Touring - so i bought a frame on ebay for 30 bucks

its a 1985 specialized rockhopper with all the eyelets for racks and fenders,long wheelbase etc.I've got some late 80s shimano deore dx parts i would like to use to build a strong tourer.anyone familiar with this stuff?the hubs have 36 holes and its a 7 speed.front and rear derailleur are dx also.suntour xc pro thumb shifters.the frame doesnt have a stem,and im wondering what to do there.Ive seen 1inch to 1 1/8 adapters so you can use aheadset type stems.are these any good or should i just pick up a quill type stem?thanks in advance.

Great choice. I recently picked up a 1993 Trek 970 mtn bike with an all steel cro-mo lugged frame and am making it into a rugged city bike and loaded tourer that will go anywhere. Jandd exped. racks, conti town and country tires, etc. Older mtn bikes with rigid forks work great, and yours sounds like it will be well equipped in terms of components. On the stem, just pickup an appropriate length quill stem, perhaps with a bit more height.

The easiest thing to do is just buy a quill stem. There are adaptors that will clamp onto a threaded stem, but chances are that the steerer won't be long enough. If you want to just make the leap to threadless, and the headtube is sized to take a 1 1/8" steerer, then you're in business - you could buy a threadless fork and and just make a complete conversion. But it's probably 1", and 1" threadless forks are hard to come by, to the point that it's probably not worth looking for one. I'd buy a quill stem.

Very nice find, by the way. I'm jealous!

You know I had a 1986 Rockhopper that I last rode in 1994. After I last used it I bought a Marin Point Reyes. I moved from my old home in San Leandro down to the VC in 1998. I left my old Rockhopper at the small auto dealership on the corner of East 14th and Maude. It sat there for the final two weeks that I lived there. I wonder what ever happened to it?