Laur's '89 StumpJumper Resto-Mod

Lauryn details the process of restoring and modifying a classic early mountain bike

It all started with a Facebook Marketplace ad. A 1989 specialized StumpJumper in MY size. I love these bikes, and have been looking to take on a project like this for a while. 

I scooped it up, brought it into the shop, and started taking it apart and assessing its general condition. 

Almost everything on the bike was in amazing condition. The bike was 100% original, all of the components were in great shape. I think it may have even been the original chain. Other than some scuffing, a small amount of rust, and general wear and tear the bike was perfectly fine.

After stripping it down to the frame, cleaning, polishing, and regreasing it was time to think about what I was going to keep, and what was going to change. This was the most fun I've had in a long time, I spent hours agonizing over parts.

Not having to replace anything essential on the bike other than cabling and the chain left me with tons of room to play around with aesthetics.

The first thing I knew for sure that I wanted to change was the cockpit. For handlebars, I was looking for something comfy, cool, and upright. Perfect for a general commuter but also nimble enough to give me good handling on tougher terrain. A LOT of humming and hawing led me to Velo Orange’s Tourist bars. 

As for the rest of the cockpit, The next thing that had to go were the brake levers. The original SLR brake levers were in the classic early ATB style - huge, long, motorcycle looking things. I swapped them out for some Paul Canti-levers. I think they look great, and they feel amazing. I finished it off with some muddy brown Oury grips and left the original thumbies as is.

For rubber I went with a pair of Ultradynamico Mars Race tires in Red. It took me an incredibly long time to decide on a set of tires but the brown and red of these are basically made for this bike. 

Plus, they ride like you wouldn’t believe. For how knobby they are they have incredibly low rolling resistance on smoother terrain, I’ve taken them around the city, and they feel like butter. They make almost no road noise, and they handle snow and ice better than my winter bike does with studded tires. 

I swapped the saddle for a B17, slapped on some MKS Sylvan touring pedals (though I have a feeling I’ll swap them out for something a little wider this summer), and finished the build off with a front rack from Pelago. This rack is probably my favourite front rack on the market right now. It’s sleek, light, affordable, and they send you hardware for just about any mounting situation you could possibly run into (like, in my case, only having eyelets designed to mount fenders on the back of the fork).

The end result is a beauty who runs like a dream and is ready for just about any situation.