I just finished a re-build of an 1997 Specialized Stumpjumper 1997. Some parts came from Australia, some from local private sellers and since the local the local Specialized dealer was out of all 26” tires I couldn’t test fit the width I wanted. I already have a hardtail Trek 850 but it is more a utility build with front and rear racks, and ended up pretty heavy. I decided I needed a light, nimble bike, to keep up with the younger boys, including my son, who hates it when I show up for a ride on my fixed gear bike, because he’s got a full suspension, 3.5” tires on a tricked out aluminum bike. He hates to ride the paved trails because, you know, you’ve got to flex the muscles, although he is very polite and has never complained to me about it. In fact I’ve ridden it and find it very nice going, but I don’t have the free cash to get one that nice, so I build the next best thing with high-end old tech from the previous century. One thing that bike demonstrated to me is that fat tires are an advantage on this terrain.
I was looking for Ground Control folding tires which I had seen in there before but now they’re on backorder and no other stock. The shop guy said the size I was looking for wouldn’t work on my bike but I believed he was misinformed since the bike came stock with 2.0 on the front and 1.9 on the back and there was at least a half inch of clearance on the chain stays and more than that on the front. So I ordered blind from the specialized website. A few days later the bundle of tires arrived via FEDEX to my house from their Salt Lake City distribution center. I need knobby open tread to deal with the mud rocks and roots in my area of operation.
26 x 2.5 for the front
26 x 2.3 for the rear
Both inflated tires have enough clearance! As I estimated the front tire has no clearance issue at all and the rear tire has about 5mm clearance on either side of the chain stays, so I’m very happy with my results.
Tomorrow morning I’ll give it a shakedown ride.
Here’s what it looks like in general:
