1998 specialized rockhopper £20 BIN

[dyna-ti]

:shock:
Bargain project for someone]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/retro-specialized ... 19be45c153

 

[rojo]

the team i support

 

[one-eyed_jim]

That was quick work:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0429983755

Bought two days ago for £47, stripped for parts, and back on eBay.

Anyone recognize the fork?

 

[Jamiedyer]

Not much of a bargain

Not much of a bargain at £20 for a non original crappy painted Rockhopper with an unknown no name fork for £36 all in posted
Original Stumpy frames go for this sort of money.

 

[dyna-ti]

Re: Not much of a bargain

Not much of a bargain at £20 for a non original crappy painted Rockhopper with an unknown no name fork for £36 all in posted
Original Stumpy frames go for this sort of money.

Find me a large then

 

[one-eyed_jim]

Re: Not much of a bargain

Not much of a bargain at £20 for a non original crappy painted Rockhopper with an unknown no name fork for £36 all in posted
Original Stumpy frames go for this sort of money.

I reckon it's not such a bad deal. I think these oversized steel Rockhopper frames are great - solid, stiff, well-built, versatile - and the fork looks a good match to the frame. If it's all straight and the threads are good, it's worth twenty quid (maybe even £36) of anybody's money. I love my '92 Stumpjumper Comp, but I'd have a hard time arguing that it's objectively a better bike than my '98 Rockhopper. As a rider, I'd take a late-nineties Nitanium Rockhopper over a plain vanilla early-nineties (or late eighties) Stumpjumper any day of the week.

The paint's a problem, I admit.

:shock:

 

[Jamiedyer]

Rockhopper

Yes, I suppose your right, I was a bit harsh :roll:
For me personally I prefer the late 80's early 90's Stumpies in Tange prestige that are not suspension corrected.
A late 90's Rockhopper should be as good as an early 90's Stumpy as it all trickles down every 2 years. S Works becomes Stumpjumper becomes Rockhopper. The cirle of life
This example may ride great but to me it looks like a skip find and they are not much more for one in good original condition.
The Nitanium steel Ritchey is the pick of the bunch, but I am not convinced this is one. The drop outs dont look like Ritchey dropouts and the fork looks the same as a mid 90's Rockhopper. I have a 98 Nitanium Stumpjumper and it has Ritchey dropouts on forks as well as frame so am just assuming the Rockhopper does as well.
Whether its a late or early I suppose its not much cash if its what you want, I just think its a bad example.

Jamie

 

[one-eyed_jim]

Re: Rockhopper

The Nitanium steel Ritchey is the pick of the bunch, but I am not convinced this is one. The drop outs dont look like Ritchey dropouts and the fork looks the same as a mid 90's Rockhopper..

Are you sure? Here's a bigger picture:

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/5338/imgp8377.jpg

I've never seen a Specialized fork like that - round profile, straight blades and a semi-lugged unicrown. The frame's post '96 too, as oversized Rockhoppers used a cable noodle pre V-brakes, rather than a top-tube stop. I can't see anything that would distinguish it from my Nitanium '98.

Compare:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0412874126

 

[Jamiedyer]

Rocky

Hi one-eyed_jim
Yeah thats definately not a Specialized fork. I only looked atr the ebay pic of a frame and a fork lying on the floor, not of the built bike. The dropouts on the Nitanium Rocky look like standard Direct drive dropouts and not Ritcheys like the Stumpies so yeah it more than likely is a Nitanium Rocky. I know for sure in 99 the Nitanium Rockies had Ritchey dropouts. Does your 98? or am I not opicking it up in the picture.
I am not quite sure what you mean by oversize Rockhoppers
I like the electric blue ones from 99 the best but the decals werent as good as the 98's. Is the silver one yours?

Jamie

 

[one-eyed_jim]

Re: Rocky

The dropouts on the Nitanium Rocky look like standard Direct drive dropouts and not Ritcheys like the Stumpies so yeah it more than likely is a Nitanium Rocky. I know for sure in 99 the Nitanium Rockies had Ritchey dropouts. Does your 98? or am I not opicking it up in the picture.

Mine has Ritchey dropouts, but not cast Ritchey dropouts like the ones on your Stumpjumper. Before they produced their cast (microfusion) socket-style dropouts in about 1996, Ritchey sold forged dropouts in a couple of styles, and those are the ones used on the later Rockhoppers:

If you look closely at the silver bike (which isn't mine) you can just make out the TR logo above the derailleur hanger, and "RITCHEY" stamped around the front of the dropout:

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z314 ... /ah246.jpg

For a couple of years prior to '97, the Rockhopper dropout looked like this:

http://www.krinkle.net/?p=639

I am not quite sure what you mean by oversize Rockhoppers

I mean the ones that used oversized steel tubes - 31.8mm seat tube, 30.4mm seatpost, 1 1/8" steerer. Those sold with cantilever brakes had a noodle-routed rear cable.