Barracuda - Totally Driven!

hey everyone, im nick and im definately glad I stumbled on this site! About 7 years ago I picked up a NOS xx team... Im not exactly sure what year it is all i know is I got it for 200 bucks and couldnt pass it up at the time! Im 28 now and I remembered barracudas from when I was a kid cause my local shop at the time sold them and by the unmistakable tear drop top tube. See what happened was when I was in college I had a 2000 specialized rockhopper that had got stolen and I couldnt afford a brand new bike... so when I found this I was extatic. I rode it for a while, turned it into a single speed and put on some v-brakes and now Im thinking it'll be the perfect ride for my girlfriend. The barracuda has been collecting dust due to me getting a good job and buying a full array of other bikes but I could never get rid of her. The color scheme and the way it rode was too nice. Im thinking Ill put the gears back on ( still have the old yellow gripshift xray and the old school xt derailuers!) maybe a new set of wheels and hopefully my girlfriend enjoys riding !

is that a 12 or a 14?

Looks like a 12 to me, but Muhich rode a 14 and her top tube was almost straight with the seat stays, so I'm on the fence..

its a 12 inch. def a little small but im only 5'6". Makes it fun to ride. It seems like everyone here restores their bikes to original, but has anyone tried to put say a 100mm rock shox dart or something similar on theirs?

I was thinking the same thing, most of the bikes look awsome and are pretty true to the period, I haven't gone that route and was thiniking about putting a hundred on the front but I keep holding back thinking that when the bikes were designed, normal hardtails were using 80 at most so I didn't want to mess up the ride. I would love to hear from soneome who tried it though.

id say 80mm max boys...prety sure the OG forks were around 60mm or so...