rothenfield1

Here’s the thing, I caught the vintage restoration bug several years ago, and reading & posting to these forums (mostly the C&V Forum) shortly afterwards. Of my nearly 1900 posts however, only 1 recent post has been to the MTB Forum. I’m kind of burnt-out on the whole C&V thing, and have gotten it into my head that I wanted to build a hardtail from the frame up. Storyline is that once upon a time I had a blue Trek 3900 that I got my lungs, legs, and overall health, mentally and physically, back in combination with kayaking, riding the trail at old Fort Ord a few years ago. I sold the Trek when I moved-on to road bikes. Hard times befell this young self-employed middle-ager, and I had to sell most of my toys. And, my health & happiness has suffered since. I don’t post much anymore, but felt excited enough about finding this old Rockhopper to feel the need to write about it here.
So, I thought it would be fun to post a blog of my thoughts on the initial build and possibly the future upgrades.


The bike:
02 Specialized Rockhopper frameset and bits. Frame geometry and tubing quality has to be the basis for any bike and this one seems to me to be a time-tested good one for my purposes. The frame looked like someone had taken a shotgun to it, although there are no cracks or dents; so I’m in the process of trying to ‘prettify’ it the best I can. I’m broke, so the rebuild is being done on a shoestring until I can afford to upgrade over time. The stock Manitou Six Comp fork will have to do. It actually feels smoother than the Suntour one that came on my 05 Trek 3900. I may try to figure out how to service it.

Cheap build to get the bike on the road parts list:

Saddle/Seatpost- WTB Pure V/generic 27.2 zero setback seatpost I have. I will need to buy a shim to use in the 30.9 seat tube.
Bars/stem- I’m ditching the flat Salsas and long stock stem. The bars are only 625mms wide and the stem is probably too long. Although I haven’t even had a chance to sit on the bike yet to check the fit, my experience tells me that the frame is a bit on the large size for me, so I’m hoping to compensate with the zero setback post and shorter stem.

BB- the 100mm cartridge the bike came with is toast. I happen to have a Shimano UN54 113mm and I can’t see the additional 3mms being that significant.
Crankset- I may use the generic one the bike came with, although I’m tempted to use the vintage XT five-bolt one I have, out of nostalgia.


Derailleurs- The front Deore the bike came with will go back on. It cleaned up nicely. For the rear, I have 2 options: a cheap, but relatively new, Shimano Acera that came off my Trek 3900; or, a vintage XT. (I think I’ll use the XT, it should reach, and I think it looks cool.)

Shifters- The Deore RD shifter won’t return through the last 2 gears. I opened it up and can see down inside the pod that the return spring is damaged. Instead of trying to mess with it, I’ve decided to use a cheap 8spd Shimano Shifter/lever combo set I have.

Brakeset- Shimano V-brakes for now. I found some decent pads in my parts bin which will work in a pinch.

Wheelset- The same day I picked up the Rockhopper, I was able to arrange a swap of a steel road frameset that had been hanging in my garage for years and was in grave need of a PC for a set of lightly used disc or rim brake compatible Sunrim Rhino Lites laced to Shimano M475 hubs and a fairly fresh 8 spd cassette. I had planned on using the V-brakes the frame came with. But, the Santa Cruz guy I got the wheels from was so laid back cool, when I explained what I was building; he later sent me a set of Hayes Nine brakes. I’ll have to buy some shifter pods at some point in the future to use them however.


I found a replacement derailleur hanger on ebay that I will buy this payday, as well as a 34.9 seatpost clamp.

Future upgrades will include: A better front fork, 8 or 9 spd shifters(although, if I go 9spd, I’ll have to buy a cassette as well), low-rise 31.8 bars at about 680 length and 90mm stem, Deore or better crank, Deore or better RD.

That’s about it. I’m currently still touching-up the paint chips, although I’m not that concerned about it, it is an MTB after all. I’m also rebuilding the hubs, the cups and cones are smooth thank goodness, although the front bearings will need to be replaced and I just ran-out of Ploylube so I will have to pick-up some more grease.

Thanks for reading this gobbelty-goop : J

rothenfield1

It’s hard to avoid build-creep when starting a bike-build from scratch. A few dollars spent here-or-there to upgrade stuff seems very alluring. But, my original intent was to build a rideable hardtail as cheaply as possible. So far I’ve only spent the original $50 I paid for the frame/fork and other bits it came with, and traded away a steel roadie frameset for the wheels and disc brakes that I eventually will use. I have bid on a derailleur hanger and seatpost clamp which I have to have, and a 30.9 seatpost which I didn’t really need to have but couldn’t resist. It was way too easy to start looking around at better derailleurs, cranksets, bars, stems, and shifters.

