My 89 Rockhopper Comp with dirtdrops

[agentorange]

I've been tinkering with this for the past week. I can't remember what the bike was called but I read on here about a Specialized MTB with drop bars from around 89. With nothing for reference I set about converting my 89 Rockhopper Comp with drop bar livery. I managed to get some Specialized dirt drops plus bar end shifters from someone on RB plus a set of 105 levers & here's the result. I've tried various tyres (Z-Max, Ground Controls) but settled for these Panracers as they keep a better line. She rides quite well but the bar end shifters take some getting used to.

Not everyone's cup of cha but I needed a way to seperate the Comp from my virtually identical 89 Stumpy.

 

[fingers]

That looks great How's the ride on drops?

 

[Ollie27]

That looks well cool

 

[toadoftoadhall]

The bike was called Rockcombo and i remember wanting one when they first came out.By the way yours looks good

 

[kaiser]

Really like that

 

[doctor-bond]

Works for me. How are you planning to use it?

I've been thinking about a simillar set up for short distance touring:

drops, knobbly tyres, rack (but not mudguards). Road ride there, camp, let the tyres down, off road thrash, pump em up, ride back.

 

[Scrat]

Classy

I like it

 

[big.eck]

if that was mine i'd polish the stem , apart from that i really like that

got any pic's of the stumpy

 

[GT-Steve]

Yeah, proper retro for me, that
I'm sure I remember one of these being on the cover of a mag BITD??
Steve

 

[agentorange]

Rockcombo

That was it, the RockCombo. Found some stuff on the interweb & it was clearly something Specialized did as a 'test the water' rather than a new standard. Original componentry suggested mid to low range (Hardrock level Suntour/Dia Compe).

Ride is, er, interesting. If you're not used to road bikes then it may not be what you expect but it's definately more MTB than road. It's also a bit of a lump, which doesn't help but you can still climb but don't expect to find a position where you can access the shifters easily.

The bike itself is a standard 88/89 Rockhopper Comp with Deore 1 components but I've added Mavic M231's & the Brooks saddle. My 88/89 Stumpy was sold as the exact same bike, same frame, same Deore spec but with purple/pink front end with denucci green rear but with silver alloy stem & steel bars rather than alloy ones found on Rockhopper. The bike just needs it's wheels spoked & a 26.4 seatpost (rare it seems) then it's ready to go. I've upgraded it to full XT1 with four-finger levers & old-style barrel thumbies.

I'll post pics of it later.