MTB rebuild

[VamP]

I am looking to update my 1994 Spesh rockhopper into a somewhat modern hardtail. Specifically I am thinking of fitting a dampened fork and disc brakes, to replace the standard items. The frame and gearset (Shimano STX) are in very good nick.


Anyone want to comment on whether this makes sense cost wise or whether I should look at starting from scratch. Also any recommendations on suitable components - ie. want a good quality but not ridiculous budget.

To fit disc brakes I take it I will need new wheels, any other complications that I am unawere of?


Thanks dudes and dudesses!

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Does your Spesh have disk brake bosses? If it does then it could be a good project especially if you like the geometry of the bike. If not you may end up having to fork out (pardon the pun) for disk brake adaptors about which I have only heard bad things.

I am looking to update my 1994 Spesh rockhopper into a somewhat modern hardtail. Specifically I am thinking of fitting a dampened fork and disc brakes, to replace the standard items. The frame and gearset (Shimano STX) are in very good nick.


Anyone want to comment on whether this makes sense cost wise or whether I should look at starting from scratch. Also any recommendations on suitable components - ie. want a good quality but not ridiculous budget.

To fit disc brakes I take it I will need new wheels, any other complications that I am unawere of?


Thanks dudes and dudesses!

 

[VamP]

Does your Spesh have disk brake bosses? If it does then it could be a good project especially if you like the geometry of the bike. If not you may end up having to fork out (pardon the pun) for disk brake adaptors about which I have only heard bad things.

I doubt it, disc brakes weren't fitted to bikes in 1994 AFAIK. *Goes off to google disc brake bosses and adaptors*

Without knowing what they are, I am guessing that they would only be needed for the rear wheel, as the new front fork would presumably be OK?


I do like the bike's geometry, and generally do not want to bin it if I can avoid it.

 

[Ticktockmy]

Depends on what state your frame is in, as it's a good few years old now. I would strip it down and check all the welds are still sound not suffering from any cracks.

Brake wise you may have trouble converting the rear to Disk, as it may not have the fittings for the brake mech. Front will be ok if you are going to fit a new front suspension. If your wheel rims are still sound you can get them rebuilt with new hub or hubs if you are able to fit disk brakes all round.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

So to summarise - Rear wheel disk brake converters. Old wheels rebuilt to take disks or new disk brake wheels and front sus forks. Not bad all in all if the frame is good. Any idea as to what forks you are after?

 

[VamP]

This is shaping up nicely.


The idea only popped into my head yesterday, so open minded about fork - but definitely want a lock-out one.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

How much do you have to spend if it's OK to ask?

 

[Muddy Ground]

I wouldn't even bother with a rear disc conversion. I priced up one for my Klein - came in at £400. Disc brake + new rear wheel + convertor =

A Magura HS33 rim brake works just as well and is only £40 or so off eBay.

As for the front fork, hmmm. 1994 bike most likely a 1" quill surely? If so, then unless you're going for a 1990's fork then it ain't gonna happen my friend. An original Pace fork would work - you can still get them reconditioned, but they only ever gave around 40mm of travel. Any other fork from that time may be problematic in getting spares, plus only a few, like the Pace, could take discs back then - and even then you need the adaptor.... headache time for discs on your bike!

Check the stem before you get carried away. A quill and it's a bit of a non-starter.

What's wrong with reconditioning the poor girl as is?

MG

 

[mickle]

Mountain bikes from that period were designed for rigid forks of a certain length. Installing a suspension fork raises the front of the bike by at least the amount of travel and sometimes more. Raising the front of the bike by one inch alters the head (and seat) angle by about one degree. To my knowledge the travel of the shortest travel forks currently available is 80mm - this is the standard for XC short travel hard-tails. So fitting even the shortest available fork will raise your front end by over three inches and slacken the head (and seat) angle by around three degrees, as well as lifting your bottom bracket. Three degrees and three inches doesn't sound like much but it'll have a profound effect on the way your bike handles. Robert Egger spent a lot of time getting the handling of that bike just right - combining head angle, fork offset, fork length etc. That slack head angle combined with the offset of a modern fork will cause the bike to wander at slow speeds, the forks will want to 'drop-off' to the either side rather than hold the straight ahead. The steering 'trail' dimension or caster will also be increased substantially causing overly heavy steering at speed.

If your bike has a one inch (rather than one and an eighth) steerer (I can't remember off the top of my head) you'll have trouble finding a sus fork to fit anyway.

If it has a threaded (rather than threadless) steerer (etc) you'll have trouble finding a sus fork anyway. Not the end of the world but it will require a new headset and stem.

Cost? For a decent short travel fork? Well quite a lot actually. It's not like ten years ago when everyone was fitting aftermarket forks to rigid hardtails. These days they all come equipped. There is no big demand for aftermarket forks so there's a lot less to choose from. Decent ones are a lot of money. £200+ So you'll be spending more than the resale value of the bike to fit a fork which will wreck it's handling. And the handling was the thing you said you kliked about the bike.....

Disc brakes. If you buy a new fork it will come equipped with disc caliper mounts. Otherwise you're looking at the cost of a pair of disc adapter kits - which are a nightmare to live with - or the option of welding disc tabs on to the frame (plus a strip down and rebuild plus new paint) plus the cost of the brakes, plus new disc compatible wheels. And if you have integrated Shi**no brake and shift levers - the cost of new shifters too.

Plus labour. And no matter how much you throw at it all it will ever be is an old mountain bike with a bunch of new parts on it.

As an excercise: estimate how much you might get for your bike if you sold it, then add to that figure the amount of money you'd realistically have to spend on upgrading it.

