Old, old Specialized Rockhopper

[fatboy]

For sale in a local cycle cafe is an old, old Rockhopper in stunning condition and wondered whether it'd be useful as an MTB or not.

It's obviously old as the rear mech is a non slant parrolellagram Shimano one with only 6 cogs on the back.

I occasionally do off road but on a tourer (drop bar). Would an old Rockhopper be better or am I being romantic?

[Brucey]

better? We don't have much idea of what your idea of offroad is like, or your habits/preferences. Or what the rockhopper is like exactly, come to that. If the bits on it are original, (eg RD-M700 etc 'Deer Head' Deore) that era of bike is probably (at the latest) ~1987, so I'm guessing 3x6 non-indexed UG gearing, 126mm (if older) or 130mm or 135mm wide rear hub, could have a screw on freewheel or a cassette, cantis, rigid steel frame. Such bikes can be good fun on the dirt with knobbly tyres fitted, but slow on the road. They can also make good 'workhorse' bikes, once fitted with road tyres, mudguards, rack etc. At that time top tubes were mostly still short enough that you could convert to dropped bars if you wanted to. Hubs were not as well sealed at that time, for example the original hubs would predate the fitment of a rear freehub body seal.

If the bike is in excellent original condition it may be better viewed as a collector's item rather than a bike to use and abuse.

With any bike its offroad credentials are primarily determined by the tyres and the mud clearance. Those things are not aligned very well to good road manners, so it is always a compromise.

If you fit your tourer with ~45mm tyres with a heavy tread, and the handlebar position is not too extreme, there wouldn't be that much difference in mild offroading use vs a rigid MTB with similar cross section tyres. If you fit 2.2" knobblies to the MTB, there is no comparison of course.

cheers

[fatboy]

I agree on the age, mid to late 80s with 3x6. The rear freewheel is a corn on the cob so provides no range of gears.

My idea of off-road is pretty modest using Hertfordshire Bridleways but I think you are right that it's more a museum piece so not really what I was after. Probably someone's idea of nostalgia!

[cycle tramp]

Personally if i had the space and disposable income i would have bought it and tried it out...
..the 80's frame may have had rack mountings for a rear rack and eyelets for mudguards. The frame angles may be more relaxed than your current bike, making it less twitchy when the going gets bouncy.
Despite the reported demise of the 26 inch wheel size, there is still a great rang of tyres, everything from 1 inch slicks, 1.75 snow tyres, 1.75 mixed terrain tyres, 2 inch balloon tyres and 2.25 knobblies
....as for the dismissal of the 3 x 6 year set... forgetaboutit, it's fine. The roads haven't got any steeper since the 80's and I spent 2000 to 2004 touring on a 1 (36 tooth) x 5 gear set (14 - 28 teeth), including a week's tour of Cornwall where I averaged some 40 to 80 miles a day..
Is it better than your tourer... ..I really couldn't say... but owning and riding it may expand your experience

[simonhill]

It was a bike like this that got me into cycling. I bought a nearly new Saracen Kili Flyer in the mid 80s and was amazed at how it went. Six speed indexed on rear only and gears low enough get up the steepest hills in my local country park.

As a traveller at heart, rather than a cyclist I soon started off road touring, then long haul stuff. That bike did an end to end of India, NZ, Camino, etc. My current bespoke LHT isn't so different from that original bike.

If I wasn't rich now (ho, ho) I'd consider something like this as a do anything (I want to do) bike.

On a less prosaic note, I'm seem to remember some of these early bikes fetching big bucks from collectors in the States. I could be wrong, but worth having a Google.

[peetee]

It was built as an off road bike after all.
Everyone's requirements for their bike varies but if you are riding forest roads, rural byways or designated leisure trails it will be fine. My MTB is not hugely different (steel frame, 7 speed gearing and no suspension) and I rode it up and down Helvellyn.

[colin54]

Most of the old Specialised catalogues are here on the Retrobike site if you're still interested, you can often tell the year easily by the colour scheme.
I've bought a couple of 'immaculate' old bikes in the past, you still have to strip them to regrease hubs, replace dried out rusty cables etc, more work than you might think in my experience.
Having said that, if it was my size, cheap, and I still lived in North Herts I might be tempted !
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/v/M ... atalogues/
It's interesting the things you find delving in old catalogues, 'Electronic Browning Transmission' in
1988, I'd never heard of that before (on a Team Stumpjumper).

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/v/M ... G.jpg.html

[Brucey]

the browning transmission was a (only partially successful) attempt to make front shifting easier for the masses.

Quite a good write-up here, together with a small document archive

http://www.disraeligears.co.uk/Site/Browning_derailleurs.html

I suspect that had the system been really pushed by the likes of shimano, and of lower cost, it would have been more of a success.

More here

http://classiccycleus.com/home/browning-smartshift/

cheers