Hi all,
In laws gifted me their late 90s stumpjumper a few years ago. From my search it used to cost about $1,000 msrp. I'm going to use it for some trail biking across my state.
Now I'm really stumped on whether I should try to upgrade some parts or buy a new bike instead. I see a pretty nice looking specialized big hit bike on Facebook marketplace for $550 near me (see last image). It looks better put together and I'm considering buying it instead of upgrading this one. Thoughts?
Here are its current parts:
Brake lever: Avid SD-1.9L
Shifter: Shimano Deore LX 8 Speed (Having some issues with no tension when pressing shifters)
Derailleur: Shimano Deore XT
Pedals: Wellgo LU982 (Want to upgrade)
Bike seat: SelleRoyal (Must upgrade)
Suspension: Rock Shot Judy T2 (Feels fine)
Tires: Specialized Crossroads 26×1.9
Rims: Mavic x221
Any recommendations on upgrade parts?
by 01marcos01
4 Comments
If you don’t know what you have and are referencing Msrp on a decades old bike, this bike is probs wasted on you tbh
Either that or hand it over to a shop and just ask them to do what they think is best, and pay whatever they charge at the end
It just depends on how sentimental you are over this bike
Of course, this bike has been ridden hard and is laughably badly specced compared to a modern bike, but that’s kind of obvious
It was a cheap bike 30+ years ago, it’s nothing of note.
If it’s your only bike option, do the basic repairs to get it going and ride until it breaks. You can find literally any repair how-to on youtube if you don’t want to spend money.
Any dollar spent on this above zero is damn near close to a waste. If you have the money to spend on a new or better used bike, just do that. There is no reason to try and romance this bike or restore it.
For getting into some moderate cross country, the Stumpjumper will mostly be fine. It’s got some pretty reasonable parts for the time.
I’d check the tyres carefully for cracks in the sidewall (or anywhere) and see how it rides. .
Without knowing what kind of trails, I’d be hesitant to recommend any particular tyres – not many people want to run a 2.6″ tyre on hardpack trails.
The shifter might be an issue, is the inner gear cable itself loose? Does pushing the shifter affect the tension of the inner cable at all? Or is the mechanism just completely ineffective? Sometimes the internals of a shifter get clagged up with grime and old grease, which can affect their operation
Do not buy the Big Hit, unless you want a novelty bike. Mountain bike geometry had leapt forward dramatically and even a basic modern hardtail with good geometry will descend better and ascend easier than a full susser of that era. Especially considering those bikes have often had really hard lives.
First, are you pretty short? This is quite a small frame. My wife has a similar Stumpjumper, maybe a 2000. It’s built for more city riding now and is great. This one could be fun on trails if you accept what it is and the riding that bikes 25 years ago were built for. I’ll say that this and a Big Hit and way different kinds of bikes and not ones that people would be usually trying to decide between. IIRC, the Big Hit is a downhill or freeride bike. If you’re looking for a mountain bike bike, I’d aim for something newer that is between those two. This bike is well worth using and setting up for yourself, but not “restoring” as a collectible.