Rockhopper - Changing fork, stem & handlebars

Mertyn

Retro Newbie
Hi gents,

Hope you can help. I'm the proud owner owner of a '93 Rockhopper FS which I got from here.

I've just rescued it from the shed where it has sat for a while. I'm looking to get it back into shape.

It has quite a long stem on it which I'd like to shorten as its quite a stretch for me, i'd also like a wider handlebar.

On top of that the Futureshock fork is well past its sell by date and I'd like to replace with a steel rigid fork.

So to summarise I'm looking for a new fork, stem and bars.

Hoping for some advice on what parts would be compatible with each other and suitable for the frame.

Thanks,

Martin
 
I would say you should be looking for a fairly low a to c (axle to crown) height fork for that. Is it threaded h/set or ahead? Now would be a good time to update to aheadset. Bars are easy just make sure you get the rightt size 25.4 standard or new type which are 31.8mm oversize. The wider. Ones will need O/S stem to fit.
 
Hello.

Pretty sure its a quill stem? Being totally honest I don't know the details too well. If you check back through my older posts you'll find pictures of the bike.

I'm happy to totally replace the front end. Only things I'm looking to keep are brakes, brake/gear leavers and the wheel.

Thanks for your help!
 
If you look carefully - here, ebay and certain online shops still stock thread (quill) and threadless (ahead) type headsets - think it'll be 1" (but spesh experts are on here plenty ;) )

They range from a tenner up to 100 notes for a chris king. Personally i'd keep a quill stem as stumpy's / hoppers are some of my favourites of the time and just look right as they were out of the box.

Quill stems are also available - look for a syncros (possibly a bit bulky), a tioga t-bone / avenger or maybe something finer - if you're staying with canti brakes then you'd need the stem to have a carrier or a headset fitting (hang doggy or similar) to end the cable.

Rigid forks are available - plenty of project2 (kona's - come up here - you'd need to check your steerer length to suit your headtube / headset stack height / stem. You might even find someone selling an original stumpy of rockhopper pair on here or on ebay.

Flat or slightly swept alloy or chromo abrs are on here a plenty. beware modern bars and old stems as sizes are different at centre.

And :cool:
 
Hi guys,

Thanks for the feedback, very useful :)

I looked at the tioga t-bone, looks very similar to what I've currently got. I'm looking for something shorter, want to reduce the reach if that makes sense?

I'm really not too hot on the technical side, I must admit a lot of what you said has pretty much gone over my head, any advise on where I could go to swot up?

Cheers
 
^ for tech - sheldon is the bible's author

Also look in the gallery for the makers catalogues (tioga's there) - t bone came in a variety from 105mm IIRC for example. less than 4" on a bike of your age would be unusual and probably make the handling interesting! Earlier stems can be found in cast alloy (look at my MF Alu pro build below for an example) that's about 110mm with about 10' rise.

BTW this isn't a new problem - I had the same back in 1990 trying to get a short stem for my pathfinder - in fact a helluva job considering I lived in Leeds at the time and there were no end of trendy bike shops!

And
 
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