1998 Specialized Ground Control FSR Comp
1998 Ground Control FSR Comp in Mango
In 1998, the Specialized bicycle manufacturing corporation almost had full suspension mountain bikes figured out.
Almost.
This is the Ground Control FSR Comp model (in mango orange paint) from that year. It’s a model from the middle of their full suspension lineup, and would have set you back about $1600 in 1998.
The design elements on this bike shows how much Specialized had progressed in the 5 years that they had been working on dual suspension bikes, and illustrates just how far they had yet to go.
Judy T2 Long Travel
Rock Shox Coupe Deluxe
So the rear suspension design on this one is a four-bar linkage with a Rock Shox Coupe Deluxe spring unit controlling the action. I believe that at this point, Specialized was using a Horst rear pivot placement, just ahead of the rear axle, a design element that really helped to keep the suspension moving while the brakes were applied and not moving as much when the chain was being pulled by the pedals.
Up front there’s a Rock Shox “Long Travel” Judy T2 fork. The T2 sticker was a designation for bike shop mechanics more than anyone else that this was NOT a Judy fork with a damper cartridge that would leak and need to be replaced. And “Long Travel’, in case you were wondering, meant about three inches.
Ritchey ForceLite handlebar
Specialized “Strong Arm” cranks
Deore XT M739 derailleur
So the suspension elements worked as good as anything else out on the trails back then, and they would have been spectacular had Specialized gotten a handle on the frame geometry (like we know today). The problem was that the suspension made bikes like this one faster on the trails. If you’re hitting obstacles at a faster clip, it would be nice if your body position wasn’t super high and forward on the bike. It would also be nice if the steep front fork angles (which made the steering super quick) wasn’t connected to a long handlebar stem and narrow flat bars (that made the steering a bit trickier to control).
Kind of like a “Y” bike
Bottle storage problem solved.
Snarky critiques based on twenty years of hindsight aside, what else is neat about the bike? Well, there are a lot of cool parts.
Specialized made a front hub with a 9mm thick “Skraxle”, kind of like a modern thru-axle hub. There’s a good looking house brand crank. The bike sports a Deore XT M739 version rear derailleur, Avid brand V-brakes, Mavic X221 rims and it has great traction in the dirt with the fantastic Specialized Team Master and Team Control tires.
Check out the clever solution to the water bottle storage problem on the back of the seat tube. In that same area it’s amusing to note that you can’t just drop your seatpost all the way down on this bike without turning the rear suspension into a hardtail.