Sulliusiby1n

Specialized hardrock sport, direct drive custom. Off road Cr - Mo SFS tubing. Double Butted. Shimano gear assembly. What does this all mean?

Barry2 

It means you need a local knowledgeable friend to evaluate the bike before you plonk down good money and buy it.

Barry

Sulliusiby1n

Super helpful thank you

Inusuit

Sorry your first response on the forum was snide and unhelpful. I can't say much other than I think the Hard Rock was the lowest level of Specialized mountain bikes. Went up to the Rock Hopper and the then the Stump Jumper.

Sulliusiby1n

Thank you. I knew they were an older series. I’ll probably put some slicks on and just ride it on greenways and other paved trails anyway. I was just curious what all the markings were about.

cb400bill

Specialized is the brand name of the bike
Hardrock Sport is the model name of the bike
Direct Drive Custom - I don't know
Off Road Cr-Mo SFS tubing is Specialized's name for the bike's steel frame. Cr-Mo means the the steel's alloying elements include chromium and molybdenum. Off Road implies that it is stronger for more rough use.
Double Butted means that the tubes are thicker at the ends for strength and thinner in the middle to be lighter weight.
Shimano gear assembly means that the manufacturer of most, if not all, of the bike's brake levers, calipers, shifters and derailleurs are made by Shimano.

sdimattia

Direct Drive is a type of tubing . . . Pulled this off an old Bike Forums thread, post number 4:https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ve-tubing.html

"Specialized liked to coin a unique name for their bikes tubing that didn't pin it down to one supplier or manufacturer. Direct Drive was one of those names and it could be used for Tange-supplied tubing or same spec tubing from another source. It was seamless, drawn, and butted 4130 CrMo and that's what's important. The double butted tubing gages were typically 0.9-0.6-0.9, which is robust but reasonably light, and resulted in a 26.8 seatpost size for a standard 28.6 seat tube diameter. Tange Prestige, which was heat treated CrMo, could be drawn thinner and had gages as thin as 0.4, was top of the Tange line. Most likely no production Specialized bike used the thinner tube gage. The Direct Drive moniker was used for the Mark DiNucci designed road bikes from the early 90's that featured oversized (OS) tubing and DiNucci-designed custom lugs. The OS tubing was also being used on mountain bikes. Tange Prestige OS was available but Giant, a manufacturer of Specialized bikes at the time, also produced their own seamless double-butted tubing - so a "Direct Drive Custom Butted" label could refer to this "house-brand" of tubing.
Prior to the "Direct Drive" name, when Specialized moved their bike manufacturing sources to primarily Taiwan, they used other custom labels. Here's the one from my 1987 Allez, which almost certainly was manufactured by Giant and used Giant produced tubing."

If you decide to purchase the bike, enjoy your new ride!

Sulliusiby1n

Thank you for the thorough explanation! I’m just trying to learn more about it.

livedarklions

If you haven't bought it yet, be sure it fits you. That seems to be a common newbie mistake.

Enjoy!