Hey
Thought I would post my bike. I originally bought a stock Specialized Rockhopper A1 FS, in chrome from a bike shop in Hemel Hempstead in autumn 1996. Well, my Mum bought it for me and I paid her back with the money I earned from my job at Halfords at the time, over a course of 12 months.
Well, even stock, for 17 year old me, it was the best bike in the world ever. I rode it every single second I did not have to be in school (and also when I should have been in school). It was AMAZING. It allowed me to start riding properly with some of the local lads who were all much faster. I quickly caught up and we used to go out all the time together, hanging out on the local golf course, before burning off into the country side for single track rides sent from heaven itself. Brilliant.
Then, one day in early 1997, I was riding home from one of my mates houses, going downhill on a normal road as fast as I could, when a woman in a blue Fiesta pulled out on me as I was going past. Bang. I don't remember hitting the deck, but my beautiful bike certainly did.
Fast forward a few days, and I am standing in the shop I bought the bike from, with all the older lads who worked there looking at me with genuine concern, voicing their thoughts that I should still be in hospital etc. Sod that. I wanted my bike fixing!!
Well, they must have felt sorry for me, as they had already taken the liberty of filling out the insurance form which the womans' car insurance company had instantly agreed to foot the bill for. I just let them get on with it, and did't really know what they were doing. I just wanted my bike back.
Ha, well a week later, they wheeled out my new rig. It was definitely not what I rolled into the shop the week before... for one thing, the frame had changed colour! The bike I got back was the following...
1997 Specialized Rockhopper A1 FS
1997 Marzocchi Bomber Z2
1996 Specialized stock seatpost
1996 Specialized stock seat
1996 X-Lite riser bars with brace taken off 1996
1996 Specialized stock stem
1997 FSA Aheadset (the only really crappy part on the bike. Truly a load of junk)
1996 SRAM Gripshift SRT600 with Yeti aftermarket grips in yellow
1996 Yeti grips
1996 X-Lite end plugs in red (lost
)
1997 UN51 BB
1996 LX rear mech (which I painted up)
1997 Rear Wheel; Hope XC Ti 8 speed hub, in silver, DT spokes, Mavic 521 rim
1997 Front Wheel; Specialized hub (really nice unit; oversized for the time, with a great QR lever and superb overall quality), DT spokes, Mavic 220 rim)
1997 Shimano chain (can't remember which one)
1997 XT front mech
1997 DX SPD
1997 Ringle Ti bottle cage
1997 Avid Speed Dial 2.0 (these were the aftermarket ones; not the 1.8 ones that seemed to get stocked on bikes. Very nice!)
1996 Shimano STX V-Brakes (I think?)
1997 XT Chainset
1997 XT Cassette
1997 WTB Velociraptor tyres
1997 Daves' Crud Catcher in yellow.
As you can imagine, I still remember to this very day, the feeling I had when I rode it down the hill from the bike shop for th first time. Good GOD!!!! The only thing to come close to this has been my current bike, which is a fully sick Cannondale SuperSix Evo with DA9000, handbuilt italian hubbed wheels, SiSL2, etc., which has cost me well over 10,000 pounds. It is simply not the same though.
When I went to university I took the bike with me, and got into jumping. I swapped the XT chainset out for a single speed DH type thing (I regret this decision to this day; the folly of youth, and all that). I since let my sister have access to the bike, and she kindly returned the bike to its former XC glory with a modern triple chainset (not XT standard, but given the modernity of the chainset compared to the 1997 XT chainset, I am guessing the performance is similar, if not better), a modern cassette, chain, and tyres. She also had the forks serviced. My sister also took off the DX SPDs and put flat DMR V8s on it, as she is only a very casual rider and the idea of SPDs scared her. I have since put a set of M520s on it, as a quick purchase).
I returned to my home town a few weeks ago, and was told my bike was in my sisters lock up, so obviously made a bee-line to it, and took it out for a few rides. It was still incredible, and completely brilliant off-road. Wow.
Anyway, check this out! I still love it.
Please excuse the flat tyres in the first picture; I had just that second pulled her out of my sisters lockup. As you can see, she has been kept in extremely good condition even after all these years!
