merziac

Tx, and for your opinion, going to assume you are an expert frame builder, being able to say with such certainty how this will go from a few pics, I doubt that anybody is that good. Not saying you're wrong just saying that's quite a leap.

Anyway, as mentioned above, this is very small for me and will be ridden very little if at all. Going to clean it up some more, have some actual experts evaluate, happily add it to the collection and drool over it much much more, as I said, no danger of anything catastrophic happening. After a lifetime of mechanics and 35+ years drag racing motorcycles, I have a pretty good handle on potential failures, even when they happen at 125 mph in a 1/1000th of a second.

Loose Chain

No, I am an engineer and a mechanic, A&P with inspection credentials and NDI credentials. I do this stuff for a living, for real where lives are at risk if I am wrong. So, I am an actual expert. But, casual photographs like these are difficult to be sure.

I hope you get a good finding on it. Edit to add, it sounds like you have some good materials experience, you are there to see it up close. What NDI has been done, how did you determine it still to be structurally sound? It is your judgement and I defer to it given your experience. We talk about opinions, but, really, opinion can be largely removed and it is facts I prefer to deal with. But I realize, most do not have facilities for that level of investigation, leaving us with judgement and opinion, which can be good if the opinion is based on real experience, like yours.

merziac

Well I appreciate that and I as well have some professional qualifications, ASE Master and FoMoCo Senior Master Technician for 35 years so I have had plenty of people's safety at stake also. And as I said, a lot of time at the dragstrip, so I've seen a fair amount of this in practice with plenty of extreme force and speed at play.

Again, this will never be a rider for me, but it may get fixed or it may just sit on display. I will have Jim weigh in and Dave Levy of TiCycles will but his eyeball on it as well.

Tx again.

DorkDisk

Outstanding job, with great details!

DorkDisk

Is that a Stumpjumper with a 27.2 seatpost? My 92 uses a 27.0, apparently 91 used a 27.2

Just wondering

DorkDisk

Thank you for sharing your story. Bicycles are nothing without humans. I hope your friend is at peace.

Having working in shops, there is nothing sadder than inheriting a bike this way....

Sir_Name 

Almost spot-on, ‘91 Rockhopper Sport. Only the wheels are original at this point, and are up for replacement due to rim wear. It’s obviously on the small side for me, handed down from my father. The small size actually works well on the rougher trail sections. The Thomson post was the only one I could find in 27.2 with enough extension to work for me.

katsup

My 92 tange stumpjumper had a 26.8 seatpost. It was the purple DX model that year.

88Tempo

I almost bought a 91 Bridgestone MB-5 in fair+ condition the other day for 60 bucks at a pawnshop, but not knowing much about them I passed on it.

rjhammett

My 1990 Marin Eldridge Grade that I just picked up (for $25).

DorkDisk

Thank you. My framebuilder frames have been talking me into reaming it to a 27.2 but I'm hesitant. They think S cheaped out that year by not reaming.

DorkDisk

That's interesting. Is your Jumper of Stumps similar to mine?

2cam16

Wow, I finally see a twin to mine. lol
IMG_3077 by 2cam16, on Flickr

katsup

Yes, a 27.0 post could be jammed in (it was when I got it), but a 26.8 fit perfect.

melville

I saw the same stuff. BITD (80s-90s) we found that the good thin wall tubes were more resilient than the paint. Road frames built with crazy light tubes (.7/.4/.7 and lighter) could crack the paint in normal use around the lugs without doing any damage to the frame. Any crack in that frame is probably going to start at the point of that lug and would be obvious in the bare steel.

That said, that's a lot of paint to leave the frame. Imron?

merziac

+1, Exactly this, Jim is a master of all this and this is a great example, lesser examples would have crumbled or be useless at best, this one is fine for now as is. No cracks, rips or tears that I can see so far.

Yep, should be Imron, not sure if Virginia was still painting them, but still should have been Imron and they were zinc chromate dipped beforhand.

merziac

Memorial day update, started out by swapping in some bullmoose bars, derusted, cleaned and polished the Suntour Mighty thumbies, Magura levers and installed some Oury grips. This changed the front brake cable access so out came the NOS Mafac tandem canti's that were procured for this or a Stumpy project to solve the cable issue quickly and easily for the time being. Swapped in a black Brooks and standard Record seatpost for good measure as well.

I now have a quandary with the wheels, it has the wheels that it came to me with that are mismatched but have the cool Black Bullseye's that will be built up with matching good rims later.

For the near future I have a set of UKAI with Suntour XC hubs or Araya with "sealed bearing" hubs. Lets have a vote.

AlmostGreenGuy

I love, love, love my Specialized Rockhopper. It's rides so beautifully, both on and off road. I finally swapped out the original tires for the far more versatile set of 26 X 2.30 Kenda K-Rads. I was a little worried that they would fit, but it turns out that there's still a ton of room left. I might have even been able to fit the 26 X 2.5's.

merziac

You know we share the same DNA, right?

AlmostGreenGuy

Wow. Yours is glorious. I loved the lugged frame and fork!!! What a wonderful foundation to build up from.

If I may ask, which Brooks is that? It looks absolutely perfect on that bike. I may need to follow suit.

merziac

Tx, it's a B17 Imperial, they have them a BTD for $120 with free ship and 5% credit if you join their email list.

vp1337

My Mali turned into a commuter. Approx 1990-91, originally full LX M550.

SD70

I sold my '92 Diamondback Apex a couple of years ago. Still had the original DX components (except for one of the shifters) I bought it new in the 90's and rode the heck out of it on the trails of Central PA. I don't hit those trails anymore, stick to gravel now, but this thread is making me miss it

merziac

Next update here, Wheels and tires, generic tires, UKAI rims and Suntour XC hubs.

mkeller234

Good gravy, that bike is awesome! I love the way Ukai is marked on the rims.