1988 Stumpjumper Epic (former Cindy Whitehead Frame)

[krakhaus]

Re: 1989 Stumpjumper Epic

Part of it's weight was obviously from the Futureshock that came with it when I bought it. I was just expecting the frame to be much lighter. Because carbon fiber is supposed to be light right? My 91 steel stumpjumper felt like a feather compared to the epic. The Epic does look cool though.

 

[DynaCol]

Re:

Yeah know what you mean. I think the problem with these early frames was that there was possibly a degree of over engineering in the joints as there wasn't the years of knowledge on what they could get away with, the first generation of bonded Raleigh dynatech's were the same.
As the technology was refined over the years the weights came down especially as they switched to Ti lugs on the Epic's. I'm not expecting this bike to be the lightest out there but looking forward to seeing how it rides more than anything.

 

[DynaCol]

Re:

So I think I'm ready to call it!

Contacted "I_am_Will" (a fellow 89 Epic owner ) to check what his frame number was and it's 8X0193. I wanted to see if all Epic's had a similar pattern to the frame numbers and this has confirmed my suspicions that my frame was once Cindy's bike, or one of her bikes from her time at Specialized. The other thing is that Cindy herself said that she only raced for Specialized in 88, something which is confirmed in the 89 catalogue I have (will post the relevant pages later) so this must have been one of the earliest Epic's produced for the team. Certainly got more than I was expecting when I picked this frame up that's for sure .

 

[Muddy paw]

Re:

So glad to see further confirmation regards this being one of Cindys old race bikes mate :xmas-cool: so what's the situation with the forks then ie; are you sticking with the rigids or are you going to put SIDs on although my choice would be to stick with the rigids ..

 

[DynaCol]

Re: Re:

So glad to see further confirmation regards this being one of Cindys old race bikes mate :xmas-cool: so what's the situation with the forks then ie; are you sticking with the rigids or are you going to put SIDs on although my choice would be to stick with the rigids ..

SIDs? I hope that was a joke! nah i'll be sticking with rigid forks.
I've just posted a wanted add to see if anyone has a pair of early Direct Drives. Have seen a couple on ebay but they don't have the right canti studs. I'm usually too impatient to wait for the right things to come up but I'm going to hang on for the right ones I think (unless I'm waiting for ages ).
Picked up a set of NOS wheels today GX23 rims on M730 hubs and have most of the rest of the kit for the build, will get some pic's up tomorrow.

 

[Muddy paw]

Re: 1989 Stumpjumper Epic

Nope i wasn't joking about the SIDs but seriously some builds cry out for suspension forks but not this one and as for your wheel choice they are going to look real sweet when fitted and yes it will be well worth the wait for the correct forks otherwise it will bug you every time you look at the bike .

I'm fairly patient myself when it comes to waiting unless it's for bad news then i'd rather get it over with . Any way i can't wait to see what bits you've got so far so i can picture how good it will look when it's completed ..

 

[DynaCol]

Re:

As promised, here's a few pic's of some of the bits for the build, have most of the remainder on other bikes or in boxes somewhere ATM so will add them when I've dug them out.

 

[Muddy paw]

Re:

Yummy ! , i take it you'll be polishing the pedals and crank arms up although the crank arms aren't looking to bad and you certainly hit the jackpot with those wheels as they really are top quality .

Is that a tasty XT u brake you've got wrapped up in that bag and how come you've got 2 h stems as they don't look much different to each other unless one has a lesser rise than the other and as for the Turbo i've never had the pleasure of using one and although they don't look light weight they do appear to look very comfy ...

 

[DynaCol]

Re:

Aye nothing has been properly cleaned and polished yet so just a quick few shots to show what I've gathered really. The stems are fairly similar right enough but the top one is a Specialized with cable routing underneath and the other is a generic stem with the cable routing pierced through the top (the first is the type fitted in the catalogue but the latter is the type ridden by the team riders). The Specialized stem is a bit longer so will see which fits me better once I come to build the bike up.
Yep that's a U-brake in the bag, the one that came with the frame is faded on one arm and this one is in better condition. I've never tried a turbo either but it's the right spec for the bike and dated from 90 so more or less the right age.

 

[Muddy paw]

Re: 1989 Stumpjumper Epic

Well i'd kinda gathered you just hadn't go round to doing any polishing as for cleaning they didn't look that dirty tbh , As for the stems due to the lap top being erm old i couldn't tell that their was cable routing underneath on the catalogue spec stem :facepalm: but tbh either would suit the bike fine but given the pedigree of the frame i'd hope the race spec stem works out best due to original Team spec ...

It's a shame the U brake that came with the frame wasn't upto par but given it's age it's to be expected and as for the Turbo saddle i just thought with your cycling experience over the years that you just may of had one fitted to a bike at some point but at least you can give me feed back regards it's comfort but if it was specced for race use then it's gotta good ..