Rockhoppers and more

[Ghosty]

These are my two most recent bikes, and as it happens they're both Rockhoppers.

The first is a bike I built to be my be-all-end-all urban bike - was a pretty quick build, all the parts I didn't have in stock I ordered and received while I was waiting for the frame to arrive. It's a '94 Rockhopper Comp with XT737 mechs, some modern Octalink cranks, a 3T stem, the classic MT60 thumbies, ServoWave levers and some new V-brakes. Rides wonderfully. The whole build took about 3-4 hours...








The other is this '92 Rockhopper in catalogue spec. Everything is original and usable - seat, tyres, the lot! The tyres have a little cracking around the sidewalls but still, there's plenty life in them. Picked it up on eBay for £50 as the only bidder in the auction as it was pretty badly listed. As luck would have it it was only fifteen minutes away, too. Nothing has ever been changed on it, it all works and rides great. Paint is a bit scratched and chipped on the frame, but otherwise it's completely straight, clean and tidy. It has some Tranz-X barends and a rear mudguard, but they're the only additions.

 

[CassidyAce]

Re:

Nice! I especially like the red, '92 one. How does that one ride? As nicely as the '94?

 

[Ghosty]

Re: Two Rockhoppers

Definitely - the '92 rides like it's still new. Has a really sturdy, smooth ride. Easy to chuck about too, lovely and well balanced.

I was slapping together a single speed road bike out of junk I had lying around today to sell to a friend. While I was in the mood I tidied up my shed a bit, and using parts I had lying about I threw a little something else together - single speed Cannondale Killer V:







The bike seems to have started its life in Hong Kong. I bought it for £75 a while ago, it had no chain, cassette, levers, grips or brakes, just frame, original chainset, rear wheel and derailleurs, with a replacement front wheel (modern XT hub on Mavic XM319, keeping that for something nicer), replacement seat and post, a Ritchey stem, blue Tranz X bars, and the RST fork - the headtube has been internally sleeved to 1 1/8".
I built it up 3x8 for a while as a bit of a do-it-all bike, but with the advent of my Rockhoppers I figured I'd do something fun with it as I don't have any singlespeeds at the moment, and this careworn Cannondale was sitting doing nothing. It's not much special, it has tons of paint chips and a dent in the non-drive chainstay, so ideal to do something fun with. I need to get it some more brakes though as the Vs it had went on my Rockhopper Comp and the frame doesn't take cantis.
Or I could buy the Rockhopper some Parallelograms... hmmm.

I also have an excuse to build something else as I've got enough parts for a full build on a canti brake frame!

 

[CassidyAce]

Re:

Definitely - the '92 rides like it's still new. Has a really sturdy, smooth ride. Easy to chuck about too, lovely and well balanced.

Interesting. I've got a 1994 Hardrock and "well balanced" was my first thought about it on its first ride. It's also "sturdy" and "smooth". The geometry is slightly more relaxed than the Rockhopper though and it's probably a touch heavier, even with weight-saving upgrades. I've got a 1998 Rockhopper as well: great ride quality on that one - springy in the right places, but not flexing laterally around the bottom bracket. Specialized sure knew what they were doing. I hope you get many years of enjoyment out of yours.