The Retrobike Forum has recently transformed the way that I look at my beloved 1990 Specialized Hard Rock...it's like the scales have fallen from my eyes, and now little wheels in my head are turning...so I look forward to your thoughts.
My Hard Rock is not fancy, it's not pretty, it's not period correct. It has always been a humble, entry-level bike. And I love it. This is exactly how the bike has looked for about 15 years, since a mechanic friend of mine converted it to a single speed...dirty, weird mix of leftover generic parts, scratched up.
I'm the original owner of the 1990 bike, and it dates to my college years, when I first discovered mountain biking. My very first mountain bike was a 1989 Hard Rock...and it got stolen from campus. Immediately after that, I bought a 1990 Hard Rock just like this one (except it was red)...and it got stolen from my home. Undeterred and utterly hooked, I bought my third mountain bike in rapid succession -- this one. Because it has lasted the longest of all my bikes, it's as if it was my first, and that's how I think of it.
This is the bike that made me fall in love with mountain biking.
So here's where Retrobike comes in...until a few weeks ago, I liked my Hard Rock because it asked so little of me. I liked because it was old and scratched and beat-up and weird. I liked it because of its raggedness, not in spite of it. I liked it the way one appreciates a fun, trustworthy friend who makes few demands.
BUT, after seeing all the beautiful restorations here at Retrobike, I'm starting to wonder if I haven't shortchanged the Hard Rock. Maybe I've taken my friend a little bit for granted. Maybe I've done her a disservice, keeping her ragged and homely when there are 20 years of soul waiting right below that scratched up paint, waiting to be shown off properly.
So now the wheels are turning in my head -- tentatively. While I'm not quite ready to start a new project, I do have all of you to thank for helping me to look at my bike in a new way. I've already had my moments where I've explored local powdercoating companies, and I love some of the sky-blue resprays I've seen elsewhere on the site. Visions of white panels on the frame have started kicking around...
Ah well, you know better than I do the familiar symptoms of how the illness begins...
Thanks for building a truly wonderful online community!
My Hard Rock is not fancy, it's not pretty, it's not period correct. It has always been a humble, entry-level bike. And I love it. This is exactly how the bike has looked for about 15 years, since a mechanic friend of mine converted it to a single speed...dirty, weird mix of leftover generic parts, scratched up.
I'm the original owner of the 1990 bike, and it dates to my college years, when I first discovered mountain biking. My very first mountain bike was a 1989 Hard Rock...and it got stolen from campus. Immediately after that, I bought a 1990 Hard Rock just like this one (except it was red)...and it got stolen from my home. Undeterred and utterly hooked, I bought my third mountain bike in rapid succession -- this one. Because it has lasted the longest of all my bikes, it's as if it was my first, and that's how I think of it.
This is the bike that made me fall in love with mountain biking.
So here's where Retrobike comes in...until a few weeks ago, I liked my Hard Rock because it asked so little of me. I liked because it was old and scratched and beat-up and weird. I liked it because of its raggedness, not in spite of it. I liked it the way one appreciates a fun, trustworthy friend who makes few demands.
BUT, after seeing all the beautiful restorations here at Retrobike, I'm starting to wonder if I haven't shortchanged the Hard Rock. Maybe I've taken my friend a little bit for granted. Maybe I've done her a disservice, keeping her ragged and homely when there are 20 years of soul waiting right below that scratched up paint, waiting to be shown off properly.
So now the wheels are turning in my head -- tentatively. While I'm not quite ready to start a new project, I do have all of you to thank for helping me to look at my bike in a new way. I've already had my moments where I've explored local powdercoating companies, and I love some of the sky-blue resprays I've seen elsewhere on the site. Visions of white panels on the frame have started kicking around...
Ah well, you know better than I do the familiar symptoms of how the illness begins...
Thanks for building a truly wonderful online community!