I’ve decided to use the vintage 5-arm cranks and old XT RD because I’m so used to working on vintage stuff that they just looked good to me. That may change. I installed the new cartridge BB without having the BB shell faced at the LBS the way I wanted to. I inspected and repacked the hubs which came out really smooth, and I’m going to scrounge through my parts bin for some brake cables and possibly a decent 8 spd chain.

I can already imagine many upgrades that I will obtain as funds allow, but I should be able to get this bike on the dirt for well under $100.

K. Olsen

looking good

scozim 

Nicely done so far. I've also been spending more time here than C&V. Needed a change of pace and am spending more time riding the mtb's because the wind has been ridiculous and I can escape by heading up in the hills.

rothenfield1

I'm really getting excited about riding off-road again too. It's been over 2 years since I've experienced the 'burn' of grinding up a steep hill and this has been a lame year for me riding wise so it's probably going to be a bail-n-puke exercise the first time I hit the wall.

rothenfield1

Proper seatpost size, clamp, & D hanger are on the way. I realized today that the vintage crank wont work with this Deore FD, the old stuff has the inner ring way too far in. I'm going to have to go with the generic one the bike came with even though the middle ring is a bit chewed.

rothenfield1

It’s a good feeling to have a MTB in the household again. It turned out to be a pretty nice hardtail. But, it was so much fun to build; I’m already looking to start from scratch on something a little more modern. The chainline isn’t ideal; I guess the 3mm extra BB length made a difference after all. Fun stuff for an Old Man.

3speed

Cool. Looks like a solid bike to thrash some trails for next to nothing. Can't beat that! And if your riding area is anything like mine, you'll love those Moto Raptors. Mine grip a lot better than any of the other ~5 tires I tried. WAAAY better than some of them. Have fun and don't break anything(On yourself that is.[Well, the bike too, I guess.]).

scozim 

Nice job - now go out and ride, ride, ride.

rothenfield1

Thanks! I held on to the Moto Raptors because they are the best tires that I could find to handle the sand-trap conditions that come up during the summer along the coast. You can still see some of the sandy residue from over 2 years ago when I gave up MTB. I've been traveling so much this year that it was easy to make excuses not to ride my road bike. I needed some motivation, and I'm hoping this bike build will get me off my a**. I've definitely gotten bitten by the MTB bug and have already got my eye out for a more modern frame/fork to build when work picks up.

It's been a fun post. Thanks for indulging me. Maybe there is still hope for dudes like me that are on the cusp; that sometimes feel old, but other times feel like yelling, "Hell no, I've gotta ride that hill". Next post from me will be a pic of the bike somewhere on top of Ft. Ord.

scozim 

I had to travel (190 miles) and put my bike in the back of the van so I had to go out. If you fly it sucks to find something to ride (i.e. renting a bike). Fortunately for me I drive to most of the places I travel and can take a bike.

As far as the mtb bug - my C&V road bikes are just gathering dust. I've ridden them 4 times since the first of May. It's all been mtb riding and it's been a lot of fun.

rothenfield1

I feel the same way about the C&V stuff. I've built, ridden, & sold many over the last few years. And; although I will always love steel, I'm kinda done with the vintage flipping thing. I should have my Rossin sold this Saturday. That will leave me with an '07 10 spd Ultegra Fuji Roubaix LTD and this Rockhopper as my stable, down from 7 bikes at one point. I don't think the Rockhopper will be around for long. I can see having one good 10spd roadie and one quality hardtail in my garage, and a vintage steel MTB or road frame hanging around to satisify my build fetish. We'll see how long that lasts.

FrenchFit 

I've done a couple of these, though I can't say they were low cost projects for me. I got the high performance / light weight bug. But I'm riding them and enjoying them on a pretty modest investment.

I highly recommend building up a 29er. I did one two sizes smaller than my charted 26er size and used a cr-mo frame (no al). It is without a doubt the coolest bike I've ridden, a blast in the dirt and on asphalt. However, a good fork, discs, strong drivetrain, wheelset...it does mean spending some dollars.

rothenfield1

29er's are definitely the fad for MTB these days I've noticed. But, I'm old fashioned; until I've ridden one, it's hard to think about building one. I think one day it will have to happen if I keep my interest in building different types of bikes. I'm still trying to wrap my head around why a 29er is a better hill climber than a 26er.