaced (was a shimano) courtesy of @curbtender

Deer head Deore XT is period correct (83-86), often chosen bitd. Prices for a good one now are through the roof.
Don

Took my 20" framed 84 High Sierra out today for a roll.