Specialized S-Works steel

allard

Old School Hero
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In the nineties i read an article in Mountainbike action about the steel S-Works mountainbike by Specialized. I loved the looks of it and the cutting edge design with very thin steel tubes. Flashing forward almost twenty years and i stumbled across one her on the forum and bought it for a very decent price. It came with the Nitto seatpost but without the fork. The paint was rough so i had it repainted. The fork i found NOS here in the Netherlands.
The components i wanted to put on it had to be the ones i lusted over back in the day. So i choose White Industries and Salsa and Deore XT. I also wanted to make it singlespeed and with a dropped bar as i was inspired by the pink bike from Jacquie Phelan.

The Interloc Widget brakes are a story on their own. I saw them for the first time on the Interloc FS bike as tested in Mountainbike Action. The bike was not too good but the brake was brilliant and so i wanted them. So i altavista'd the Interloc site and mailed them. A few days later i recieved a mail back confirming the sale and an inquiry if i was willing to go around stores to interest them in the products of Interloc.
A few weeks later i recieved the brakes, a t-shirt and stack of catalogues and stickers. Sad to say my commercial skills suck and the market was already saturated with cnc'ed parts so i didn't even got rid of one catalogue...
The brakes however where brilliant and found their way to the S-Works bike.

S-Works%2520update.jpg


Specs:
Frame: Specialized S-Works steel
Fork: Tange
Headset: Specialized steel
Stem: Nitto Dirt-Drop
Handlebar: One One Midge
Shifter: Suntour bar-con
Bartape: Cinelli cork
Brakelevers: Shimano
Brakes: Interloc Widget
Seatpost: Nitto Specialized S-Works
Seat: Selle Italia Flite
Hubset: White Industries
Skewers: Salsa titanium
Rims: Araya RM-14
Tires: Panaracer Smoke II and Dart II
Bracket: Specialized titanium
Crankarms: Shimano Deore XT
Chainring: Surly stainless 34
Pedals: Specialized
Chain: Shimano
Cassette: SHimano 7 speed
Derailleur: Shimano Deore XT
Bottlecage: King stainless
 
What a gorgeous bike! I love it's classy, minimal good looks. Not to mention, I'm a sucker for a MTB w/ Dirt Drops :cool:.

I like your blog too!.
 
lovely bike! very clean.

are you going to put new decals on it? what year is it?
those brakes are sooo nice...
 
SJ1990: My interest switches between several things so sometimes i disappear from the retrobike forums for a while... And to be honest there are only a few bikes on this or any forum that makes me enthusiastic, most are a horrible combination of parts without taste or restraint...

Rio: I do not have a clue what year it is... Actually the part that throws me of most is the missing noodle for the rear brake around the seat tube.
I won't put any decals on it since it takes away from the clean lines. For me the beauty of retrobikes is the way it stands on it's wheel without the suspension correction and hydroformed tubes etc... The showing of brand and type is non important an expert will know...
 
allard":2n24xxfk said:
Rio: I do not have a clue what year it is... Actually the part that throws me of most is the missing noodle for the rear brake around the seat tube.
I won't put any decals on it since it takes away from the clean lines. For me the beauty of retrobikes is the way it stands on it's wheel without the suspension correction and hydroformed tubes etc... The showing of brand and type is non important an expert will know...

I understand about the decals. Not my thing, but I do agree on the lines of retrobikes etc.
the missing noodle is exactly why i asked if you happen to know what year it is. I think only in 1996 there were steel frames with 'normal' cable stops, but would like if someone could comfirm this.
 
Absolutely gorgeous! Having a 95 steel Stumpjumper I can really appreciate this one. Would you be kind enough to share the Color, paint code etc.?
 
Loki: The color was one of the standard colors at my favorite powdercoater. I liked it straight away, so sorry i do not have a code for it...
 
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