Mountain Biking - 6 footer on a Specialized Hard Rock Sport.

hey i was wondering if my bike a 04 Hardrock Sport get any damage if i tried a 6 footer. It currently has a RST Gila T4 on it, but i am going to get a M Drop off or DJ3 fork. would the fork hold up? would it bottom out? any suggestions,tips,or anything helpful is appreciated!

-Ben


P.S- I WILL NOT attempt it with my RST fork. ( just clearing that up.)

The fork would hold up, it's the frame I would be a bit worried about. I think the hardrock was designed as a heavy(er) duty XC bike, if I were you and I was planning to do alot of jumps/drops/etc. I would go for a P. series bike which is designed for jumps/urban.

I m not sure he wants a new bike. Take it on 1-2 foot drops. Then 3-4. If you feel anything's getting loose, thats the weak link. Keep on testing it on 3-4 until your sure your components are upgraded right and your frame will take it. Ask your lbs about it. Make a tranny. Makes things better.

What's wrong with doing it on the RST?
Mine (05 model) only has problems with the cranks getting loosened, and the chain jumping to another gear, when I jump or drop a bit too high.

RST are notoriously weak.

RST are notoriously weak.They're weaker than Manipoo's

well i don't weigh that much.........im 15 and 5'1. i weigh 110. i still don't want a new frame from one drop....

As I said, take it on 3-4 foot drops and see how it handles. See if you can muster the courage as well, for I can't.

The fork would hold up, it's the frame I would be a bit worried about.

You really have it backwards here, though on a 6 footer I would be worried about both, and make sure my life insurance is up to date.

i want to do it. if i nail it and land it, i get sponsered. so maybe its not worth it.......
i'd only do it for the sponsership.

I wonder if anyone over the age of 16 has ever asked, "will this model frame break on a certain height drop?"

If the frame breaks (which I doubt it will), just get a better bike when you get out of the hospital...
If a crank snaps... ow. Get better cranks when you get out. lol
If the fork bottoms out, it'll just not work quite as well after. They're not so great anyway, I know...

I wouldn't want to do 6 foot drops anyway, at least to flat..

Im confused, is it a 6 foot gap or drop?

You shouldn't just spontaneously go for a 6-foot drop. Work your way up, making sure you're comfortable with how you and the bike will respond. You can get hurt pretty badly if you don't know what you're doing. If you practice and learn how to handle the bike well, you won't be breaking stuff as often. I've done 5-foot stair drops onto cement on a crappy $7 rigid bike I bought at a police auction and I didn't break anything, but I landed them just right. However, I took the same bike on a really rocky, technical downhill, went faster than I should have, and severely bent the rear wheel. This sport is way more about technique than equipment. Sure, good equipment is more fun to ride with, but don't look at your bike as a limiting factor.

Just a few thoughts.

I wonder if anyone over the age of 16 has ever asked, "will this model frame break on a certain height drop?"

Nope...we know better...at some point, some where, with some abuse...a 6 ft drop could possibly maybe kill ANY FRAME...haha

i want to do it. if i nail it and land it, i get sponsered. so maybe its not worth it.......
i'd only do it for the sponsership.

Why would you get sponsored just by nailing/landing a six foot drop?

frame can probably take it, its a good frame, but everything else will probably break.

I am six foot two inches, and 215 lean pounds. I wouldnt do it if I were you.

Sponsered? Sounds like a nice way of saying theres a wager on this one :rolleyes:

nevermind. its not worth it. i tryed it on a 4 foot and it just held up. the bike is only 2 months old too.....nevermind. thank god i came here first before i tried it. thanks everyone.

Glad you saw the light, and it's not the operating room light. ;)

Glad you saw the light, and it's not the operating room light. ;)

That's not the kind of light I'd ever be interested in seeing... for any reason.

Well, Im 13 and a half stone and i have a hardrock with the same fork as yours, ive done 3 ft drops and te bikes rode away easy, your half my weight, i say try it, make your you bike is running nice though, and everythings tightened up.

