1998 Specialized FSR Shaun Palmer Edition

[Mindmap3]

You lucky so and so. I'd get it stripped down and hung on a wall (my old Tazer frame is on the wall after it cracked).

Palmer was a total legend...he bought a real f*ck you attitude to mountain biking. The fact that he's been so successful in most things that he's done is even more impressive.

 

[Bootch70]

Wow I'm really glad I found this thread. I was a passionate downhiller from the 90s through early 2000s (the heyday of bike evolution). I even did the kamikaze it's second year! I am now old but have lots of stories.

Anyway I am posting this for two reasons, one is that there is a lot of misinformation on here. I could be wrong because I did not study the entire thread thoroughly, perhaps some of you were very accurate therefore I apologize in advance.

Here is what I know:
This bike was released in 97 or 98, I still have the magazine that posted when it was released. They had only released 100 of them total to the public. Specialized had never made a downhill bike yet everyone was using their FSR trail bikes and reconfiguring the rear linkage to get 5 inches of travel. It, along with the GT LTS were probably the most common DH bike back then other than those who were Rich enough to afford an intense M1.

This was literally the first downhill bike specialized ever released to the public and it had to be a Palmer replica. It was a replica down to exactly everything that was on his bike including the ridiculously long stem, stiff suspension and crappy brakes. I say love that with Love by the way. Full retail was $5,300 give or take. That was expensive back then but that was about what you would pay for an M1 with a boxxer fork.

The second reason why I'm responding was because I met someone back then that just bought one and was desperate for money (I think he got his girlfriend pregnant). Therefore I bought it from him. It looked like it had been ridden maybe two or three times (runs not days) Max. I rode it once on a little section of tech cross country trail to see how it rode, compared to the 99 Tomac it was inferior.

I thought the bike was so cool however I kept it and kept it clean. Back then I bought an extra set of the original tires, chain and cassette so even those are new and identical to what came on the bike. The one thing that sucks is that the orange MRP rollers rotted and splintered off. I'm having difficulties finding orange MRP pulleys that are not rotted. I have bought several old and unused MRP guides and the rollers all have the same problem. I cannot seem to get them to stay in tack. MRP still makes them, just not in orange. I would love any beta anyone has to give.

This post looks really old so let me know if anyone saw this and I will post pictures when I get back home.

 

[trxtr]

Re:

Such a cool bike and piece of history. Please post pics!!

 

[nighe19]

that is not a birds pooh, that is dirt from its last ride in 2007. i was pretty sad i could not ride it anymore, so i just put it aside like it was. i thought about your idea of make original again, but i decided to leave it like that.

i didnt mean to make a collecters heart blead by seeing this bike in such a bad shape. so i cleaned it.

history:
its a 1997 frs race edition with a special rear end

the front frame is standart fsr with special paint job

it was one of the first dh bike sold to public, an im proud to have one!

 

[nighe19]

Wow I'm really glad I found this thread. I was a passionate downhiller from the 90s through early 2000s (the heyday of bike evolution). I even did the kamikaze it's second year! I am now old but have lots of stories.

Anyway I am posting this for two reasons, one is that there is a lot of misinformation on here. I could be wrong because I did not study the entire thread thoroughly, perhaps some of you were very accurate therefore I apologize in advance.

Here is what I know:
This bike was released in 97 or 98, I still have the magazine that posted when it was released. They had only released 100 of them total to the public. Specialized had never made a downhill bike yet everyone was using their FSR trail bikes and reconfiguring the rear linkage to get 5 inches of travel. It, along with the GT LTS were probably the most common DH bike back then other than those who were Rich enough to afford an intense M1.

This was literally the first downhill bike specialized ever released to the public and it had to be a Palmer replica. It was a replica down to exactly everything that was on his bike including the ridiculously long stem, stiff suspension and crappy brakes. I say love that with Love by the way. Full retail was $5,300 give or take. That was expensive back then but that was about what you would pay for an M1 with a boxxer fork.

The second reason why I'm responding was because I met someone back then that just bought one and was desperate for money (I think he got his girlfriend pregnant). Therefore I bought it from him. It looked like it had been ridden maybe two or three times (runs not days) Max. I rode it once on a little section of tech cross country trail to see how it rode, compared to the 99 Tomac it was inferior.

I thought the bike was so cool however I kept it and kept it clean. Back then I bought an extra set of the original tires, chain and cassette so even those are new and identical to what came on the bike. The one thing that sucks is that the orange MRP rollers rotted and splintered off. I'm having difficulties finding orange MRP pulleys that are not rotted. I have bought several old and unused MRP guides and the rollers all have the same problem. I cannot seem to get them to stay in tack. MRP still makes them, just not in orange. I would love any beta anyone has to give.

This post looks really old so let me know if anyone saw this and I will post pictures when I get back home.