Being a mountain bike mad man I decided it was time to get a new bike. Shopping around for a bike these days gets complicated with the huge variety of bikes you can buy and for a wide price range.
Me being me I like the hard tail mountain bikes. That's a bike without rear suspension. If your on recreational cycling or after some sport competition then a hard tail is a good choice for a reasonable choice.
THE BIKE
HOW MUCH and CHOOSING IT Anyways, after much decision making I finally went for the Specialised Rockhopper Comp Disc 2007 bike. At £749 this for me is actually not a bad price bearing in mind you can get bikes for £4000 plus. It was a little more than I wanted to spend but its worth it for that little extra upgrade over the model below. I went for the Rockhopper because I know it has a good all round reputation as a good quality hard tail bike. I personally don't listen to the folks that go on and on about whether a bike is fit to race or how good it is when your leaping over a jump. Its all rubbish. For the standard rider your never going to notice much of this. Its more important to know that you personally like the feel of riding it and that you have or develop the ability to ride a mountain bike well. If you can't ride a 100 pound bike you wont fair any better of a 1000 pound bike. So to stop rambling, I chose it because I knew the reputation, quality and because I had a Rockhopper Comp way back in the early 90's and it was great then. There are another 3 in the range. Rockhopper (549), Rockhopper Disc (649) and the Pro (949).
WHAT SIZE - TRY BEFORE YOU BUY I visited a couple of bike shops looking for this bike. As I am 6'3" I was looking at the 21" version. They come in various sizes (15", 17", 19" and 21"). 21's are usually the hardest to find as most of us folks are a normal size so a 21 is a little big and rarer. If you find the size your after but cant sit on it to try it then walk away. Don't be tempted to try the same size in a different make, its pointless. Whilst it gives you the rough size the geometry of frames varies between makes so sit on the one you want to buy. The first shop I visited didn't have the bike at all and quoted 4 weeks to wait. Heck I wasn't wanting an Aston Martin so I shopped else where. The 2nd shop did have one but not built up and quoted 2-3 days to get it ready. Great. They did have a basic rockhopper for me to try in a 21 so I went for a ride on that. Some shops will let you sit on the bike and that's it. Others will let you down to the end of the road, some let you have 15 mins where you like and a few do demo dys in the forests. This shop went for a 15 min ride, long enough to have a play. After my test ride I was sure this was the bike for me. The length and the height were great and it felt good to ride. Place that order.
PICKING UP THE BIKE I picked mine up after 3 days and got the full rundown. Have to say I thought the Rockhopper looked great. I got the full run down of what was what and I was off. Only a shame I forgot to take the old bike helmet for the cycle back to the car though.
THE BIKE FRAME The Comp comes in a brushed silver finish with some understated graphics on the tubes. I prefer this as I am not one to be flashy and frankly don't care what people think of my bike. The paint work is well finished and to be honest I cant find a single blemish anywhere. The frame itself is all well finished to. The welds are pretty big but that's Aluminium for you. Its apparently made from M4 aluminium which is one of Specialized's innovations. This makes it lighter and stronger than previous years models. You also get a replacable rear gear hanger. If you have ever bent one of these then you will know that this is well worth having. FORKS I don't claim to know much about suspension forks, I normally buy them and see how I go. The Rockhopper comes with RockShox Recon 335 SL. I think these are new for this year. I have to say that they ride very well. The action when you hit a tree root is very smooth and a lot better than the forks they fit to the lesser models. They quote 100mm of travel on these forks, again I have to say that I would reckon you could get close to that. Most forks never get close to the full compression but these ones seem to go pretty far. The overall finish is mat black which creates a cool contrast to the rest of the bike. They also have a handy easy to use lock out function. This allows you to twist a single knob to lock the forks (ie stop them being suspension and make them solid). This is a great option as it allows you to have an easier ride when on the road or climbing a hill. COMPONENTS I was impressed with all of the components. There are some good quality bits on here which wont wear out after a few months use. I wont go in to detail on everything, a list of all the bits is below. Special points though. The saddle is by far one of the comfiest ones I have used, no pressure where you don't want it, well made and rub strips along the sides in case you scuff it on a wall. Oversized handle bars for extra strength and no flex are a great bonus. The one thing I will talk about is the brakes. One of my reasons for a new bike was to get disc brakes. If your wanting to stop well in the rain and like cycling in the hills and mud then get discs. The bike comes with AVID Juicy hydraulic disc brakes. These are way better than the standard cable pull ones. Whilst they may not be top of the peg ones they offer excellent good all round breaking power for the normal user. It took me a few rides to break in the discs and pads (rather like getting new brakes on a car). But once this was one they stop like nothing on earth. The AVID brakes just look great on the bike, less cumbersome than the Shimano ones you get on other bikes. Anyways, combine the brakes with the specialized tyres and you have some great control.
