My buddy has a 10 year old son who is an incredible rider.... We are wanting to put together a road bike with drops so that he can get use to the riding position. I should mention we are trying to do this as cheaply as possible, aroudn $250(can't afford one of the Fuji kids bike over 500 bucks). We went into the local bike shop co-op and the man behind the counter suggested converting an older MTB fram and showed us that it could allow 700c wheels. Well, it just so happens I had an old Specialized Rock Hopper collecting dust that is similar in most ways to the Trek Antelope that he showed us. Already good news that we saved some money on the frame and maybe some of the parts.

The parts that we think we need are

Stem
Wheelset and tires
Brakes (maybe use the older cantilevers if they are compatible with the STI's we hope to buy?)
Front and rear derailleur
New road cassette road geared
drop bars
Shifters

We would like to use
Frame
BB
Crank
Double front ring....etc. if we can from the Rock hopper
Any ideas on the parts list or comments on what to watch for would be helpful. Especially from anyone that has done a conversion on a Rock Hopper. I am willing to comb Craigslist and eBay to get the parts as cheaply as possible. Thanks for any and all help