Ricker
Dirt Disciple
While waiting to see if I catch covid from my lovely wife on this nice US holiday weekend, I figure I will post a few of my projects. I have been lurking for quite a while and have collected bicycles from various eras since the early '90's. I just rode them before that
Here is a bike that has been on my list since I sold one to a friend while working in a shop back in 1992. When I called Specialized to order it the woman on the line sighed heavily and asked "what's the employees name?" which immediately let me know that they probably hadn't sold many of these at full retail. The Specialized employee purchase program was awesome back then- 50% off of dealer wholesale. This bike was still really expensive at that amazing bargain price.
I am choosing to go silver and black parts (other than a bit of blue to match the decal shadow) and found some grafton pedals that came with some nice cranks. I had a pair of these pedals in this color bitd and always liked them although they were difficult to get into with the cleats. I have the OG cleats and instructions with these (lucky find). I have some more parts to throw at it and will post progress occasionally when I can. I don't have photos of the other parts yet- need to build the wheels still.
Anyway photos:
Frame: 91 Specialized Epic Ultimate 18"
Fork: Specialized (original)
Headset: Suntour WTB grease guard (original)
Stem: Litespeed Ti w/cable guide
Handlebar: Dynamic Design Ti 560mm
Grips: Titec foam
Barends: nope
Brakes: Joe's prototypes - blue
Brake Pads:
Brake Cables:
Cantilever cable hangers:
Brake Levers: Dia-compe SS5
Shifters: Suntour XC pro 7 speed
Front Derailleur: XC pro
Rear Derailleur: XC pro
Derailleur Cables:
Cassette: 12-28 XC pro
Chain: Suntour
Cranks: Grafton Speed Stix ('91)
Crank Bolts:
Chainrings: Shimano 24-36-46
Chainring bolts:
Bottom Bracket: Specialized Ti 73x122
Pedals: Grafton
Hub Skewers: Salsa no logo blue
Rims: Mavic 231 32 hole
Hubs: Suntour XC pro WTB grease guard 32 hole
Nipples: DT
Spokes: Wheelsmith DB-15
Tyres: Specialized Umma Gumma more extreme 2.5 and 1.95 (for now)
Tubes:
Saddle: Flite
Seatpost: Fast Feather 27.2
Seatpost Binder: Control tech
Weight:
There is some misinformation out there about what is Ti and what is steel on these frames. Everything except for the rear brake bosses and brake boss lugs is Merlin Ti and all the tubes are transparent clear carbon on the '91's. The 92 that my friend had(has?) was painted black over the lugs and transparent red over the carbon tubes (mombat images have this color). As is shown on other nice bikes on this site, the later frames were painted silver at the lugs.
Rick
Here is a bike that has been on my list since I sold one to a friend while working in a shop back in 1992. When I called Specialized to order it the woman on the line sighed heavily and asked "what's the employees name?" which immediately let me know that they probably hadn't sold many of these at full retail. The Specialized employee purchase program was awesome back then- 50% off of dealer wholesale. This bike was still really expensive at that amazing bargain price.
I am choosing to go silver and black parts (other than a bit of blue to match the decal shadow) and found some grafton pedals that came with some nice cranks. I had a pair of these pedals in this color bitd and always liked them although they were difficult to get into with the cleats. I have the OG cleats and instructions with these (lucky find). I have some more parts to throw at it and will post progress occasionally when I can. I don't have photos of the other parts yet- need to build the wheels still.
Anyway photos:
Frame: 91 Specialized Epic Ultimate 18"
Fork: Specialized (original)
Headset: Suntour WTB grease guard (original)
Stem: Litespeed Ti w/cable guide
Handlebar: Dynamic Design Ti 560mm
Grips: Titec foam
Barends: nope
Brakes: Joe's prototypes - blue
Brake Pads:
Brake Cables:
Cantilever cable hangers:
Brake Levers: Dia-compe SS5
Shifters: Suntour XC pro 7 speed
Front Derailleur: XC pro
Rear Derailleur: XC pro
Derailleur Cables:
Cassette: 12-28 XC pro
Chain: Suntour
Cranks: Grafton Speed Stix ('91)
Crank Bolts:
Chainrings: Shimano 24-36-46
Chainring bolts:
Bottom Bracket: Specialized Ti 73x122
Pedals: Grafton
Hub Skewers: Salsa no logo blue
Rims: Mavic 231 32 hole
Hubs: Suntour XC pro WTB grease guard 32 hole
Nipples: DT
Spokes: Wheelsmith DB-15
Tyres: Specialized Umma Gumma more extreme 2.5 and 1.95 (for now)
Tubes:
Saddle: Flite
Seatpost: Fast Feather 27.2
Seatpost Binder: Control tech
Weight:
There is some misinformation out there about what is Ti and what is steel on these frames. Everything except for the rear brake bosses and brake boss lugs is Merlin Ti and all the tubes are transparent clear carbon on the '91's. The 92 that my friend had(has?) was painted black over the lugs and transparent red over the carbon tubes (mombat images have this color). As is shown on other nice bikes on this site, the later frames were painted silver at the lugs.
Rick
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