My ebay steal, a 98 Specialized Rockhopper FS

Celtic Dragon

Retro Newbie
First time poster, but a great retro find. Bought this on evilbay on Sunday, fastforward 24 hours and I find myself heading to central london to pick her up. These phonto's don't show how much oil sludge is covering the chain and groupset.

She is a nice little runner even as is, but in need of a rebuild. I picked her up at the Southbank Centre and walked north of the river, and found a quiet back street, in Holborn, where curiosity got the better of me and I rode down the street with non of the fear I have on my road bike. Seems I prefer MTB's to roads and certainly the wider bars. So with confidence high I rode down the Grays Road back to Kings X, and preceded to regress to 22 again when I was at Uni and wanted a front susser, (but rode a Klien Attitude Race). It all came flooding back, foot dabs etc even managed to pull off a track stand and I virtually had the road to myself, which I thought unheard of.

Saying that, Boris must be doing something right, I passed ranks of empty stands for Boris bikes, and saw plenty of them being used. So thumbs up to him for that.

These don't how how much london grime is caked onto the group set.

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I am going to to do a nuts and bolt rebuild on her, but don't know how much rust I'll find on the frame so at present don't know if I'll be recoating the frame. A recoat would ruin the character the bike has built up with the chips and rubs, which would be a shame.

The other quandry I have is do I keep it as a 3x8 as factory standard, or do I go for a 3x9 or even a 2x9 with bash guard.

Short term aim is to get her rebuilt and use as a town rat, and rehab bike, whilst I undergo physio so a 40+ a chain ring would be a good idea.

Oh and the price paid for winfing back the clock 15 years? A princely sum of £41!
 
great bike,i had one the same and sold it to a mate,i rang him a couple of days later to buy it back,i still want it back,he said i can have first refusal if and when he wants to get rid.
i really really regret selling it. :cry: :cry:
 
Same as mine in my sig (I thought it was 1997 but now know its a 1998 or 1999). Mine is 9 speed so guess yours is year earlier?

Nice enough frames, indy c's weren't ever that good, I would try and find some rigids to be honest.
 
my favourite ever frame...!

looking forward to seeing where the build goes..!

must put some updated pictures of mine on too at some point..
 
Its a 2 stage project. Stage 1 is getting it ride ready and my backside out the front door and over to Chicksands, the 2nd stage happens after the summer and a full strip down, frame shotblasted and powder coated, replacement forks and a few other goodies.
 
Stage 1 complete:
She ride-able again and in perfectish working order. I spent yesterday building her back up from a frame and forks set and today was teh test ride which went well. So will infact, the proposed 1 mile loop, got turned into a mini exploration session and almost 6 miles.

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Spec so far:
bars, stem and headset: All original
Forks: Original Rockshox Indy C
Saddle: Charge Spoon
Seatpost : Original
Wheels: Maxxis Ignitors on Mavic 317 rims on Deore hubs
Shifters: Shimano STX RC
Deraileurs: R: STX RC, F: Deore
Brakes: Dia Compe 7 levers Shimano Deore V's, gold anodizd Ti bolts

Now to get out and just ride, then stage 2 can start once the weather turns. Stage 2 involves some carbon goodies and a complete shotblast down and powdercoat
 
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