Gd luck if you decide to try it :)

Great! Someone here listens (specializedhrs) to what the advice should be! Not what it's "supposed to be". *cough*cr*cough*yo!*cough*genic evolution*cough cough*.

do what you can to soften the ride: bigger tires may do cause my wifes 04 hardrock came with 2.0 tires try 2.4s, a bigger fork the 04 hard rock takes a 130mm fork easily, i tried it on my wifes bike which didnt effect the geometry hardly unlike my 03 hardrock that i eventually got use to, but u could tell the difference.

that may help.

also i saw a marzocchi dirtjumper 3 on ebay for $159

tire suggestion is the kenda kenetics e

or win the Darwin Award :lol:

Hey man I feel for you. I ride a Hardrock Sport 04 and for the frame keeping up with it...... Hell yea it can. The forks....Hell no...tell me how your new forks work out cause I am in dire need of getting new ones. The frame is fine though. The first thing that went wrong with mine was actually my headset. I don't know how everyone here feels about Crane Creek and I don't know what level of a headset was given to me ....But I am a little dissapointed with it. Do the jump though and tell me how it goes and read my thing below...your probally the only one that will get it.


Later


Another MTBiker

Yep, thats the hardrock line's tagline... paintballdude :)

All right, I just got back from bringing a friend to the bike shop. He owns an '05 Hardrock sport, and he bought it thinking it could handle jumps. It was an improvement over his rigid Raleigh M-20, But the verdict on this bike is: No jumps over 2 ft. He broke his fork, his cranks, and he bent the chainstay on the bike severly all in 1 day over the course of 4 jumps. The same thing that happened to me has just happened to him. Only in his case, the shop will only give him $50 for it, and it's a 2005. He already worked out a deal with them, he ordered a p1. So for this bike, jumping is out. A lot of you seem to think that the frame on this bike can handle a jump as large as 4ft. He NEVER went bigger than 3ft, and his bike is wrecked. A direct quote from the shop owner was: "That bike is toast. Burnt toast."

Holy hell.

How heavy is he? lol.

I weigh about 130lb, I've jumped mine a lot, no problems except loose cranks.

Loose cranks? It might be broken. take the loose crank arm off and look to see if the eyelet is, for lack of a better term, "stripped". if the square hole on the actual arm is battered in any way you might need a new crank. The cranks were the first to go on his bike, and they went loose, exacly like yours. Oh and he only weighs 135lb., so he is slightly heavier than you.



[Edit]: Just so you know, the way the crank gets damaged like that is the force that the cranks take from the bottom bracket off jumps to flat.

But his FRAME were fine, right? :D

I roughed up all my components badly on my very few rides on the '04 Hardrock sport, too. I treated it same way I treated my 1994 Hard Rock ChromySteel bike. Not good. hehe

I still think Hardrock's a good bike, that has been cripped a bit with crappy components in order to get a great frame. I think Hardrock is worth its frame, but not much else that I have observed... It's a steal for a little over $300. Higher end bikes, the frame itself is way more than $300.

All this being said, I am ready to turn my Hardrock into a "mostly pavement with some light hucking off curbs and stuff" and get something like a Specialized Stumpjumper when I can afford it. Until then, I am probably upgrading my Hardrock's parts that crap out on me with higher quality parts.

my .02.

i dont get it
isnt the darwin award for stupid deaths?

Well, loose according to my bike shop. He said he tightened them, but that I should probably upgrade those first, then probably the fork, if I wanted to do jumping type of stuff.

You can look at it from this angle: specialized has a life-time warranty on their frames.

But his FRAME were fine, right? :D

No jumps over 2 ft. He broke his fork, his cranks, and he bent the chainstay on the bike severly all in 1 day over the course of 4 jumps.
that doesn't sound like his frame was fine to me. just like sixsixone said LBS guy said, that frame's toast.




I still think Hardrock's a good bike
good bike when you use it for what it was made for. take it outside of those limits and the bike's not so great anymore...




