Sundayjumper
Specialized Fan
I won this on ebay the other day and Googling for info on the spec after the event I found this thread on here about the listing. So I promised Adrian I'd post some more info after I'd collected the bike.
Overall it's in OK condition. Everything is original as far as I can tell, which is nice. 25 year old tyres & brake blocks don't look too confidence-inspiring though :? It's clearly not been ridden much but has got 20+ years of storage under its belt there's plenty of scuffs & scrapes and some surface rust. I'll tidy it up as best I can.
Here's a pic after a basic clean up.
If anyone's still thinking "WTF is that ?", here's a scan of the 1989 brochure courtesy of stumpjumper1990. The bike is basically a Rockhopper with a steeper head angle, lower BB and drop bars. A 26" cross bike. Kinda.
Gears and brakes were already working nicely so no need for an immediate strip down, meaning I could take it for a spin straight away. And I'm rather taken with it
On the road it immediately feels stable and comfortable. I could see one of these making a great long-distance tourer. My first decent bike (in, err, 1987), before I ever had a mountain bike, was a custom 700c touring bike built with 531st tubing. The Rock Combo feels like a chunkier version of that - in a good way. I used to have 700x32 tyres on that bike; 32mm is about 1.25" so the 1.5" tyres on here are only a small step up in size. After half a mile on the road I turned onto the bridleway and realised that this is exactly what the bike is built for. The tyres aren't mega-grippy so you need to keep your wits about you a little bit. That's part of the fun though, right ?? I need to try it with a few other tyres to see how it responds. I think 1.5" might be the sweet spot for all-round use though. And as already mentioned, the brakes are terrible. I'll need to do something about that.
A few more miles of bridleway and then back on the road for the last stretch home. Perfect bike for it. I'm really quite chuffed.
Sorry Adrian, I think it's going to be a keeper
Overall it's in OK condition. Everything is original as far as I can tell, which is nice. 25 year old tyres & brake blocks don't look too confidence-inspiring though :? It's clearly not been ridden much but has got 20+ years of storage under its belt there's plenty of scuffs & scrapes and some surface rust. I'll tidy it up as best I can.
Here's a pic after a basic clean up.
If anyone's still thinking "WTF is that ?", here's a scan of the 1989 brochure courtesy of stumpjumper1990. The bike is basically a Rockhopper with a steeper head angle, lower BB and drop bars. A 26" cross bike. Kinda.
Gears and brakes were already working nicely so no need for an immediate strip down, meaning I could take it for a spin straight away. And I'm rather taken with it
On the road it immediately feels stable and comfortable. I could see one of these making a great long-distance tourer. My first decent bike (in, err, 1987), before I ever had a mountain bike, was a custom 700c touring bike built with 531st tubing. The Rock Combo feels like a chunkier version of that - in a good way. I used to have 700x32 tyres on that bike; 32mm is about 1.25" so the 1.5" tyres on here are only a small step up in size. After half a mile on the road I turned onto the bridleway and realised that this is exactly what the bike is built for. The tyres aren't mega-grippy so you need to keep your wits about you a little bit. That's part of the fun though, right ?? I need to try it with a few other tyres to see how it responds. I think 1.5" might be the sweet spot for all-round use though. And as already mentioned, the brakes are terrible. I'll need to do something about that.A few more miles of bridleway and then back on the road for the last stretch home. Perfect bike for it. I'm really quite chuffed.
Sorry Adrian, I think it's going to be a keeper
but I'll plan to keep it more like the original concept.
