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I’m inexperienced and just wanted to work on refurbishing this as a side project but thought that knowing what I was working on was a good place to start.

Only other identifying factors are a partially obscured serial number starting in T and ending in 219.

Otherwise I believe this is 90s or later but I’m unsure of anything else.

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  • Sadly the serial number is no use to anyone but Benotto, assuming they kept records AND still have them. Serial numbers are not VINs used on cars.
    – Criggie
    May 11, 2020 at 5:56

2 Answers 2

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It is an early 90's steel rigid MTB.

That model of BIOPACE chainring dates it to 1989-1993, as does the Shimano Exage groupset was released first in 1988/9 with a last year of 1993. These parts can be replaced, but given the bike's lack of wear they're probably original

The plastic spoke protector isn't broken so it has not had a hard life.

The only oddities are the aluminium(?) fitment under the downtube (kinda like a bottle cage but not and the rear brake location, down on the chainstay is unusual.

Nice bike! You should enjoy riding it... but first check the tyres - I see lots of cracking on the sidewalls. They may be OK for now. Also check the brake pads, cos they can harden and not brake you effectively.

I'd totally ride your bike (no hidden message there, it looks sweet.)


Sheldon Brown says "An Italian company that moved to Mexico. Some of the Italian examples are exquisite" which is quite a compliment.

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    U-brake at chainstays is an early 90s idea that didn't last. The reasoning was that with cantilever brakes at usual location there's the risk that you hit them with your heels or shins. It turned out that it's not a problem and the location under chainstays is dirty and difficult to access for maintenance. Anyway, this looks like a nice bike for all around cruising.
    – ojs
    May 11, 2020 at 6:37
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    The doohickey under the downtube looks kinda like one of those things you flip down to stabilize the front wheel for parking, except it doesn't appear that this one flips down.
    – shoover
    May 12, 2020 at 2:45
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Here is a picture from a 1985 catalog that is a fair (not excellent) match for brand, type, color, seat (stripes?), crank.

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Was 1985 the only year they offered this bike? I doubt it.

I know that the 1985 Specialized Stumpjumper Team had a rear brake configuration similar to the one in the original post, so 1985 is not impossible. The Piemonte pictured above appears to have a similar brake configuration. I hate to offer a tiny picture in a fragment of a catalog but it's all I could find.

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    In today's inflation corrected prices that would mean 1200€/£ or $1500 which was quite an expensive bike for the day. As @criggie mentioned it might require nothing more than new tyres and brake-pads. Since by today's standards it's rather more suited for a leisurely cruise on tarmac I'd fit narrower tyres with almost no profile to lower rolling resistance. Nice vintage machine, care for it.
    – Carel
    May 11, 2020 at 17:25

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