Specialized Rockhopper project

I’ve been eyeing up old 26er mountain bikes for a while then this came along on Marketplace advertised as “Bike” for a bargain £30. So I had to go and pick it up straight away.

Was very impressed with how clean it was for a 33 year old bike. Started stripping it down and polished up the frame with some t cut and muc off silicone shine. Polished up the original wheels as they are in great condition just a little dirty.

Picked up some Maxxis DTH 2.3 for the bargain price of £10 the pair and got them chucked straight on to see how it will be looking.

Plans are to convert to x1 drivetrain. For now I’ll keep the 7 speed cassette on the rear but eventually I would like to run 1x11 and get a wide range cassette on there. Tidy up the styling, go for some high rise bars. Going to keep the cantilever brakes and just give them a good overhaul, new inner/outer cables.

Cheers for looking!

Looks in good condition. Following with interest

Looks nice. Small frames always look ace.

A little bit more mocking up taking place. Tried some 50mm riser bars but I might go with even more rise or a moto style bar.

Going to sort out drivetrain in the new year and run an 11 speed 11-51t.

looking good! how are you planning on running 11sp? changing the wheels?

Cheers. I’ve been doing a bit of research into it and options are either new wheelset or I can change the freehub to a compatible 8spd which will take an 8-11spd cassette. Will require some adjustments to the axle spacers and wheel redishing but I think I’m going to take this route so I can keep the original wheels.

I did this, changing the freehub. Cost me 15 euros. Wasn't able to fully center the rear wheel due to corroded nipples but it was good enough. Looking very well that biek!

Love a nice retro mtb. Will follow with interest.

Looking good so far, good colour scheme. I put 3" risers on most of my retro mtbs, love the way they ride with those. I've got a set of BLB big smokes knocking about if you're interested

Good post day for the rockhopper the last few days which means I’ve managed to make a little bit of progress.

Parts arrived for the new drivetrain. Went for a Shimano Deore M5100 set up with a 11-51t cassette.

Wanted to keep the original wheels as they were in good condition after a bit of a polish up. So managed to find a new freehub body for 8-11speed that was compatible with the original hub. Was quite a fiddly job with a lot of trial and error as the axle needed some tweaks to get the wheel to run as Centre as possible due to the difference in width between the freehubs.

Swapped out the chainring for a 32T Works Components ring.

The cassette and drop on the mech looks crazy with the 26” wheels but shouldn’t have any clearance issues.

Next job is to get it all cabled up, indexed then on to the brakes.

Got round to sorting the gears and brakes this morning so now it’s a running, stopping complete build. I’d like to say project complete but there’s a few bits I’ll tweak down the line. Overall really happy with how it’s come together though.

Progress has been a little slow as I’ve been making the most of any free time at the weekend getting out on the big bike.

However… I picked up some Kona P2 forks a good few week back from @johnnettles2 and finally got a 1” threadless headset ordered last eeek. Had a bit of spare time yesterday so managed to get the headset and forks fitted.

It’s come a long way from what it was, and I would like to say that the project is complete. However, plan is to get some use out of it now then look to make a couple of tweaks. I want to go for some wider moto style bars like the Surly Sunrise or Stridsland bars.

If I do get plenty of use out of it, would also like to look at welding on some disc brake tabs and converting it so I have all the mod cons with the retro frame.

Nice work! You need a front rack / low riders now

I’ve ordered myself some of these bars from Edsen Steel Craft on instagram, his fab work looks incredible! Also considering ordering the front rack from him.

Bars arrived and fitted. From Indonesia to UK and on the bike in less than a week. Had deliveries take longer from online bike retailers based in the UK.

Bars look great, if you don't mind me asking how much were they with the postage. I've been looking at the Edsen Steelcraft stuff for a while, their racks and bars look great but I thought the postage might make them uneconomical...

@beamo I bought just the bars and including postage to the UK it was 83USD so around £65 which I thought was great. The craftsmanship and quality is excellent!