Rolling project thread... Specialized Rockhopper

Figured it was time to document some of my builds.

First up is this Specialized Rockhopper. The plan was to build a winter commuter / light off-road (don't call it gravel) touring bike. Think racks, mudguards, big tyres, flat pedals and a frame that's not too precious...

The frame was found on eBay.

Yeah... the seller isn't a great photographer.

The condition wasn't too bad, and most importantly it has a rigid fork with a threadless 1 1/8th steerer. I'm not sure what era this is... late 90s?

As a bonus, it came with a stem, seat-post, bottle cage, headset and BB.

I put it in the stand and gave it a good clean...

Underrated color scheme imo

Brake posts scrubbed up nice.

Ritchey "Nitanium". This isn't a new super material, just a mid-end steel tubing.

Although there were weird chunks inside the seat tube:

Just look at these moon rocks! I think these are from the (very roughly) cut seat post.

More to follow...

"nitanium" surely get you collared by trading standards now days

looking forward to this

I have a 1999 Rockhopper FS up on blocks (slowest build evarr) that looks like that. Same Nitanium tubes and short headtube for a bouncy fork. Is that rigid fork the original? What’s the frame size, 15? 17?

(subbed)

Pretty sure the fork is original. Frame is a 15.

I've actually already built this up... I jsut got tired of writing it up for now

The next step was figuring out a set of components.

I needed 26" wheels to maintain alignment between the braking surfaces and brake posts. I also wanted tubeless (more reliable for winter and to run low pressures when gravel (there I said it) touring)... but after lots of time hunting, it turns out that tubeless, 26" and rim brakes are not a common combination. By the time tubeless came along, the MTB world had already moved on to discs. So I had a set built up with silver box rims for that 90s aesthetic.

For the groupset, Shimano MTB was the obvious choice and I decided to go 1x to keep things simple. 11-46 on the back and 42 on the front. I would have preferred a smaller front chainring, but that's all I could find. Maybe I'll replace it down the line.

I picked up some second hand shifters, cranks and pedals. All Deore. Not exciting, kind of ugly, but the best bikes are always a bit humble imo.

I picked up some V-brakes on the bay. The pads were more worn than they appeared in the pictures but it was a good excuse to pick up some Kool Stops.

A great commuter means no rucksack, so racks were a must. I went for a cantilever style one so that the wheel can be removed without messing with it.

The bars clearly had to be bullmoose...

I killed the resale by chopping 20mm off each side. Wide bars aren't much fun in traffic.

Wonder if I'm gonna regret that one?

Mudguards are Velo Orange again. Not many options in 26" and 60mm.

Next up some color choices and the 3D jigsaw that is V-brakes, mudguards and racks...

Mine’s a 15 too. And at least you are ‘writing this up’... I can never be arsed with it all.

edit
Oh maa’an. Looking forward to the v-brake instalment.

OK so now the most important part: colors

The frame is pretty plain (silver, black, a bit of gold) and I didn't want a boring build, so colored cables were in. Bonus points if it annoys adherents of "the rules" (don't tell me my slavish devotion to the Blue Lug Flickr stream is its own kind of rules because trust me I already know).

Jagwire do loads of colors and it's quality stuff. The "braided"ones were tempting too... but as usual, availability was the deciding factor so I picked up an orange set.

Tyre options were much more limited. Sim Works do some in 26", but most are not tubeless, and I had already splashed for tubeless rims. Rene Herse are committed to 26" and I appreciate that, but they are just too expensive. So Gravel Kings it is. I actually ordered brown sidewalls but due to a mix up with Wiggle I got the black ones instead, and I couldn't be bothered to quibble it (Aside: they should really start sending vegan haribo... it's current year etc etc). Panaracer only do 53mm in the 26", so I had to hope for the best with fender clearance.

I also opted for these Titanium headset spacers. Not because spacers need to be titanium, but because they are the slimmest ones I could find, so they are flush with the bullmoose clamp. Also they are made of Titanium.

For grips, I ordered some Oury V2s in the elusive "Graphite" color. These were super hard to find in the UK, but I think it was worth it. They look much better than black (too much contrast with the bar) and orange (too much color matching).

