sparkybhp
Senior Retro Guru
+1 for me.. can’t get over the angle of the seat tube! What an absolute beauty.
1984 Stumpjumper
- Thread starter Repacker
- Start date
Repacker
Specialized Fan
I’m trying to piece together some details on mine and early Stumpjumpers in general to determine the differences per year, with the original intent of identifying the year of my one. The “Stumpjumper 25th Anniversary book” is pretty vague so if anyone can help clarify or correct anything that would be great.
The first models appeared in 1981 and had either Lugged or Tig Welded tubing. The book contradicts itself which year was which with the frame joints, and maybe I’m too hopeful thinking things changed on any kind of regular, annual cycle.
I’ve seen pictures of various models and colours with various standard but different stems and bars. The first models had the “golf club” stem. Another identifier of the first few years was the lugged biplane fork.
The advert above is dated 1982, and shows the “golf club” stem
By 1984 the "book" shows the fork had become a unicrown style and the bike had a regular quill stem. But what happened in between and in what order?
Mine has a bullmoose stem, high rise cowhorn bar and a biplane fork. This MBR article would date this as a 1982 version
Then there is the combined stem and bars which I’ve yet to tie down to a given year.....
I also see a few Stumpjumper “Sport” models when surfing the net, that had biplane forks so should be pre-1984, but there’s no mention of a “Sport” model in literature I’ve come across.
Serial numbers don’t seem to have consistency or meaning either. For example, this one ( https://bikesheaven.com/1984-specialized-stumpjumper/ ) appears very very similar to my own early stumpy, BUT its serial number starts with “84” – too much of a coincidence to think that this doesn’t mean it was made in 84, but it has a biplane fork, which according to the “Stumpjumper book” would make it pre-1984. My own model, near identical, was thought to be 1983, but its serial number is completely different format. (M4F8047)
Shedding any light or even further confusion anyone want to add, would be of interest to me, and maybe some others.
The early iterations of XT M700 are shown here for 1982, but the next set didn’t arrive till 1986 so there’s too big a time window to be of much use when trying to use which components were fitted to identify yearly bike variations between 1981 and 1986.
https://www.shimano.com/en/100th/history/products/result.php?id=27
Another link that gives the general story:
https://mbaction.com/the-history-of-the-stumpjumper/
Thanks for reading this far.....
The first models appeared in 1981 and had either Lugged or Tig Welded tubing. The book contradicts itself which year was which with the frame joints, and maybe I’m too hopeful thinking things changed on any kind of regular, annual cycle.
I’ve seen pictures of various models and colours with various standard but different stems and bars. The first models had the “golf club” stem. Another identifier of the first few years was the lugged biplane fork.
The advert above is dated 1982, and shows the “golf club” stem
By 1984 the "book" shows the fork had become a unicrown style and the bike had a regular quill stem. But what happened in between and in what order?
Mine has a bullmoose stem, high rise cowhorn bar and a biplane fork. This MBR article would date this as a 1982 version
Then there is the combined stem and bars which I’ve yet to tie down to a given year.....
I also see a few Stumpjumper “Sport” models when surfing the net, that had biplane forks so should be pre-1984, but there’s no mention of a “Sport” model in literature I’ve come across.
Serial numbers don’t seem to have consistency or meaning either. For example, this one ( https://bikesheaven.com/1984-specialized-stumpjumper/ ) appears very very similar to my own early stumpy, BUT its serial number starts with “84” – too much of a coincidence to think that this doesn’t mean it was made in 84, but it has a biplane fork, which according to the “Stumpjumper book” would make it pre-1984. My own model, near identical, was thought to be 1983, but its serial number is completely different format. (M4F8047)
Shedding any light or even further confusion anyone want to add, would be of interest to me, and maybe some others.
The early iterations of XT M700 are shown here for 1982, but the next set didn’t arrive till 1986 so there’s too big a time window to be of much use when trying to use which components were fitted to identify yearly bike variations between 1981 and 1986.
https://www.shimano.com/en/100th/history/products/result.php?id=27
Another link that gives the general story:
https://mbaction.com/the-history-of-the-stumpjumper/
Thanks for reading this far.....
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gtturbo
Senior Retro Guru
The bars and stem in the picture above look like my 83 SJ Sport even down to the deer head brake levers and Suntour shifters. Have a look at my thread here for some pictures etc.
Serial number is M3E34111
www.retrobike.co.uk
Serial number is M3E34111
1983 Stumpjumper Sport
I've seen a few early Specialized mtb's for sale on Facebook over the last year or so and always admired how good they looked and secretly quite fancied owning one. However they have always been in the states and I couldn't be bothered with all the dramas, and cost, of getting one shipped over...
www.retrobike.co.uk
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benjabbi
Bontrager Fan
Lovely bike!
I have an early one, lugged with bi-plane fork, serial number M2L63059, I've been lead to believe that the first number refers to the year and the letter the month so my frame was built in December 82, this would put yours as June 84, how true this is I don't know.
I've also read that only the first batch of 500 were tig welded and that this was a mistake they were meant to be lugged. Again not sure how accurate this is!
I have an early one, lugged with bi-plane fork, serial number M2L63059, I've been lead to believe that the first number refers to the year and the letter the month so my frame was built in December 82, this would put yours as June 84, how true this is I don't know.
I've also read that only the first batch of 500 were tig welded and that this was a mistake they were meant to be lugged. Again not sure how accurate this is!
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Repacker
Specialized Fan
Thanks for the replies so far.
I'm going to post up some info from the two entries in the Stumpjumper book which may or may not help. I'm personally disappointed just how many gaps there are in the book from the point of view of detail. I have 7 Stumpjumper at present, none of them are mentioned in the book directly!
I'm going to post up some info from the two entries in the Stumpjumper book which may or may not help. I'm personally disappointed just how many gaps there are in the book from the point of view of detail. I have 7 Stumpjumper at present, none of them are mentioned in the book directly!
trailwright
GT Fan
Lovely old Specialized. It would be good to source some early Specialized tyres; Ground Controls or Hardpacks etc.
I hope you are going to remove the dork disk?
I hope you are going to remove the dork disk?
I know this is sn older thread, but I thought this information could be helpful to anyone trying to identify, restore, or build one of the early Stumpjumper models. These two links to Specialized model specs should provide some clarification to the differences and components on the different vintage Stumpjumper models for 83 and 84.
83 spec catalog: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yc7...mh2_Y2-Lw/view
'84 spec catalog: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fni...fMqDHacx8/view
Per the info in the links, 83 had the regular Stumpjumper and Stumpjumper Sport. In 84 there was the Sport, Sport XT, Stumpjumper, and SC. I think there was also the pink Team model with the unicrown fork that is not listed in the brochure. It lists the paint colors of each model, which will help identify them, because the components weren’t always exact. For example, I have a silver 1984 Sport, but it has the slingshot stem and deer head XT shifters, which came on the regular Stumpjumper. According to the brochure, the Sport would have had the chromoly bull moose bars and SunTour thumbies.
