A Netflix build special… (JMC 1995 Specialized M2)

[Joe*Pro]

Looking better, but still making do again with lookalike parts till the rare consumables turn up.

The brakes really needed to be Avids as a minimum, even if I couldn’t find the crazy price SD Ultimates this side of the Atlantic.

I’d started to study the stock catalogue a bit more and wonder if it was better to aim for that. Thinking ‘well that must have been how it looked the day JMC took delivery of it’ till he adjusted it to be the dual slalom bike I think he intended it to be. I don’t know for sure, but I can’t imagine he took delivery of just a frame alone and it had too many of the stock catalogue parts on for that to be the case.

A pair of grey NOS Umma Gummas popped up at less than triple figures, so why not. As finally did the first grey saddle, although it was perforated like the catalogues, which I panic bought in the car sat waiting for a red light to turn green at a railway crossing!!

The fear of trying to acquire rare parts really setting in now when ever something vaguly correct was spotted.

But some good riding was had all the same, including a few stretches of the South Downs way with the mrs.





The catalogue:

 

[Joe*Pro]

It was around this time I’d found @Spudly ‘s build thread which helped list more accurately some of the exact parts I needed if it was going to get closer to the original. So very thankful to his faithful documentation and close inspections of the original bike, to in turn help me by proxy. In particular his kind of attention to detail comment like ‘the correct Stamped red DCD as oppose to the sticker versions’, so that got added back onto the search list again !

Spudly’s build thread:
Thread '1995 Specialized S-Works JMC replica'
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/1995-specialized-s-works-jmc-replica.371254/

Then the other half was pregnant, so that and all it entails put a 6 month pause or so on the spend, till I was back in the clear to have little parcels of retro gold turning up again and disappear off to the shed for my allocated hour.

Around Christmas 2019 the Onza grips had turned up randomly amongst a ‘jumble box of crap parts’ as had the bottle holder, but not much more.

I also realised, if I was to ever finish this halo bike, she’d need a fitting place to hang. (And with a screaming baby it was becoming a bit of a sanctuary!) So a garage makeover commenced at the end of year 2 and the need for some framed jerseys to set her off was added to the ever growing search list. (Something like the ‘Dirty Jerseys’ poster)

 

[MattiThundrrr]

grey NOS Umma Gummas

Man, I loved that compound for grip on hardpack. Great tires

 

[Spudly]

Mega write up dude, love to see others doing the same as it proves to me that I'm not quite as daft/sad as I sometimes think I am lmao

 

[raidan73]

I love a long winded labour of love

 

[Joe*Pro]

I love a long winded labour of love

True to the Netflix box set unfortunately. But will be finished by the end of this weekend if just want to go straight to the season finale.

 

[Joe*Pro]

Mega write up dude, love to see others doing the same as it proves to me that I'm not quite as daft/sad as I sometimes think I am lmao

Appreciate that. There will be a couple of OCD style questions at the end mostly aimed at you !

 

[raidan73]

True to the Netflix box set unfortunately. But will be finished by the end of this weekend if just want to go straight to the season finale.

I'll stick around and see if there are any bonus features or directors' commentary!

 

[Joe*Pro]

I'll stick around and see if there are any bonus features or directors' commentary!

I’m keeping an eye out for a suitable monkey puzzle tree for the final shot !!! …although that might make no sense right now.

 

[Joe*Pro]

Year 3

Within a month of looking, the correct stamped 3 pin DCD turned up in mint condition, as did an original canti FSX brace.

The old FSX brake booster I had was actually a canti version, but the previous owners dad (bike shop mechanic apparently) had cut it off and filed it down for v-brakes, can you believe it. The replacement I found was an original from Australia and low and behold it wasn’t cracked at the bolt on weak point. Think I paid £70 (almost the same as the fork had cost me) for it and waited a month of shipping for it to arrive.

Given the distance it had successfully come, I started to feel like this bike really was comprised of parts from all over the world and I should really keep a list of where all the parts had come from, any excuse for a spreadsheet me. I swapped it out and sold the old one for the same price to a nice bloke in Canada some time later.