What year is this Speccy Hard Rock?
06-18-23, 10:53 PM
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What year is this Speccy Hard Rock?
We got this vintage HR in the shop last week and can't seem to find the year. By the graphics, it looks to be a mid-'80s bike. The color scheme looks dark purple/plum.
06-19-23, 05:59 AM
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Somewhere around '93 or '94 ish
06-19-23, 06:20 AM
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Specialized catalogs are available online but you have to search for them (and a lot of them seem to be in German). But yeah this is a 90s, not mid 80s Specialized mtb.
06-19-23, 07:12 AM
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Look for date codes on the components, assuming they are original. Then look up the codes on the Vintage Trek site. Components will have been made some months before the bike was assembled, of course.
Vintage Trek might have a guide to the SN on the bike as well, but iirc Trek was inconsistent with those.
Date of Manufacture of Bicycle Components can be used to date a bike: component dating
Vintage Trek might have a guide to the SN on the bike as well, but iirc Trek was inconsistent with those.
Date of Manufacture of Bicycle Components can be used to date a bike: component dating
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06-19-23, 07:12 AM
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Other than being a different color, the bike in your your photo appears to be similar to a bike I just acquired. I'm likewise hunting info.
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Current bikes: Unknown year Specialized (rigid F & R) Hardrock, '80's era Cannondale police bike; '03 Schwinn mongrel MTB; '03 Specialized Hard Rock (the wife's)
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Current bikes: Unknown year Specialized (rigid F & R) Hardrock, '80's era Cannondale police bike; '03 Schwinn mongrel MTB; '03 Specialized Hard Rock (the wife's)
Gone away: '97 Diamondback Topanga SE, '97 Giant ATX 840 project bike; '01 Giant TCR1 SL; and a truckload of miscellaneous bikes used up by the kids and grand-kids
Status quo is the mental bastion of the intellectually lethargic...
06-19-23, 07:18 AM
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Round forks, the earliest it could be is 1995. EDIT: wrong.
1994 had oval blades. It is a 1994. maybe late I dunno.
Last edited by Schweinhund; 06-19-23 at 07:26 AM.
06-19-23, 08:03 AM
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I've found similar pics for the '94. The weird part is that I've found some '94 catalog pics, but the Hard Rock script was in a more cursive style. Maybe there was a change during that year of sticker fonts?
06-19-23, 08:17 AM
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Just consider it to be unusual, not rare,
06-20-23, 08:43 AM
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It turns out they specced U-brakes on some of the smallest frame sizes past the usual 1988 cutoff mark as a way to dodge heel clearance issues. It doesn't help that the Specialized catalogs online are often incomplete and in German. Catalog coverage gets lots worse as you pass the mid 90s.
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06-20-23, 09:51 AM
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It turns out they specced U-brakes on some of the smallest frame sizes past the usual 1988 cutoff mark as a way to dodge heel clearance issues. It doesn't help that the Specialized catalogs online are often incomplete and in German. Catalog coverage gets lots worse as you pass the mid 90s.
06-20-23, 05:11 PM
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What was the last year fork the Italics label...? 92ish?
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06-20-23, 10:25 PM
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Look for date codes on the components, assuming they are original. Then look up the codes on the Vintage Trek site. Components will have been made some months before the bike was assembled, of course.
Vintage Trek might have a guide to the SN on the bike as well, but iirc Trek was inconsistent with those.
Date of Manufacture of Bicycle Components can be used to date a bike: component dating
Vintage Trek might have a guide to the SN on the bike as well, but iirc Trek was inconsistent with those.
Date of Manufacture of Bicycle Components can be used to date a bike: component dating
