I guess this is where this thread should go? I've had this bike since new so I'm a little disturbed a post about it would fit in the "Classic" section, but I've done the math a few times now and it seems 1988 really was 32 years ago, so here it is.
I bought this bike near the end of my bicycle mechanic career, I worked in a Schwinn shop for about ten years starting around 1979. It replaced either a Peugeot Canyon Express, or a Yellow Fuji(?) something or other that I decided was too big for off road riding. I bought it after visiting a friend in Aspen and doing some riding out there. Once I bought it, I never rode in real mountains again... funny how that works. After sitting for a lot of years I decided to mod it for more street use and ride it on the paved trails around here. Higher bars, bigger seat, slicker tires... I rode it about three times in that configuration then it sat.
Flash forward to current times. I'm nearing retirement and getting a renewed interest in bicycles. On a whim a couple years ago I bought a cheap "Schwinn" cruiser and ended up switching it over to a Sturmey rear hub since I've always wanted something with internal gears. That bike means I don't really need this one to have street tires on it anymore. And I was just reminded that there are "off road" trails around here too, so why not put suitable tires back on the Rock Hopper?
I pulled it down and looked it over. Dang... I don't think it's ever been cleaned. And the shifter cables are downright rusty! Can't have that. Plus I have this fancy new service stand that's not being used now that the cruiser is done so what the heck, let's rebuild this thing.
Sorry about the poor quality pictures - I took most of these during a power outage with a flash but you get the idea of what I'm starting with.
It's picked up a few nicks along the way but overall it doesn't look bad for a 32 year old mountain bike. I think the worst abuse it has seen is water crossings that came up over the bottom bracket. No worries, the BB would get rebuilt following those excursions. The hubs on the other hand... I don't recall ever rebuilding those. Let's hope Phil Wood grease really is "all that"... Seeing the QR lever on the seat clamp reminds me it has some fancy schmancy seat post that's spring loaded. One of the water bottle bolts keeps the seat from rotating so you can pull the lever and adjust the seat height without getting off the bike. That's come in SO handy over the years. It's main benefit? Rudimentary anti-theft for the seat, the post won't come out of the frame without removing the water bottle bolt. I also like to imagine that the would be thief would be leaning over the bike when he pulled the lever and be surprised by the seat popping up and bopping him in the nose.
Yeah... it's pretty filthy. You can see the state of the shifter cable, which was the last straw for deciding it needed more than just new tires. And Bio-pace chain rings? I've been whining about replacing those since day one but never got around to it. Probably won't now either. My main gripe with them is pretty shallow and likely not even true - I've always blamed them for not being able to wheelie the bike as well as past bikes! It is probaby more related to frame geometry or just getting older, but it's easier to blame the chainrings.
Seriously, clean your bike once in a while! Notice the off-road ready white wall tires. And how much use they have seen over the years.
DeoreXT hubs with Araya RM20 rims. For some reason this bike got new wheels before it was sold. I seem to recall we pulled a stock wheel for a warranty claim or service or something? Details have been forgotten but these have been on it since I bought it.
The higher bars I put on it in an attempt to make it a more comfy "street" bike. I never really liked them, they're too narrow. I have a taller stem and more mountain bike-like bars but didn't have a cable hanger for the front brake (it's part of the stock stem) so never installed it. That has since been rectified so the new stem will be going on finally.
And that's where things sit for now.