Advice please: Bring 10yr old bike into 2008!

[Justin Fox]

Hi all,

I recently found an old 1997 Specialized Hardrock under the house and it's currently being serviced to be road worthy again.



I've been doing a lot of research on here (loving the forums and this community btw). Despite a few people letting me know it's a classic, I'm not particularly precious about keeping it as it is and I'm toying with the idea of modifying this old bike for the fun of it.

It'll be used primarily for fitness, mainly on the road rather than off but I'd be tempted to do a little off roading in it too. Nothing nuts, no massive airs, drops, or anything like that at all.

What I'd ultimately like to do is:
- A strip and respray
- Front shocks and disc brake upgrade for front only

I'm happy with the gear on it. I actually like the grip shift and it's still working great.

Now, a few technical questions then. Can I simply buy a 2nd hand front disc wheel, 2nd hand front shocks and disc set-up or am I dreaming and it's a LOT harder than this?

I assume there are going to be some major issues perhaps around the stem as I can already see that I am using an old school one piece stem and it seems all of you are now using 2 piece stems, so I assume a different system.

The technical specifications of my bicycle are:
Frame & Fork
Frame Construction TIG-welded
Frame Tubing Material Chromoly main triangle/hi-tensile steel rear stays
Fork Brand & Model SBC Top Gun
Fork Material Triple-clamp
Rear Shock Not applicable

Components
Component Group Unspecified
Brakeset Shimano brakes, aluminum levers
Shift Levers Grip Shift MRX-170
Front Derailleur Shimano AceraX top-swing, bottom-pull/clamp-on 31.8 mm
Rear Derailleur Shimano Alivio
Crankset SBC Strongarm Sport, 24/34/42 teeth
Pedals Resin
Bottom Bracket Shimano
BB Shell Width 68mm English
Rear Cogs 7-speed, 11 - 28 teeth
Chain 1/2 x 3/32"
Seatpost Aluminum micro-adjust, 30.4 mm diameter
Saddle SBC Softlite Super
Handlebar SBC aluminum
Handlebar Extensions Not included
Handlebar Stem SBC Fast Fit
Headset 1 1/8" threadless

Wheels
Hubs Front: SBC aluminum quick release, Rear: Shimano cassette, Q/R
Rims Weinmann 519, 36-hole
Tires 26 x 1.95" Specialized Hardrock'R
Spoke Brand Stainless steel, 2.0mm straight gauge
Spoke Nipples Brass nipples

Any help would really be appreciated!!!

[Rik]

Spend as little on it as possible.
This is coming from someone that has way too much interest in retro bikes, it'd be OK to throw $75-$150 at it to get working smoothly but any more is a waste.

[Plow King]

You sure that's been sitting under your house? That thing looks like its in insane condition...

Judging by the picture... It looks like all you need is a new chain, new cassette and some new tyres and tubes. Looks like you're good to go.

[hidesy]

yes thats rite it is that simple, regarding putting new forks a and a disc brake on.. al you need to do is buy:
fork
disc specific front wheel
front disk brake
stem and handle bar

witch you could all get from the for sale section on farkin from around 300ish depending on the spec.

to change the front end you will have to ditch the old stem because the more modern forks wont work with that stem

hope it helps

[exvitermini]

I'd harzard a guess that it has a 1 inch steerer tube,where most forks these days are 1 1/8.(meaning your not going to be able to swap any half decent suspension fork onto it)

I'm with rik , keep it factory looking as much as possible and look after it! or sell/give it to someone that will

[AngoXC]

Rik is right mate. The bike is just a little out of date to bring into 2008.

It would pretty much be money wasted if you were to make this your main bike...its better left as like an 'on the side' restoration project'...even then, you wouldnt spend too much on getting it up to speed (new chain, cassette, tyres etc...not much else)...

If you did want to go ahead with the idea, the biggest issue I see is the headtube. The older 1" headtube on your bike restricts you to older forks of that era with the appropriate dia. headtube. These forks by todays standards are nothing flash but you could get lucky.

Just my $0.02 but I think your money is better spent on say a new bike.

[Ty]

Personally i'd try to keep it correct to the period as possible but still with some good parts.

set of orignal z.1 bombers, some Parrallel style V'brakes and a low rise riser bar just to make the old NORBA geo a bit more trail friendly.

and then I reckon some modern tyres (probably the biggest improvment in technology besides suspension since 1997) and then replace parts as they break or wear out.

just another note* gripshift of that era tends to get sloppy, so the switch to triggers may be worth it as they are pretty cheap 2nd hand compared to gripshift

edit, sorry i didn't see the 1 inch threaded steerer, though your spec list suggest it's diferent. the fork might be a bit of a issue.

[AngoXC]

I believe Marzocchi still make one of the MX series forks in a 1" threaded from.
Other then that, you would be restricted to Maniou Machs, RockShox Judy/Quandra and very very old Marzocchis (think DH-3)...

I did however see somewhere a guy had converted the first SID ('98?) to use a pure damper/Motion Control unit thus bringing them up to Team Spec...that used a 1" steerer...

[Justin Fox]

Cheers guys for the feedback,

The specs I gathered from the web do suggest that it has a 1 1/8 steerer, could be wrong though.

The feedback has given me more to chew on though for sure, cheers! Really looking forward to trying new tyres now!

[stabbsy]

hmm, just looking but i could be wrong i always thought that a quill stem was used with a 1 inch steerer, so that could bring some hassle in the fork and stem department, but these things pop up often enough on here and on the trusty ebay, you just have to know what you are looking for.