Dean4

I was wondering if I could get some help trying to ID the year bike I have. It is a specialized, Rockhopper Sport, bright red in color. Rims and pedal shafts are black. All shift and brake components say Suntour X1. I believe it is at least a 1993 or older because that is the first year I found a sport model. Oh, and no suspension. Solid fork. The tires say "Specialized Ground Control" and are 26X1.95. Believe they are original and amasing thing is they still the little nubby bits of rubber that normally rub off the tires in a few miles. Wish I knew how to upload a picture at this forum because this bike is in amazing shape. Not a spec of rust I can find anywhere and I believe everything is original. Anyone have any ideas about it???? Oh, and on the frame below the seat a small label has the words Direct Drive, Offroad, CRMO Tubing, and Custom Butted on it. Thank you for any help.

Zephyr11

Post some pictures. Identification without pictures is near impossible.

dminor 

My best guess is a 1994:

https://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/B...ckhopper+Sport

Cool that you found it so nearly NOS. Hint: even though the tread on the tires looks fine, replace them as soon as you can. The rubber compound will have lost all its grip and they will be the most evil-handling things imaginable. I know this from experience.

no1mad 

Here ya go https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ctures-How-to!

roccobike

Dean,
To obtain the year of your bike, look at the back of the front and rear derailers. You will see a two letter code, (not three letters, just two). Write those down. Go to the "vintage trek" website. On the left side of the page, click on component dates. At the top of that page you'll see "Suntour (Maeda)", click on that. Now look up your two letter codes that will disclose the exact age of the two derailers. Using the date of the NEWEST of the two derailers, you can determine the age of the bike. Keep in mind that if your newest derailer was made in, say September, you should add one year to the bike because late year derailers were used on the next year's bike.
This is the method used by the Classic & Vintage guys on their forum. Works over 95% of the time.
BTW, I think you're probably correct that the bike is older than 93 and probably is not on bike pedia. My best recollection is Suntour X was a very late 80s or early 90s group. Suntour lost a lot of business by the mid-90's as Shimano dominated the market.

Dean4

I checked the backs of both derailers and could only find a code on the front one, "GE". Looks llike May of 1990 according to Vintage Trek website. Sounds good to me. Thank you roccobike. And thank you no1mad for link to uploading images (as I hope you can see). And thank you all. Yes the tires need to be replaced as I see the rubber severe cracks all over. Bet they are the original 23 or 24 year old tires. Thank you all again.
Dean4

cobba

Have a look at some old catalogs: https://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/...ve/Catalogues/