Specialized Rockhopper saga

[Lostcause]

Spring 1997 I bought a Marin Palisades Trail, Burnished silver alloy frame and yellow rigid fork. A first for me was A-Head and V Brakes, what a bike but it wasn’t to be, stolen a month later. I was devastated and skint but my father decided to buy me a replacement, bless him.
This time a steel rigid Rockhopper in red. I fell off it on the first ride, blamed the tyres and a day later it had some Velociraptors on. It was amazing, I rode it everyday for hours on end and never longed for anything else. Getting the regular mountain bike magazines each month had me longing for parts though and an upcoming race in Buith wells had me convinced I needed a suspension fork. A Rockshox Judy SL was what my heart desired but at £500 from JE James in Sheffield it was a little out of my reach so I did the sensible thing and sold my car to buy them and a set of Maura HS33’s in yellow to match the Judy’s. A Ford Orion 1.6i Ghia no less, wish I still had that too. To me the Rockhopper was perfect in this guise and we went everywhere.

15 years later and after many many miles I sold it, instantly regretted doing it and consoled myself with a Stumpjumper. A fine bike indeed and arguably far superior to the Rockhopper but…..

Come 2019 I started looking for a 17” steel Rockhopper in red but they were thin on the ground. 19” ones came up for sale quite often but never a 17 so I gave up and enjoyed the Stumpy still.

Then in 2023 a 17” ‘97 in red frame and rigid fork turned on eBay for £40 with an M900 crankset in my favourite size of 170mm. A nice dent in the down tube and a seized seat post, wonderful…

 

[The History Man]

Did your contraption work? Is it available for hire? I have a problem……… xxxx

Loving your work/workshop

 

[Lostcause]

Hi and thanks, I love my shed lol
No the contraption didn’t work. The threaded bar was m14 and I still snapped two of them. God only knows what kind of pressure I had on that post but my guess would be a lot. I will use caustic on it next…
I’m afraid the contraption is back in the skip at work but there is a chap in Yorkshire somewhere that removes stuck seat posts with a similar design of puller but less agricultural looking than the one I made. I’ll try and find a link for you….. he’s on the wrong side of the Pennines but if you’re desperate….

 

[Lostcause]

17” Rockhopper’s are like buses.

You search for ages and then several turn up…eBay showed a silver ‘99 Nitanium fs 17” 10 miles from work so buy it now and arrange to collect. For some reason eBay thought London was 10 miles from Catterick so a bit of negotiating with the seller and a bare frame was on its way in the post yay

 

[Lostcause]

Someone drilled an off centre hole in the seatstay bridge with what looks like a masonry drill bit, not yay but I’d been collecting XT M739 bits and the paintwork looked fantastic after a couple of hours of t cut, polish and wax and i didn’t fancy my chances of finding another 17 so …

 

[Lostcause]

Later that same day a Quick Look on eBay for some Ritchey handlebars and these two beauties were listed with the same seller and an actual 10 miles from work. A 16” and a 17”, for sale as a pair but he decided he would sell them individually. Yay A pair of ‘98 models he kept on his campervan for himself and his wife. More importantly unmolestered and original even the tyres which are surprisingly crack free and still supple.

 

[MR OX]

I do love a Rockhopper

 

[Lostcause]

A few hours spent stripping it down, t-cut, polish and wax and it really has got its lustre back. A lovely colour.
The Rockshox Indy C’s need paint, decals and servicing but I’ll deal with those later. Everything else is very tidy, the braking surface on the rims has no wear and even has some of the protective coating on still!! Original tyres in superb condition but the grips are a bit too rough to go back on.

 

[Lostcause]

A few paint touch ups in the wrong shade of blue will keep rust at bay and tidy it up while I try and find a better match. Turned out quite nicely……

 

[Lostcause]

Happy days, I’d like to find a Ritchey saddle, Rizer bars and some skewers and if possible a Ritchey seat post. I’ve got the Ritchey headset and will refit that but probably when I’ve refurbished the Rockshox Indy’s. The Pace RC36’s from my Stumpjumper look ok for now. I just want some sunny weather to get it outside and relive the Rockhopper experience.

What to do with the silver one though? …..too expensive to replace the stay and too unsightly to be a minter but apart from the act of mindless vandalism it is a lovely thing. I always wanted Hope discs on my original one back in the day ……