My co-worker gave me his old 1993 Specialized Rockhopper Sport (in pristine condition) and now I have a winter commuter and a project bike. I'm gonna have some fun and maybe even get it ready for a Leadman 2013 go. Probably the most important fixes initially would be the saddle (it's original and it hurts) and the pedals. otherwise it's fully ready to ride. Even the original "smoke" tires have great tread.
My friend Jesse reinvented his early/mid 90's Specialized into this beast:
That's the inspiration. Jesse's bike is a SS 69'er with mullet brakes (disc front/canti rear).
Joke of the day:
A boy's parents are getting a divorce. The judge asks him, "do you want to live with your mom?"
"No," the boy says, "she beats me."
"Oh," the judge replies, "well, would you like to live with your father?"
"No," the boy says again, "he beats me too."
"Hmm," the judge considers, "who should you live with?"
The boy replies, "can I just live with the Denver Broncos? Because they're not gonna beat anybody."
9 comments:
That converted 69er is pretty sweet. Are you serious about using the old rockhopper + upgrades for a stab at leadman? I'm tossing that idea around as well, but with a different bike.
What size is that? How tall are you?
Lucho, It's an 18" frame, I'm 6'1" but don't have a high standover. The frame is a bit small, but I think I can get a decent fit w/29er front wheel and replacing the stem/bars.
Definitely get the front end WAY high. My saddle is close to being level with my bars which is appropriate for a 29er front end and sitting on it for 9 hours. Think of your 3 contact points as the most important... hands, ass, feet and focus there. If your saddle it too high in relation to your bars you'll put a ton of pressure on your hands, arms, neck and shoulders. At Leadville this year my main weakness was my triceps and forearms after ~7 hours and that was with a level setup.
At 5'10" I have a 33" inseam so I look for a larger frame (19"-20" or size large) with a shorter top tube and I use 90mm stems on all my bikes. I also shove my seat forward quite a bit.
Lucho- Exactly my thoughts, with the 9er front, I'll likely still need to go at least to 110mm with the stem and use riser bars (like easton monkey bars). It'll be an absolute frankenbike when it's done, but I think if I replace the wheels I'll drop 10 pounds alone :) I think I'll be asking for parts for Christmas... A carbon fork would be sweet, but likely not on budget. Canti brakes are in pretty good shape so I may just stick with them (speed is your friend right?).
I have cantis on my cross bike and I love them. Sometimes I wish I had them on the 29er too. Plus they're lighter than a disc set-up. In Colorado mud isn't a big issue.
I have Stans Crest 29er built on Hope Pro II hubs. Golden Bike Shop set me up on them for Leadville. With out doubt you want to spend most of your money on the wheels! Then the fork. If you are going to go rigid then you'll save a few hundred $$. I got a Reba Race 29er fork on e-bay (used) quite cheap and it works just fine for me.
I think too it's best having the attitude of building the engine first... then worry about equipment. At Leadville I saw plenty of guys that were 30 pounds over-weight walking their $8,000 bikes. Didn't make any sense to me. They had spent more time with the fork at the table than the fork on their bike...
Better to be fit at 160 with a 40lb bike than flabby at 180 with a 20lb bike...
Absolutely. Your heart doesn't have to supply oxygen to that heavy stem.
any updates on this? also, does your friend have a build thread on his 69er?
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