It’s the early 80’s, and this is it. The ultimate, all your money can buy, state of the art, straight out of a box Mountainbike. Hand assembled with various components and ready to go. Time passes, and thirty something years later I’m bartering some work with a friend. My side of the bargain is dialing in all the family 2-wheelers. Having rolled out the last of the usual suspects for a family of 4, it’s time to get into this, just a basic bike, picked from the dump, Stumpjumper!
Just to point out some of the advances we have today that often get overlooked, nobody had figured out how a cable braze on with a slot in it would speed up assembly. Someone designed those upper guides to look nice on the top tube where you saw them, and sturdy on the down tube where you need it because that tread pattern spews gravel like you read about on the internet (if there had been one). Needless to say, speed of assembly was not especially high on the to do list. Aesthetic appeal was where you could apply it, given that straight steel tubes were the standard of ALL mountain bikes. Decorative gussets and other subtle details were all you had to play with.
Compare this example of date "TBD" Stumpjumper found online
Up to Date Stumpjumper
Top performer in off road drive train, Suntour! Shifting ramps, hyperglide, indexing? In your dreams.. You had to feel for it until you learned it before you could consistently jump through the gears.
Talk about efficiency of design. The rider has full control of the drive train with only two moving parts. How many micro pieces make up a Rapidfire shift pod? I vaguely remember peeking inside one of those back in 1994ish and thought, what possible reason could there be to even consider repairing one of these? And shortly thereafter I found out, you can’t. A short time after that I bought a replacement synchro mesh, handlebar mounted transmission and installed it, however, I needed a lesson in adjusting indexed shifting.
Before any of this work can happen, I need to deal with the ugly truth. 7 months of all manner of household project, science fair emergency, vehicular issue, favorite toy repair, ski and snowboard equipment tune, and about 30 bikes worth of traffic has taken it's toll on my workbench. So before I can dive into this project, I need to clear the bench. The time crunch is on, in 5 days I loose my truing stand, black fly season is peaking and biking season is beginning !
Side note, I bought my first mountain bike in 1988, bent the fork within a week and installed a Tange Swichblade which really woke up the steering until it was stolen in the summer of 1990.
Just to point out some of the advances we have today that often get overlooked, nobody had figured out how a cable braze on with a slot in it would speed up assembly. Someone designed those upper guides to look nice on the top tube where you saw them, and sturdy on the down tube where you need it because that tread pattern spews gravel like you read about on the internet (if there had been one). Needless to say, speed of assembly was not especially high on the to do list. Aesthetic appeal was where you could apply it, given that straight steel tubes were the standard of ALL mountain bikes. Decorative gussets and other subtle details were all you had to play with.
Compare this example of date "TBD" Stumpjumper found online
Up to Date Stumpjumper
Top performer in off road drive train, Suntour! Shifting ramps, hyperglide, indexing? In your dreams.. You had to feel for it until you learned it before you could consistently jump through the gears.
Talk about efficiency of design. The rider has full control of the drive train with only two moving parts. How many micro pieces make up a Rapidfire shift pod? I vaguely remember peeking inside one of those back in 1994ish and thought, what possible reason could there be to even consider repairing one of these? And shortly thereafter I found out, you can’t. A short time after that I bought a replacement synchro mesh, handlebar mounted transmission and installed it, however, I needed a lesson in adjusting indexed shifting.
Before any of this work can happen, I need to deal with the ugly truth. 7 months of all manner of household project, science fair emergency, vehicular issue, favorite toy repair, ski and snowboard equipment tune, and about 30 bikes worth of traffic has taken it's toll on my workbench. So before I can dive into this project, I need to clear the bench. The time crunch is on, in 5 days I loose my truing stand, black fly season is peaking and biking season is beginning !
Side note, I bought my first mountain bike in 1988, bent the fork within a week and installed a Tange Swichblade which really woke up the steering until it was stolen in the summer of 1990.
