reviving old thread again
I know, I'm late to the conversation. I was searching for information for a restoration on an '85 Stumpjumper frame that I've had laying around for a while, and just stumbled across this thread.
Regarding the differences between the regular Stumpy and the Sport, I think the following is true:
1. The Sport frames were made in Taiwan, and the regular frames were made in Japan.
2. The dropouts (frame ends) were different: horizontal on the Sport, and vertical on the regular Stumpjumper.
3. The seat-stays were attached differently: brazed to the sides of the seat tube on the Sport, and "fastback" (attached to the seat post clamp) on the regular Stumpjumper.
Otherwise, I always thought the geometry was pretty damn similar between the two. The fork was the same, I believe, which would reinforce this. I'm not sure about about the components, but I believe they were more similar than different, too.
I think the main goal of the Sport was simply to offer a less expensive version of the bike, hence the Taiwan frame. So perhaps a few components were different, but not substantially. Shifters/derailleurs were Suntour on the Basic Stumpjumper and Shimano on the Sport, for instance. But it hardly matters at this point, becasue they're all equally quaint (or sturdy) compared to newer stuff.
What's intersting about the 1985 model year, and what might contradict my understanding about the goal of reducing cost with the Sport, is that they seem to have also made both Team Stumpjumpers (higher end / more expensive) and Rockhoppers (lower end / less expensive).
On the other hand, the redundancy/overlap of models and multiple price-points fits pretty well with what we now know about Specialized. They did a pretty good job of dominating the market even then. Kind of genius, in retrospect.
I love either one though, and I think the '85s were easily the "best" year for the vintage Stumpys. Much more refined geometry than earlier models, (I had an '83 or '84. Not sure which anymore - was purchased in '84 and it was silver). And they didn't make the "U-brake mistake" until '86. (Except for the Team Stumpjumper, which seems to have had it by '85) By the time the U-brake was gone in '89, as you know, they had lost the beautiful lugged construction. I think the yellow-orange paint on the '85 sport was the nicest bike color ever.
