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Hello all my name is Matt and I live in Kansas City. I recently found a Homegrown for $100 in Lawrence, KS. Anywho, I am trying to date the frame which has characteristics like ’95 Homegrown (standard, sticker not in the pic) except the paint job is two colors. I should say there is a chance it could be a project underground because it was previously owned by a bike store mechanic.
Hello all my name is Matt and I live in Kansas City. I recently found a Homegrown for $100 in Lawrence, KS. Anywho, I am trying to date the frame which has characteristics like ’95 Homegrown (standard, sticker not in the pic) except the paint job is two colors. I should say there is a chance it could be a project underground because it was previously owned by a bike store mechanic.
Parts are pretty slick and not standard at all, Mavic 138 wide rims laced to XT hubs, XT Rr Dr, LX Fr Dr, 8spd setup, and Specialized StrongArm Crank. New tires by me, and more will change, I just cleaned it up for the photos.
I attached a pic and the photo set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43882912@N03/sets/72157624622600032/
Thanks for this Forum it is pretty slick.
By the looks of it, it looks like you have a 1995 Homegrown Frame, built-up by a previous owner. The frame looks to be in amazing shape. My concern would be that you are using too large of a rear tire, it looks like it is pretty close the frame. It is not a Proj. Underground, as there isn’t any transition to the drop-outs Carbon-Titanium, rather it’s a one piece. If all the derals & head-set are clean & good to use, the chain isn’t worn out or the cranks – you got yourself one hell of a steal.
All the 95’s I’ve seen (not very many) have either been red or black. The two tone thing seems to have started in 96. However, go to the catalog scans section, look at the next to last page of the 95 Homegrown Catalog. It’s got a guy on a two tone hardtail that looks a little like yours. Plus, the 96 and 97 two tone colors are reversed from yours.
I would guess yours is a rare paint job. It’s been evidenced many times before that there are Homegrowns out there that aren’t in the catalogs. Yours looks great!
One thing to remember at least from my experience is that with the homegrowns, if you made a late in year order – you could get a transition frame. Just like Blue72beetle said, there are many different paint jobs out there, some custom done, some done during transition. I also know that the Schwinn/GT warehouse that was in Northern Illinois would hold warranty frames, so when riders within that distribution area would trade in a frame if breakage would occur, they could ship out the warranty frame ASAP — this was a luck-of-the-draw thing, sometimes you’d get the exact frame as a replacement or sometimes you’d get one that was a flip-flop of a paint job, or whatever. One rider that frequented my bike shop actually got a 1999 Homegrown Elite frame in August of 1998 to replace his 1997 buffed frame that developed a crack in the bottom bracket… I still think you got yoursself quite a prize there.. especially since the chainstay yokes are pre-Yeti.. Out of curiosity, about how much does the bike weigh?> I would guess if you could get it on a scale it would ring in about 21.3 pounds total..
Well I have looked at more catalogs and it may have been maybe a Team Schwinn Frame, at least it has the same color scheme/paint job as them. It has to be a 95 due to the derailleur hanger being non replaceable too. Well whatever, it’s light that is for sure, except it has a heavy Judy on it. Good eye on the tires I just put them on and they are big, 2.1 Leader in the back and a 2.3 Speed King in the front. That was on purpose, they are both folding Continentals so lighter and better. I am planning on either putting on a rigid fork (hence the big front tire) or like a SID up front. I don’t like the new disc fad, I love canti and v-brakes so that will remain. I may switch the crank with a Sugino Impel that I have and going to replace shifting with Suntour Thumbs. Should look pretty neat when I finish, I will post more pics then. Won’t happen very soon though.
I guess I should say that I am a Homegrown newbie not a bike newbie. I am an avid bike garage mechanic after being a store mechanic in my youth. These bikes were the GREAT ones back when I was a snot nosed brat in the shop.
Matt,
I would say you got a very good deal. I have 2 of those frames and they look identical to the Project Colorado frames. I have been told by my LBS owner that he had one of those frames back in the day and that there were a limited number released to Schwinn shop employees (racers?) only in 1994. He said it is a prototype Homegrown and sold for $2500. I cracked one of my frames at the head tube, and have it in the shop right now moving everything to my other identical frame. It is a sweet XC bike I’m sure you’ll love. I have ridden mine for 10 years and replaced all the original components and put a SID shock on it. It originally came with an yellow SL Judy, XT crank, and everything else XTR (canti brakes), with Titec titanium bars and a Thompson seat post. Enjoy.
What you have there is a Project Underground frame. Livernose’s spec list seems spot-on, except it would have come with a Rock Shox Mag 21 Sl Ti fork. Those were sweet bikes. They only came in one size, 19″. They can be inedtified by a number of things. Asymetrical chainstays, paint scheme, and the decals, also, the lack of a replaceable derrailleur hanger. I want to say that only 250 or so were made. They were supposedly made by Yeti in Colorado. They were basically prototype Homegrowns. The first Homegrowns had the mchined yoke where the chainstays met the BB shell, and a replaceable derrailleur hanger.
However, at that point in time, there was a second project that was “Project Colorado”. I think that’s what this bike is. the frame and forks is orriginal to the build. There was even one of them presented to the Governor I believe. I think there are even pictures of it too on the site. The 95, if you look has a bent chainstay, this was also true of the Moab Elite and other earlier schwinn MTB’s. I think it may have started with the “MOS” edition bikes. I don’t know who built it, but I believe it to be the “Project Colorado” team bike and not the “Project Underground”.
Undergrounds only came in one color BASS BOAT BLUE, yours is possibly a Yeti built bike and if it is, its equally desireable. To find the date look for the serial number its either on the bottom of the BB or inside the dropouts, the year is the first two numbers.
Jake
Hello,
So are the Project Colorado bikes Yeti made?
Sw
Edit: I think I just found the answer, These bikes were pre-yeti.. right?
There is one for sale in Denver if anyone is interested.
I was in college in Hattiesburg, Ms in 1994 when one of these bikes came in. They were only offered to shops. The lucky thing for me was the guy that owned the shop was near 6’8″ tall and his mechanic was about 5’4″. So neither of them could ride the bike. I bought the bike for $2K. In 1994 in college-that was a ton. It had Nukeproof hubs that sucked-mine went bad really fast and they replaced them with Nukeprook Bombshell Hubs (carbon Fiber), It had a Control Tech Stem, Xt Cranks, XTR Rear Der, XT Front Der, XTR Shifters-all top of the line. The decals were bad about coming off of the bikes. One thing you can look at to determine is that there is a serial number under the bottom bracket near the crankset-should be 94XXX. Stands for 1994 and the number of the bike. I have 94258 and the other is 94??? because the paint is too thick to read the rest. These were the ORIGINAL Project Underground bikes. Before the Bass Boat Blue things that were Carbon Thermo Ti or whatever. These bikes were built by Control Tech, thats why the Handlebars and stems and Seatpost-if memory serves me correctly were Control Tech Components. Great bikes. Handle better than anything out there in the singletrack, better than most upper end bikes made today. I compared mine to the weight of a Fisher Superfly 29er. The Underground is lighter, even with an old Rock Shock on it! that is everything I know. If you picked yours up for $100- Best $100 you ever spent!
Oh Yeah-the rear hanger was not replaceable-that was one of the sure signs that it is an underground-after that they made them replaceable! If you broke the der hanger-u were screwed!
Just listed one like this (frame only) on eBay for a dollar…
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150764427849#ht_6033wt_1277
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