Thought I would post my bike. I originally bought a stock Specialized Rockhopper A1 FS, in chrome from a bike shop in Hemel Hempstead in autumn 1996. Well, my Mum bought it for me and I paid her back with the money I earned from my job at Halfords at the time, over a course of 12 months.
Well, even stock, for 17 year old me, it was the best bike in the world ever. I rode it every single second I did not have to be in school (and also when I should have been in school). It was AMAZING. It allowed me to start riding properly with some of the local lads who were all much faster. I quickly caught up and we used to go out all the time together, hanging out on the local golf course, before burning off into the country side for single track rides sent from heaven itself. Brilliant.
Then, one day in early 1997, I was riding home from one of my mates houses, going downhill on a normal road as fast as I could, when a woman in a blue Fiesta pulled out on me as I was going past. Bang. I don't remember hitting the deck, but my beautiful bike certainly did.
Fast forward a few days, and I am standing in the shop I bought the bike from, with all the older lads who worked there looking at me with genuine concern, voicing their thoughts that I should still be in hospital etc. Sod that. I wanted my bike fixing!!
Well, they must have felt sorry for me, as they had already taken the liberty of filling out the insurance form which the womans' car insurance company had instantly agreed to foot the bill for. I just let them get on with it, and did't really know what they were doing. I just wanted my bike back.
Ha, well a week later, they wheeled out my new rig. It was definitely not what I rolled into the shop the week before... for one thing, the frame had changed colour! The bike I got back was the following...
1997 Specialized Rockhopper A1 FS
1997 Marzocchi Bomber Z2
1996 Specialized stock seatpost
1996 Specialized stock seat
1996 X-Lite riser bars with brace taken off 1996
1996 Specialized stock stem
1997 FSA Aheadset (the only really crappy part on the bike. Truly a load of junk)
1996 SRAM Gripshift SRT600 with Yeti aftermarket grips in yellow
1996 Yeti grips
1996 X-Lite end plugs in red (lost
)1997 UN51 BB
1996 LX rear mech (which I painted up)
1997 Rear Wheel; Hope XC Ti 8 speed hub, in silver, DT spokes, Mavic 521 rim
1997 Front Wheel; Specialized hub (really nice unit; oversized for the time, with a great QR lever and superb overall quality), DT spokes, Mavic 220 rim)
1997 Shimano chain (can't remember which one)
1997 XT front mech
1997 DX SPD
1997 Ringle Ti bottle cage
1997 Avid Speed Dial 2.0 (these were the aftermarket ones; not the 1.8 ones that seemed to get stocked on bikes. Very nice!)
1996 Shimano STX V-Brakes (I think?)
1997 XT Chainset
1997 XT Cassette
1997 WTB Velociraptor tyres
1997 Daves' Crud Catcher in yellow.
As you can imagine, I still remember to this very day, the feeling I had when I rode it down the hill from the bike shop for th first time. Good GOD!!!! The only thing to come close to this has been my current bike, which is a fully sick Cannondale SuperSix Evo with DA9000, handbuilt italian hubbed wheels, SiSL2, etc., which has cost me well over 10,000 pounds. It is simply not the same though.
When I went to university I took the bike with me, and got into jumping. I swapped the XT chainset out for a single speed DH type thing (I regret this decision to this day; the folly of youth, and all that). I since let my sister have access to the bike, and she kindly returned the bike to its former XC glory with a modern triple chainset (not XT standard, but given the modernity of the chainset compared to the 1997 XT chainset, I am guessing the performance is similar, if not better), a modern cassette, chain, and tyres. She also had the forks serviced. My sister also took off the DX SPDs and put flat DMR V8s on it, as she is only a very casual rider and the idea of SPDs scared her. I have since put a set of M520s on it, as a quick purchase).
I returned to my home town a few weeks ago, and was told my bike was in my sisters lock up, so obviously made a bee-line to it, and took it out for a few rides. It was still incredible, and completely brilliant off-road. Wow.
Anyway, check this out! I still love it.
Please excuse the flat tyres in the first picture; I had just that second pulled her out of my sisters lockup. As you can see, she has been kept in extremely good condition even after all these years!