You can look at it from this angle: specialized has a life-time warranty on their frames.
i don't think that lifetime warranty covers abuse or mis-use though. :rolleyes:

umm...on your hardrock, everything will hold up except for the rims i think...my rims on my hardrock arent all that good i tacoed one and i didnt even know how...and just yesterday i went off like 2 foot jump and landed a little bad, not perfect and my wheel tacoed a tiny bit again...not enouf to make a difference but i can see it..

btw its nice to be bak, had my comp in the shop for the past 11 days...

that doesn't sound like his frame was fine to me. just like sixsixone said LBS guy said, that frame's toast.




good bike when you use it for what it was made for. take it outside of those limits and the bike's not so great anymore...




i don't think that lifetime warranty covers abuse or mis-use though. :rolleyes:


I saw a lot of stuff screwed up, but no mention of the frame.... The fork's a crappy cheap thing, but its separate...

my bike is almost 10 years old (m2 stumpy) with a marz z1 on it, i take it off of 3-4' drops regularly and ride the hell out of it, AMAZING, specialized frames are great imo.

i wouldnt worry about it i do alot of scary downhill drops on my 04 hardrock xc and it holds up fine WITH the RST fork

i wouldnt worry about it i do alot of scary downhill drops on my 04 hardrock xc and it holds up fine WITH the RST fork
Ummm it's Florida we don't have "hills" :lol:

from now on dont look at were i live! i go to New hampshire when ever i want to go downhilling.

you guys think the fox judy forks will go down in prive by like next march, im talkin to 2004 models, i think its the judy sl i was looking at...im gonna upgrade my hardrock b4 next season, just curious if prices drop any more than they have?

well it should go down in price as the 2005/2006 (do car parts work like cars?) forks come out. But, if you see a good deal just buy it, the price difference shouldn't be too bad.

Yeah, I'm looking at RockShock's too myself. I dont want to spend MORE on a fork than I did the whole bike.. at least not yet.

I was shocked recently when I found those RST Gila's that they retail for something like 75-90 bucks, when the next level up in quality seem to be all in the 250-300's including the Rock Shock Judy/Psylo lines. Dang. :)

I guess thats why Gila's crap out so quick.. they're cheap. I've been lucky though, I have not had problems with them -YET which surprises me being 215# and doing small jumps every chance I can.

You guys, with a Hardrock.. what do I need to watch out for when upgrading the fork?

Same as with any other bike keep it in the same travel ball park

i wouldnt worry about it i do alot of scary downhill drops on my 04 hardrock xc and it holds up fine WITH the RST fork



Then it's very obvious that what you are doing is not DH. I am not trying to be rude but your bike is ABSOLUTELY NOT for downhill or freeride. AT ALL. Read my post up there. My good friend Peter DESTROYED his 2005 Hardrock on jumps and is out of $300 because of it. It took him only a few months. I destoyed a bike this way as well. Your bike is agressive XC, mainly for trails. Please don't tell people that this bike is suitable for downhill, because it's not really. The frame looks and feels solid, but it needs centerfold tubes and gussets for freeriding, like the p series has. Be careful with that bike, we would all hate to see you get hurt.

six6one im sorry to say but it sounds like your friend is a total hack. To ride an actual a downhill course you dont need anything special, now if you want to ride a downhill course for speed thats a different story.

Thanks Rayin.. It now seems obvious to me to keep the new fork within the same travel range, not to screw up the geometry... I didn't think of that. :)

I saw a lot of stuff screwed up, but no mention of the frame.... The fork's a crappy cheap thing, but its separate...
uhhh... the chainstays are part of the rear triangle of the frame... :rolleyes:

six6one im sorry to say but it sounds like your friend is a total hack. To ride an actual a downhill course you dont need anything special, now if you want to ride a downhill course for speed thats a different story.


Agreed! I took a $7 rigid steel bike (REI house brand) that I bought at a police auction on some pretty serious, technical DH trails. It was slow and painful, and I crashed a bunch of times, but I did it! :D I've since taken my Enduro on the same trails....wow...of course it was an incredible difference...and my Enduro's hardly a serious downhill bike.