OTHER BITS FRAME New for 07 M4 manipulated alloy frame, butted ORE DT, disc only, forged dropouts w/ replaceable 98954020 derailleur hanger FORK RockShox Recon 335 SL, 100mm, 32mm alloy stanchions, alloy steerer, disc only, Turn Key damper, lockout w/ rebound adjust, coil spring HEADSET 1 1/8" threadless STEM Specialized 3D forged alloy, four bolt, 31.8mm, 7 degree rise HANDLEBARS Specialized Butted 31.8mm XC Rise, 640mm wide, 8 degree back/6deg upsweep GRIPS Specialized Enduro, dual density, Kraton FRONT BRAKE Avid Juicy 3, hydraulic disc, 6" G2 Clean Sweep rotor REAR BRAKE Avid Juicy 3, hydraulic disc, 6" G2 Clean Sweep rotor BRAKE LEVERS Avid Juicy 3 hydraulic FRONT DERAILLEUR Shimano Deore M-530 REAR DERAILLEUR Shimano XT SHIFT LEVERS Shimano Deore SL M511 CASSETTE Shimano HG-50, 9-speed, 11-34t CHAIN Shimano HG-73, 1/2" x 3/32" w/ missing link CRANKSET Shimano FCM-540, Cobra Shape Hollowtech, Octalink spline, replacable rings with alloy outer CHAINRINGS 44A/32S/22S BOTTOM BRACKET Shimano ES-25, Octalink Spline, cartridge bearing, 68 x 118mm for 50mm chainline PEDALS Shimano 505 SPD, reflectors and cleats RIMS Mavic XM 117, disc FRONT HUB Specialized Hi Lo disc, 32h, CNC flange and disc mount, QR REAR HUB Shimano FH-M475L, cassette, disc, 32h, QR SPOKES 1.8mm (15g) stainless, black FRONT TIRE Specialized Fast Trak, 26x2.0", DC, 60TPI, aramid bead REAR TIRE Specialized Fast Trak, 26x2.0", DC, 60TPI, aramid bead TUBES Specialized schraeder valve SADDLE Specialized Body Geometry, MTB SEAT POST Specialized alloy micro adjust, 30.9mm SEAT BINDER Specialized forged alloy w/ QR NOTES Chain stay protector, reflectors, clear coat, owners manual
THE OVERALL RIDE Overall the bike rides very well. Steering is precise and sharp. When you need to turn you know your turning well. The gear changing action is next to seamless, with the advances in gear quality and the higher spec'd bits on this bike you get a good quality gear change without slippage or missing gears on the up and down. When you start to pedal hard you get the feeling of a stiff and strong frame and that all of the power is going to move you forward and not get wasted. I have varied my last few rides to get a feel for the bike in different conditions and haven't yet found anything really bad to say. The only possible thing would be that the tyres are more geared for dry tracks, when it gets really muddy they start to slip a little.
All in all, a great bike, well worth the money. For once there is nothing on this bike I would actually need to change. This model offers the best quality and bits out of the four models in the rockhopper range.
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Price
749
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