Specialized Rockhopper 95’ and other rides

This weeks update, the Paul cable hanger has arrived and it’s beautiful. The Bullmoose B903R in silver ( hopefully won’t clash too much) preorder with Planetx has been put in. I’ve sold the cane creek headset and gone for a nice patina Chris king to fit the colour of the build ( I know I know I would also have called you mad if I saw where this build is now going ) I’ve just applied for the cycle scheme voucher to get some hope pro 4 hubs built to some velocity cliffhanger rims for some beautifully sturdy wheels I can always swap around with other bikes. Probably won’t be too many more updates now until I get the wheels sorted maybe a month or so then the final build will commence. For those of you who have gotten this far I have one question, I’m stuck on what colour to get the hubs in to go with this build, it will be black rims, black nipple and silver spokes, just not sure whether to keep it simple with black hubs or go all out with either blue or purple hmmmm.

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Silver or purple hubs I think!

I love how far this is going and can totally empathise as the temptation has been strong whilst building up my Kona Cinder Cone. Re hubs, go purple and a matching Hope seat clamp if available in the right diameter!

@mind_maze @ElGonzo it seems you can both agree on purple that was my first choice was slightly worried it could be a bit too lairy!

Another quick update as I slowly loose my mind to this money pit of a bike I love so dearly. I think I might actually go silver hubs now to slightly dull down the whole colour scheme.

I’ve also changed my mind on the cockpit setup I’m planning, I’ve just ordered a pair of Paul canti leavers to replace the deore brake shifter combo. I’m then planning on getting a microshift sl-m11 thumb shifter to use the friction setting with the option of going 11 speed in the future.

I’ll be sticking with the current stx rc brakes with this new setup as they should be sufficient enough.

Buying that Paul front hanger really was a dive into the world of boutique cnc’d parts that I’m not sure I’ll recover from. 🤔💷

Just had a lovely chat over the phone with the guys at BikeMonger, placed an order for the Microshift sl-m11. Seems like the perfect thumbie for what I want, friction for now with the option of going 11 speed indexed in the future. It’s got a great minimal design so should fit in really nicely with my Paul lever.

Excited to try friction shifting on a mtb for the first time, reading through the rivendale article about the wonders of it really got me excited.

Shifters, grips and levers have arrived, had a change of heart when it comes to the colour scheme on this build and felt that the purple chainring and seatpost bolt would be enough.

Wheels are now on order, silver hope pro 4 to black velocity cliffhanger (machined sidewall) 32 hole. Bit the bullet and went full Paul on the controls and have gotten a neo retro for the front and touring canti for the rear. Still playing the waiting game now as RyanBuildsWheels has a pretty long lead time (great for them, glad to see they’re doing well!) so probably still a month off of completion.

Excited on the more muted colour scheme, the frame and chainring are pretty lairy in their contrasting blue and purple so everything else can take a back seat in a pretty split mix of silver and black.

Also can we appreciate how lovely both the Microshift thumbies and Paul levers are!

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Small update, went over the canti bosses this morning with some 2500 grit sandpaper and some metal polish. Took the years of tarnish off of them and they’re gleaming now!

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"money pit"

Should be the title of every retro build 😂

Very true

Finally got the frame prep finished today.

Gave the frame a good flush through with wd40 earlier on in the week, to get rid of the old grease that had got pushed down the seat tube and the small rust patches that had formed.

Onwards to today, wd40 has dried up leaving the inside of the frame looking surprisingly good! Now it was time for a light coating of Dinitrol ml on all of the tubes. Going to leave it a few days to dry up leaving behind just the waxy coating.

It’s now definitely ready for the final build, it’s taken me so much longer to get to this point and there is still a few ideas and things I want to change out in the future. As soon as the stridsland barnacle forks are out one of those will go on here for sure! But for now it’s all ready to build, now to play the waiting game on the last few components arriving and the wheels to be built!

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That looks so clean! What tyres were you thinking for it?

Cheers! Yeah really happy with how the frames turned out! Is amazing what a can of mr sheen can do haha.

Got some gravelking 2.1 at the minute, have been eyeing the kenda small block 8 as well.

Yeah it looks spot on! All I did with my Saracen was clean out the threads and give the frame a rub down with some ethanol.

I had some small blocks on my fixed gear for a little bit n they were a great all rounder. I’ve sort of fell down the rabbit hole in regards to 26” tyres at the moment lol

Ah sweet glad to hear that they’re a good all rounder that’s what I was hoping for! Where are you swaying towards in terms of 26” tyres at the minute?

Looks amazing! Will be super cool to see built up

I also had a pair of Halo Twin Rails on my fixed gear for a while and they’re so hard wearing and super versatile so they’re a consideration in 2.2. Also Halo, they do the H Block in 2.2 which looks really cool and a little more aggressive than the twin rail, which was one thing (when riding single track and gravel) that let the Twin Rails down.

Down the more street vibe tyre, I like the look of DMR DJ Motos. Seem to be pretty fast rolling but not sure about how hard wearing they’ll be. A dream tyre would also be Maxxis Holy Rollers as well cause I’ve heard lots of good things, but they’re so expensive to get to the UK for some reason.

Heard about the first two you mention but nice to know that the h block is the more aggressive of the two. They’re also really well priced!

Heard good things about the Maxxis DTH aswell as a nice more hard pack styled tyre.

Definitely seems that there is some nice niche tyres in 26 that are harder to get over here. Even the newly made gravelkings where tricky to find in stock.

Yeah price is definitely the main thing I’m bothered about. All the tyres I’m interested in are around the £30 mark so not too bad. I was really hoping I could get some of the Gravelkings but yeah they’re like ben’s teeth

I've got some H Block in 2.2 in my basement doing nothing, nice tyres but prefer the GKs.

Don’t fancy parting ways with em do you?

On the topic of 26” tyres and in the anticipation of my parts arriving. I couldn’t help myself and bought some more tyres to go in addition to the gravelkings.

I went with some of the semi slick continental contact speed in the 2” size, these looked like the best value city slick with a reasonable amount of tread for those wet rides.

Check out the Kenda K-Rad. They make a nice humming sound on pavement, roll quite well and they are pretty cheap. I run them on both my cargobikes and never had a flat since i mounted them.

They’re sort of reminiscent of RH Humptulips Ridge! Budget version

A vote for Halo Twin Rails in 26" - ran a pair for a couple of years on a daily commuter/town bike with only a couple of punctures.

Not mindblowingly supple but 35 - 40PSI was totally acceptable.