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Writer's pictureAshley Taylor

1992 Specialzed Rock Hopper Resto

I love restoring or refurbishing these retro Steel Mtb's, my go to favourite ride is a all Steel 1993 Specialized Rockhopper Comp and absolutely love the feel and the way it rides.

This Rock hopper is a 18' frame and came to us in pretty good condition considering its nearly 30 years old now, and obviously had been resonably well cared for, the shimano sealed cartridge Bottom Bracket was good to go and the headset was felt pretty good too, the biggest problems were a stripped pedal thread on the left crank and a stuck seat post ( though it turned out not stuck that bad at all) Result!


Surface rust on stem and handlebars and drivetrain gunked up with crud, seized cables all the norm really but considering some of our resto projects, not bad at all, even the Tanwall tyres were in reasonably good shape and still having pressure.

Hmmm, this may be a easy rebuild i thought and as it turned out, it was, Yay!!




All original components, albeit Basic Shimano Altus, we decided to keep her true to original as possible, well apart from the left crank arm needing repair the Altus groupset was all in good order, we will let the new custodian decide whether to upgrade or not.

So began our normal stripdown, seat post not being a major concern as it turned out, a little patience, penetrating oil and brute force did the job, a quick ream of the tube and all was fine.

Refreshed the headset with new bearings and grease, along with the axles, BB was good too, just removed, checked, cleaned and refitted.

All components throughly cleaned and polished, the seat post, stem and handlebars given a fresh coat of Black enamel paint and the super red frame polished and waxed with our favourite rennaissance Wax!! Absolutely the best wax, we love this stuff, real lustre!


Now for the best part, Refit time! New cables, thumb shifters cleaned as they were sticking, brakes and wheels fitted and adjusted, the crankset fitted with repaired left crank (helicoil), 7 speed chain, Deraillieur and mech fitted and adjusted, tempary fitting of cheap pedals until better ones come available ( seem to be low on retro stock), freshly painted stem, seatpost and handlebars with new grips (our own generic ones) all fitted and ready for a test ride!


The red paintwork looks good with the Black painted components contrasting well and with just the right amount of polished alloy (bling) we think.


The Specialized black 26 inch rims look good too, highlighted by the Tanwall tyres.




Pretty good for a 2 day rebuild or therabouts, normally a resto/rebuild would be in the workshop for at least a week or more.


Super pleased with the end product and another Vintage Specialized brought back to life and ready for its new custodian, I love this job, real satisfaction.

if interested in this Retro gem or any other of our Retro Mtb offerings, take a look at our shop and check out the Retro Mtb listings.



Next Project will be a Commuter rebuild on a Aluminium Revolution Pathfinder! Between customer Repairs and servicing of course........Ash at Bike Barn workshop.





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