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Early Ross Mtn bike id?

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10~18kustoms

Wore out three sets of tires already!
Trying to identify this early 80's Ross bike Serial #018476043. I'm a balloon guy so don't know much about these early Mountain bikes. This bike belonged to my best friend back in the 80s-90s. As long as I can remember he was always into road & mountain bikes. He was killed in a car wreck in 97 and his 2 mtn bike have been in his wife/widows basement since then. He also had a mid 80s Specialized Hard Rock, but this was his pride and joy. It's very dirty from 25 years in the basement, and looks like it was road hard and put away wet literally. But I am going to try to clean service and get it back on the road. From what little I have found so far there was a Force 1, Mt. Hood, Mt. Washington, and other Mt. named bikes, but I haven't figured out how to determine the difference or find a serial number chart. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
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My guess is 1983 Mt. Hood, based on tubing decal (024), frame decals, fork, wheelset, & maybe the "3" in the serial...just a guess though!
Good luck on your search! I am sorry about the loss of your friend.
 
Well I started the tear down and cleaning, and have already found 2 date stamped parts. The seat post is dated Feb 83 & the Dia-Compe calipers are March 83. After reading through about 20 threads in the MTB forum and finding 2 exact matches down to every component I'm guessing this is an early 83 Force 1. I also found this quote from a 2006 thread "According to my '83 /'84 /'85 Ross catalogs , the chrome Mt Hood was a '85 model, in '84 it was all black, in '83 Ross released the black "Force One", later to be renamed in mid '83 to Mt Hood due to copyright issues with the "Force One name." I will continue to look for other date stamps on components to verify.
So far: Ross frame black with 024, & Hi-Tec markings, gold ROSS lettering & Gold Head Badge.
Sun Tour AG Derailleur & shifters
Dia-Compe brake Calipers and heavy duty brake leavers
UKAI gold anodized rims
 
Ed's Ross is cleaning up very nicely. I have removed almost every nut, bolt & part that will come off. Cleaned, lubed, and adjusted where needed. Even first time recovering a mountain bike seat (not fun, I'll stick to cruiser seats). So far been able to save almost every original part, except tires/tubes & grip end caps will be new. Waiting for them to arrive for final assembly.
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Well, the first set of tires I ordered for it came about a week ago. I wanted to go with more of a gravel tire than a mountain tire since gravel and paved trails are more common here in Kansas and MO than mountains. Well, I really liked the look of the Surly Extra Terrestrials but kinda under estimated how big a 2.5" tire would be. Front would work, but the rear rubbed the front derailleur when in lowest inside position. So, back to the order board.

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Marty, tires look great but I get the clearance problem your having. Maybe check out the Schwalbe Billy Bonkers. Excellent gravel and hard pack tire. You can get them in black or tan skin wall. 2.1 in width would fit perfectly!
 
The Holy Rollers I ordered last week came in, so did the new brake pads and end caps. Basically done, just need the weather to warm up now so I can get out and test ride it and make any final adjustments. Then bring on spring so I can hit the gravel trails!
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