Found (one of) my grails. 1985 Stumpjumper Team

[cvdubya]

Re: Re:

1 & 7.

January & July?

That's what I'm wondering. It'd make more sense if the 1 and 7 were designations for batch or something. They're all 6 digit numbers, that I'm aware of so far, so something made in October, November, December would be a 7 digit I assume and it doesn't make sense really.

I'm guessing the third digit is something other than the month of manufacture but that's a big guess

 

[cherrybomb]

Re:

I guess it depends. If they didn't anticipate selling huge numbers of frames in a year, but wanted to manufacture them in batches large enough to be cost effective, they may have had two production runs, one at the beginning of the year & one half way through as they needed a smaller second run to fill orders?

January & July.

That would explain why you only see a 1 or 7 as the third digit.

Of course, there is always the possibility that the rouge 7 isn't a 7 at all but a 1 just like all the others and its a model code.

I like this game.

 

[cvdubya]

The only other thing that I can think of is the "1" was the original 85 Team design and the "7" is the updated Team with more clearance for the wider tires and made for the 86 model year.

I've been posting in a few places hoping to find the last couple original parts I need (1.5" Specialized Tri-Cross tires and Tommaselli Racer levers) and I found yet another Team for sale locally. The guy contacted me and said he has a fully original black 85 Team and sent pics. I'm certain it's a 86 and not 85 since I think pink was the only team color in 85. Can anyone confirm that? It's super dusty and looks like it's sat in the shed for 25 years but I think I'm going to buy it this spring.

 

[cvdubya]

Re:

So I'm going to pick up another 85 or 86 Stumpjumper Team today in a couple hours. I'm really only getting it because it has the Tommaselli Racer brake levers i need to finish my pink Team and I'll more than likely sell it after I swap the levers.

I'll get pics up in a bit but does anyone know of a black Stumpjumper Team with pink decals? The owner said it's an 85 but I'm guessing it's an 85 serial number but 86 model year. I can't find anything on the web about a 85/86 black Team

 

[cvdubya]

Re: Re:

85 would likely be the year. I don't know if I have seen a 86 stamped Team.

The serial numbers are sort of goofy. There's no way they are simply sequential and MOMBATS is the 7009th. These were the first MTBs specialized made in the USA so they are far fewer in number. I would think in the 100s given how hard they are to find. The shop making them was also turning out special specialized CX and road bikes as well I think so perhaps it's a mixed bag of numbers. Maybe theres a month or batch code in the serial number ... I don't know. It be cool to get a data base going and figure that out.

My Team and your team likely lived on the same rack in 1985. I've got 851245.

Jimi,I bought the book "Stumpjumper: 25 years Of Mountain Biking" last week and it just came in the mail. Lots of good info and pictures of the Pink Team.

According to the book, there were less than 500 of these bikes sold, about half as many as I was thinking. Obviously the serial numbers aren't sequential so that's still a mystery.

 

[jimi911]

Re:

I have that book! I must of stored that low number count in my head but forgot where I got it from.

Did you pickup that other stumpy team??

 

[El Sapo]

Re:

I'll get pics up in a bit but does anyone know of a black Stumpjumper Team with pink decals? The owner said it's an 85 but I'm guessing it's an 85 serial number but 86 model year. I can't find anything on the web about a 85/86 black Team

That black one is mine. I'm pretty sure it's a repaint and it's nice to ride something a little less Pink around the neighborhood

Reason I was snooping around was because I just got a Team frame back from the paint shop a couple of hours ago. OMG! It's incredible

Same shop and painter who painted all the early Ritchey and Fat Chance bikes. He does all the Rivendell custom frames.

 

[El Sapo]

Re:

Here is the Black

 

[El Sapo]

Re:

Here is the Pink I just repainted. Looks great in pictures right?

 

[cvdubya]

Re: Re:

Here is the Black

I actually wasn't referring to yours, but I did try to talk to you on MTBR a few weeks back about the bike. I'm 99.9999% sure that's original paint and there were not many made. From what I could gather, it's a late 1986 Model, one of the not so well known running changes specialized was known to do back then. Probably some leftover Team frames they decided to use a different color on is my best guess.

I have the pink 85 Team, basically completely original now but I also bought the same black one that you have about a month ago. It's an almost identical frame and parts build as my 85 Team but it's obviously a different color and doesn't have the "Team" decal, just like yours. I took all the good parts off of the black bike like the Tommaselli Racer levers, skewers, saddle, shifters and front brake and either used them on my pink 85 or put them away so I have spare original parts. I sold the black one 2 weeks ago locally for $300 as a frameset with original wheels, front derailleur, crankset and stem/bars.