Friday, March 30, 2012

1989 Specialized RockCombo For Sale

You may already know all of this, but for those who are unfamiliar with the RC:

The RockCombo was an early try at producing a do-everything bike...what eventually evolved into the hybrid bike, as we know it today.  It predated the iconic Bridgestone XO series by 3 years, but was a less than stellar sales success.  As such, it was only sold for one year.

I bought this one from a fellow in The Netherlands, as a frame and fork.  I had a Specialized headset in my parts stash, as well as a Specialized seat post QR.  The rest of the equipment is Shimano Deore (except the hubs, which are Shimano from the same era, but with no model name), plus Ultegra 7-speed bar-end shifters, DiaCompe aero brake levers, a basic one-piece seat post  and a SRAM 7-speed cogset. 

I even found some Deore pedals, a while back, to top it off.


The seat post and stem are extended for my 5'10" height.  I think the 18" frame would be better suited to someone an inch or two shorter.  The bike currently has 1.5: knobbies on it, because I was using it primarily as a commuter.  It has clearance for 2.0"+ tires.

I'm not a big fan of Dirt Drop bars, which were original to the bike, so I used these mustache-like On-One Mungo bars.

The paint has some wear (I spent hours touching it up, when I first got it), but the decals are all good.






I will sell the bike complete, minus the saddle, for $425.00 plus shipping (approximately $70.00 within the Continental U.S.), or I will sell the frame and fork for $300.00 plus shipping (approximately $50.00 ConUS).

If you are interested, shoot me an email at jjgrinder  msn com (you know the punctuation, I assume..), or if you are local call 303 916 5800.

x

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Mid-80s Nishiki Road Bike

Here is the text I posted on Denver Craigslist:

"I think that this is a 1984 International, but I can't swear to it. The Metallic Beige colorway is right, but the DiaCompe centerpull brakes are wrong. Of course, just because they were on there when I got the bike doesn't mean that they are original...





The gold-anodized SunTour crankset is certainly not original. I actually got this bike specifically to mount this crankset on it. 

 




As it's built, the bike is basically a poor man's Rivendell, complete with "Beausage", as Grant Petersen would say (there are some chips in the paint, normal wear and tear on the decals, but no dents or serious rust). The frame is lugged steel (cro-moly, as far as I know), with a chrome-tipped fork, and it has a sweet ride which lends itself nicely to cruising the backroads all day long.

 


The 51cm mustache bars are mounted in a Dirt-drop style stem, to get your hands up even with the saddle. The 700c wheels feature a Shimano 8-speed Parallax rear hub with an 8-speed cogset, and Alex X-Rims. The original SunTour derailleurs are controlled by SunTour Bar-Con shifters. I updated the seatpost to a modern alloy TCO with an integrated clamp.


The bike is currently shod with 700x35c tires, and I have ridden with 700x42c tires on the bike. You could run fenders with the 35s, but not with 42s.


The pedals are currently Crank Brothers clipless. If you don't want them, they can come off, and I will install your pedals for you so that you can ride home.


 


I was a bike shop Service Manager for 8 years, and I built this bike up right. It has all new cables and housing, the bearings are lubed and adjusted, the wheels are trued and tensioned, and the brakes will stop you. It is set up nicely and will require no more than seat height adjustment to be ready for you to ride. All this for the price of a new 11 speed cogset...

 




Frame Dimensions (measured center-to-center): Seat tube - 57cm, Top Tube - 57cm, Ground to top of top Top Tube - 32-3/4 inches


$325.00 is cheap for this bike. Take a look at what the newer Taiwanese tig-welded bikes such as the Handsome, or the Rawland cost, and you will see that this is a definite bargain for a Japanese-built lugged frame with the cool vintage parts."


For everyone outside of Denver:

If you want the bike, and are in the Continental US, I will ship it to you for $350, total.

Just hit me with an email  (jjgrinder  msn  com) You know the punctuation...