I bought this 90s Hard Rock awhile ago. Looking at the catalog for its year model (1996) I saw that the stock bars were steel.

A previous owner swapped out to Easton CT2. Is there much difference in weight between carbon and steel bars? I see that they didn’t cost much. I guess it was a worthy upgrade.

Also not stock is the saddle. It originally came with suspension saddle.

That stem doesn't look OE either

[QUOTE=Connguy1956;23711525]I bought this 90s Hard Rock awhile ago. Looking at the catalog for its year model (1996) I saw that the stock bars were steel.

A previous owner swapped out to Easton CT2. Is there much difference in weight between carbon and steel bars? I see that they didn’t cost much. I guess it was a worthy upgrade.

Also not stock is the saddle. It originally came with suspension saddle.


one other weird mystery is that it has a Shimano 33-8 shifter set, but all the year model Hard Rocks I see in online catalogues only have 3x7

The HardRock was a chill trail bike. not a race bike. So Carbon anything was not stock. the HR was the entry level bike, aimed toward casual riders..bike paths and fire roads. The Rockhopper was the next level up for more performance. then the Stumpjumper was the top tier. the Stumpjumper had race level builds. it was light, low and fast. I am not sure of your question. but there are couple of upgrades from the stock HR. nice bars. I had a 91 Stumpjumper base model. very similar to yours but drivetrain was mid level. definitely steel bars. I rode it to death in NorCal. my first MTB.

Your bike looks great. Enjoy the dirt!

Thank you for the input!

Probably the weight of the bike was about a pound less with the carbon bars. Going from seven to eight speed may have increased the rear dropout width by 5 mm since eight was usually 135 mm and seven 130 mm. Looks great and that stem, as above, isn't stock.