Rockhopper 1987 keeping it in the family

So, I've been ragging my dads old Rockhopper Comp, it's a good fit for me and looks ace.

I plan to upgrade it with disc brakes and functional running gear. I will be selling my Genesis Vagabond to finance this as they will perform similar roles.

This is the current incarnation.

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One of the greats!

I plan to upgrade it with disc brakes

Teach me, senpai.

is the vagabond a medium?

Rockhoppers are making a comeback and I’m seeing them appear quite a lot on gumtree, retrobike and eBay - I picked up the exact same frame as this in red, it was fucking battered but the components were in good nick all round - I decided to strip the parts off and do a DIY respray which is going quite well

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It is.... interested?

Looks sick! I'm going to stick with the same base colour but jazz it up a touch..... not sure how though.

Hell yeah man, these Rockhoppers are fantastic, still regret selling mine.

Base colour sounds good. Getting nicely made stickers are not that expensive.
I bought eBay vinyl specialized decals for mine. And maybe buy regular some colour vinyl and play around with it to do you own 80s artwork.
Alternatively, if you are sending it down to London for the disc tab to be slabbed on you could get @Manson7am involved for some handpainting of decals??

That would be most excellent. I will likely be sending her south to London's famous London for welding. Hand painted fluro would be amazing. @Manson7am, you keen?

I'm also thinking that I'm going to struggle to find a 1" threaded disc fork..... @Hulsroy did you maybe mention something from Planet X that might suit the job?

Arhh ffs it is 1". I didn't realize.
Have you thought about getting hold of a nineties Rockhopper same size and working on a replica of this? Then keep your dad's as a wall hanger?
Worst case you'll have to get forks build for it. I am not sure 1" steerers are the best for disc brakes but if you go for some beefy fork legs it might be alright.

There's some on eBay, for <£50, I've got one. Bit heavy and mine wasn't totally straight but good enough for a town bike.

I think they have unthreaded ones too so you could go to 1" ahead maybe

Sure!

Drop me an email ( alasdair@mansonspress.com ) and we can sort something out.

Got a rockhopper myself. They are cracking!

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Would it be sacrilege to chop off the head tube and weld on 1 1/8th one????

Not at all. But looking at your bar position you would have quite the spacer stack if you went for threadless 1 1/8".

Maybe just get a disc tab welded on to those forks and keep quill? It would be very Crust(y).

That position was really to give clearance to my young passengers. Man is it dusty in here.... that wee ride stage passed pretty quickly!

I'll be going for a lower bar position for the rebuild.

https://www.bankruptbikeparts.co.uk/26-fork-v-brake-amp-disc-mount-1-25-4mm-steerer-260mm-ahead-threadless-bbp2213001

Think this is the one I've got.

You could try to find a VO Polyvalent fork or something

Don't suppose you still have the wee ride?

T-Cut (which Lidl are selling at the moment) is good for rubbing out scratches, Kurust is good too if there are any particularly rusty sections

Couple updates on mine - decals and top coat applied, most components re-fitted, cabling and routing next on the list

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Finished up yesterday for those interested - looking forward to some gravel..

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That’s lovely, very similar to the ‘96/7 model I bought new. Don’t remember it ever looking as good.

Very kind - I’m pleased with how it turned out - only thing I’ll change now is the saddle once I get hold of a Flite

Good work, spray job looks great

@mi7rennie what mudguards are those on your dads old Rockhopper? They look great!