Specialized M2 Info Thread/Serial Registry

[Neko]

Hi Neko, with the help of this thread I was able to ID this bike I think as one of the "limited-run" M2 Teams. It has a 91T serial, the riveted cable guides, and a square-topped seat clamp. Seen some abuse over the last 30 years but pretty neat. Unfortunately a little small for me.

Looks like a frame build that was later converted to cruiser. It has a mix of XT and Deore DX parts, a Mag fork, and a Spesh crank. A hole for the fork bridge is stripped, hence the missing front brake. For $25 I was willing to overlook some of these issues

I talked to the guys at my local (Bay Area) Specialized shop who were active in the day and they said there were more than 500 of those red M2 Teams floating around, also being so close to the old Spesh HQ I heard people would pull frames out of the dumpsters behind the factory? It sounds like some of the limited quantity boiled down to how many frames they could weld to pass QC.

I would reckon that the 500 figure was just frames made in 1991 (assuming they even kept their word), The 1992 and 1993 models were quite similar so I guess in a way there were far more than 500 made. I have a 1993 myself, distinguished by the rounded seatpost collar and FSX in the serial for whatever reason.
I'm Bay Area too unsurprisingly.

 

[Neko]

Something to add... Bought my M2 team FSX New in 93 or 4 and was Mnt bike racing during that time. I knew several guys who raced and broke their larger frames. My 15" or 16" as i thought it was never did. I believe due to the small size with shorter tubes was stronger.

I'm surprised more of them didn't break as they were very stiff frames and some did not have the luxury of an upper headtube gusset. To be fair the headtubes were overbuilt until '94 (except the '93 Team). They seem to have a similar failure rate to Taiwanese 90's Zaskars, unless I am missing a glaringly obvious repository of broken M2's. None of my eight had any cracks.