The next post will be more useful I promise! How to fit V-brakes, fenders, cantilever rack...

Both Renee Herse and Sim Works are made by Panaracer, and are tubeless compatible even if they don't say it. I'm pretty sure someone can back me up on this.

I was looking at the Sim Works Homage, which doesn't mention tubeless so good to know. Rene Herse are tubeless but too expensive for this one.

By the time I reached the picture of the cranks, I was expecting you to take the anodizing of and polish them, but I reckon the black goes well with the build.
Bonus bluelug points if you ordered a silver chainring though..

Fan of the utilitarian aesthetic on this one but the Deore cranks are just a no from me. I honestly don't think you could make them any uglier, unless maybe some one had a go at them with some home drillium.

The chainring is black, but now you've got me thinking about stripping the cranks...

if u removed the deore and wrote middleburn on those cranks nobody would be saying anything, they slap, keep as is

Not exciting, kind of ugly, but the best bikes are always a bit humble imo.

Lot of time for 90s MTBs, look forward to seeing this one play out!

Looking at those, I definitely prefer the brushed finish. But as @Maj says.. just keep em like they are.

OK, let's talk fenders.

I went for Velo Orange 26" 60mm full fenders, which are rated for tyres "up to 52mm wide". As explained earlier, I had to take my chances with 53mm Gravel Kings.

The rear fender went on pretty easy. The Rock Hopper frame has mounting points near the bottom bracket (use a concave washer to distribute pressure) and drop-outs. I had to use a p-clip for the rear brake bridge, which isn't very elegant but I can live with it.

An important consideration is the v-brakes you choose! My Shimano ones have 107mm length arms, which puts the brake cable very close to the fender! According to this chart Tektro make longer ones (but good luck getting them shipped to little England).

The important measurement

The front was a lot more complicated.

My first attempt was using the "daruma" supplied with the fenders. This does not work well with a suspension corrected fork, since the fender will sit high above the tyre. Not only does this look bad, it also doesn't leave clearance for the brakes or a front rack.

Daruma

My next attempt was using the clever "Fender Flute" from Problem Solvers. This is, in effect, a much longer daruma.

These work great, but I wouldn't recommend one if you are using a front rack. The fender sits very close to the front rack and the two rattle together over bumps. My fender flute is now spare, so hit me up if you want it!

Attempt three was to attached the fender directly to the rack. The advantage of this approach is that the two won't rattle together; the downside is that you will need to drill a new hole in the fender. I'd suggest putting everything (rack, fender, wheel, etc) in position to figure out the best place to drill.

Once you have the hole drilled, use a long bolt to attach the fender to the rack. Experiment with different numbers of washer to get the correct height. You want even spacing between the tyre and fender the whole way around. The fender must be high enough to clear the tyre but low enough to clear the brake cable.

About 6 washers

Again, this comes very close to the brake cable. It's not quite touching, so I think it's fine. Make sure you get a "noodle" at the correct angle, this can gain you a few mms of clearance.

The final step was attaching the basket to the rack. This is a Wald 1372 (best price around is Wizard Works); you can remove the handlebar supports with some pliers. Attachment was easy with some zip ties. I found some brown ones on eBay, because black is boring.

No picture of the actual bike with mudguards after all that?!

Did you drill the front rack for the fender mount or was there a hole already?

Nope, I was able to repurpose the holes that were already there:

Rene Herse racks have a fender mount built-in, which is where I got the idea:

Does the basket fit snug on the rack with only zip ties? Any rattle?

No rattle so far, although I did use 14 zip ties!

I like this solution because if you switch to a big handlebar bag you can clip off the basket and keep the rack.

Can’t believe I had missed this post, I’m doing quite a similar rockhopper build atm!! Love how it’s going so far, great component choices!

Got tired of typing it up!

Here's the finished build (until I start tweaking things that work perfectly well)...

Most "functional" build I've done, but I think it's my favourite!

It’s beautiful, love the contrast with the orange cabling and the frame. All the silver accents really make the bike!

Looks really smart!
Only a dynamo hub and lighting away from peak functionality.