1991 Specialized Hardrock (contains pink shots)

Well, after reading this forum regularily for a while I have my first retro project...

My Father-in-law very kindly gifted me his loved but unused '91 Hardrock. In all the exictment of getting it home and setting to work, I stupidly forgot to take a photo before I stipped it down. Nonetheless she's competely original and looked like this:
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I decided and please forgive me, not to keep it completely original as she's perfect for a SS commute/pub/fun bike...

So, stripped eveything down, cleaned and repacked the BB and headset with grease and voila:


Went through the parts box for saddle, grips, pedals, a rear wheel with splined cassette I could take apart/space for SS (16T currently) and a front wheel (original was shot) and after buying a new chain, some brake cables and a pair of road tyres... She now looks pretty sweet (and pink!):



The 200GS Biopace chainset was in great nick so I used the 48T outer and now hope my legs will forgive me...

The sticking points for me, that I'd like some pointers from you guys on are:

The stem... It's too high rise.. anyone got something they want to sell to replace it with, pref silver to match the seatpost

The brakes... I had 1992 Ridgeback 601GS (my first mtb) and I had forgotten just how bad canti brakes were on an mtb (I'm now used to a steel hardtail with 180/160 discs and xtr calipers) Also the original SLR levers are about 17inches long and not really 1-2 finger items

I do have an old set of red DX levers and v-brakes that would work very well, but is this just the wrong thing to do?

Hope you like it and love to know what you all think...

Cheers

Andy

Nice bike and nice cousin

1st mountain bike

this was the same as my 1st bike bought new from bearwood cycles in birmingham (long gone) taken 20+ years to get back on a bike didnt realise what i was missing of to cannock soon for 1st time

I'm normally not a fan of single speeds but that looks really nice. The stem looks good on it.

As far as the brakes go, it might be because they are flexy low end models. I have a Pitch Pro modern bike with 200mm discs front and rear. When I took my GT out on it's first retro ride in the Peaks (with a M734 XT front canti and rear U-brake) I was astonished at how well they worked. Even when they got a bit of mud on them they still worked fine. Very powerful, controllable and reliable. And I like to go downhill fast! So maybe a period upgrade would be worthwhile - DX cantis would look good on it.

Anyway - great bike! Keep it looking nice - it deserves it.

Thanks for the comments...

Well, since they were in my parts bin including new pads, I fitted a red DX V-brake to the front last night... looks a bit odd against the pink paint, but works very well and the short lever feels much better and less flexy...

Will probably fit the rear tonight and see how it goes... Some metal, DX, LX, XT cantis would be better looking, but I'm just set on not spending any money I don't need to....

DX V brakes with new pads would sell on here so if it is more about the money than the retro tokens you should sell them to fund some nice period upgrade cantis, if not, don't.

At the end of the day it is your bike, however if you are genuinely interested in opinions mine would be to get some nicer cantis.

Looks good, just a couple points. Biopace outer with fixed chain and no tensioner, how does it work for you? Also if that was my bike I would use just single cog to keep it clean as a singlespeed or keep rear geared. It does look like cheap hack/pub bike indeed with cassette IMO.

Biopace ring seems ok, the chains a 1/2 link and the dropouts allow enough adjustment to get good tension... The biopace does mean the tension varies slightly with stroke but is not been a problem so far (about 20 miles)... I might get a round, unramped ring at some point anyway...

Definitely with you on the cassette, will get a singlespeed sprocket and spacers once I've decided how many teeth I want... It will look much cleaner then...

Fitted the rear DX v-brake today and will stick with them till I can find some nicer cantis and levers... Time to bargain hunt!