I suspect you'd be able to buy quite a nice bike for that kind of money....

If I were in your shoes I'd throw some road slicks on the Rock Hopper and start saving up for a new hardtail.

 

[VamP]

Brilliant! That's the kind of insight I was looking for. Sounds like the answer is a new bike. And the Spesh gets to be Third bike. Reconditioned obviously. N+1 strikes again.

I love this forum.

Thanks to all.

Mountain bikes from that period were designed for rigid forks of a certain length. Installing a suspension fork raises the front of the bike by at least the amount of travel and sometimes more. Raising the front of the bike by one inch alters the head (and seat) angle by about one degree. To my knowledge the travel of the shortest travel forks currently available is 80mm - this is the standard for XC short travel hard-tails. So fitting even the shortest available fork will raise your front end by over three inches and slacken the head (and seat) angle by around three degrees, as well as lifting your bottom bracket. Three degrees and three inches doesn't sound like much but it'll have a profound effect on the way your bike handles. Robert Egger spent a lot of time getting the handling of that bike just right - combining head angle, fork offset, fork length etc. That slack head angle combined with the offset of a modern fork will cause the bike to wander at slow speeds, the forks will want to 'drop-off' to the either side rather than hold the straight ahead. The steering 'trail' dimension or caster will also be increased substantially causing overly heavy steering at speed.

If your bike has a one inch (rather than one and an eighth) steerer (I can't remember off the top of my head) you'll have trouble finding a sus fork to fit anyway.

If it has a threaded (rather than threadless) steerer (etc) you'll have trouble finding a sus fork anyway. Not the end of the world but it will require a new headset and stem.

Cost? For a decent short travel fork? Well quite a lot actually. It's not like ten years ago when everyone was fitting aftermarket forks to rigid hardtails. These days they all come equipped. There is no big demand for aftermarket forks so there's a lot less to choose from. Decent ones are a lot of money. £200+ So you'll be spending more than the resale value of the bike to fit a fork which will wreck it's handling. And the handling was the thing you said you kliked about the bike.....

Disc brakes. If you buy a new fork it will come equipped with disc caliper mounts. Otherwise you're looking at the cost of a pair of disc adapter kits - which are a nightmare to live with - or the option of welding disc tabs on to the frame (plus a strip down and rebuild plus new paint) plus the cost of the brakes, plus new disc compatible wheels. And if you have integrated Shi**no brake and shift levers - the cost of new shifters too.

Plus labour. And no matter how much you throw at it all it will ever be is an old mountain bike with a bunch of new parts on it.

As an excercise: estimate how much you might get for your bike if you sold it, then add to that figure the amount of money you'd realistically have to spend on upgrading it.

I suspect you'd be able to buy quite a nice bike for that kind of money....

If I were in your shoes I'd throw some road slicks on the Rock Hopper and start saving up for a new hardtail.

 

[Muddy Ground]

Personally I'd keep as is - there's a strong retro movement out there. You could fit some 1994'ish forks, but remember back then they were utter crap even when new. I can remember being totally frustrated over some of the shonky crap [Quasar Links Evo anybody?] and used to swop out forks every 6 months or so. 1994 and rigid ruled the roost every time.

Personally I'd keep as is, but look for some nice period upgrades from eBay; lighter wheels, Paul's Love levers, etc.... Much better keep your bike nice and period, and spend £600 getting a new rig from the likes of Wiggle.

MG

 

[VamP]

Personally I'd keep as is - there's a strong retro movement out there. You could fit some 1994'ish forks, but remember back then they were utter crap even when new. I can remember being totally frustrated over some of the shonky crap [Quasar Links Evo anybody?] and used to swop out forks every 6 months or so. 1994 and rigid ruled the roost every time.

Personally I'd keep as is, but look for some nice period upgrades from eBay; lighter wheels, Paul's Love levers, etc.... Much better keep your bike nice and period, and spend £600 getting a new rig from the likes of Wiggle.

MG

Yep agreed. T'was a flight of fancy, and reason prevails. Good steer on the period upgrades, and I love the bike enough to make a restoration project worthwhile. Rigid hardtail with rim brakes it shall remain

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Some Armadillos or Marathon Plus tyres on it and you'll have a very nippy hack bike at the very least

Yep agreed. T'was a flight of fancy, and reason prevails. Good steer on the period upgrades, and I love the bike enough to make a restoration project worthwhile. Rigid hardtail with rim brakes it shall remain

 

[VamP]

Some Armadillos or Marathon Plus tyres on it and you'll have a very nippy hack bike at the very least

It's got a set of nearly new Conti Double Fighter II on now, and is fairly swift (I can average 16.7 mph on my commute vs 19.3 mph on my Bianchi) already.

Brakes are shagged, which precipitated this idea while out riding in the ruff with my GF last night. I'll just fix the brakes - easy!

 

[Zoiders]

Keep it as original as possible is my advice and ride it rigid, I wouldnt try turning into a modern MTB as it would ruin what it does best.

94 it could well be 1 1/8 A-head, it could be 1" A-head, it could even be one of the oversized 1 1/8 threaded quill designs like the Avenger, 94 was a time when the 3 designs were all kicking around.

Thinking hard I seem to remember the 94 Hopper has a normal STX-RC quill though that takes a sealed bearing.

Retro MTBs are the next big trend in cycling

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/

The welds on a steel Rockhopper are not known to break as they are well fabricated frames, what you do need to check though is areas like the chain stay bridge for rust, US market frames from the period are a bugger for rust.