08 Rockhopper Comp Disc

llamafarmer

So somehow after the Christmas madness I seem to still have a little bit of money left and a burning desire for a new bike.

I can't quite decide between being sensible and sticking to a budget of about £550 or splashing out a bit and going for the £750 mark. I've long been tempted by a Cannondale F4, but this Rockhopper has really got my attention recently:

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.SPECIALIZED-Rockhopper-Comp-Disc-Mountain-Bike-2008-Hardtail-MTB_13111.htm

I'm about 5'6" and do mostly weekend XC riding, so I'm looking for a good all rounder that can blitz the hills and give me some fun on the singletrack in my local woods and on trips to Wales. I don't tend to destroy bikes, so I'd prefer lightweight to a trail bruiser.

Does anyone have any feedback on this bike? Particularly on the forks as that's probably the thing I know the least about!

I'm hoping I can get hold of one through Evans Cycles and get a test ride soon!

littleandy0410

Cheaper here: http://cyclestore.co.uk/productDetails.asp?productID=17375

adb1006

You won't go far wrong with a Rockhopper IMO. My mate has the 08 one and it's nice and light, but feels well built. Decent spec too. It has a fairly small distance between seat and bars ("cockpit" is it called???), so would probably suit your frame if you're only 5'6" - It suits me fine and i'm only 5'8" ish.

littleandy0410

Ignore me - just realised the one I posted is the 09, and you were looking at the 08. :oops:

llamafarmer

littleandy0410 wrote:

Ignore me - just realised the one I posted is the 09, and you were looking at the 08. :oops:

I just found your link to that site in another thread. The 09 comp is a good cheaper option at that price (with a lesser spec) or the 09 expert (similar spec to 08 comp it seems) is £706....

More dilemnas!

llamafarmer

adb1006 wrote:

You won't go far wrong with a Rockhopper IMO. My mate has the 08 one and it's nice and light, but feels well built. Decent spec too. It has a fairly small distance between seat and bars ("cockpit" is it called???), so would probably suit your frame if you're only 5'6" - It suits me fine and i'm only 5'8" ish.

What frame size was that mate? I'm thinking I'd need a 15" - I could probably go for 17", but I like a smaller frame.

adb1006

llamafarmer wrote:

adb1006 wrote:

You won't go far wrong with a Rockhopper IMO. My mate has the 08 one and it's nice and light, but feels well built. Decent spec too. It has a fairly small distance between seat and bars ("cockpit" is it called???), so would probably suit your frame if you're only 5'6" - It suits me fine and i'm only 5'8" ish.

What frame size was that mate? I'm thinking I'd need a 15" - I could probably go for 17", but I like a smaller frame.

It's a 17" - which is what i have too - although my frame is a Hardrock, not a Rockhopper. A 15" would seem very small i would imagine. My LBS advised me to go for 17 over the 15 and i'm about your height.

RichT1978

Ive got the 08 Comp and its a really good bike.

Forks are good, have not let me down and teh rebound and lock out work well. Geometry is sorted and encourages me to push the limits....

One thing I would say is that I now wish I'd got the cheaper model as I now want to upgrade to a Full Suss and would find it easier to splash out £2k on a bike if I hadnt spent £750 a year ago....so my advise is if there is any chance you going to want to step it up to more aggressive trail riding go budget for now......and go large later on!!!!!

llamafarmer

RichT1978 wrote:

Ive got the 08 Comp and its a really good bike.

Forks are good, have not let me down and teh rebound and lock out work well. Geometry is sorted and encourages me to push the limits....

One thing I would say is that I now wish I'd got the cheaper model as I now want to upgrade to a Full Suss and would find it easier to splash out £2k on a bike if I hadnt spent £750 a year ago....so my advise is if there is any chance you going to want to step it up to more aggressive trail riding go budget for now......and go large later on!!!!!

Thanks for the input mate.

At £580 the 09 comp looks a great compromise.

http://cyclestore.co.uk/productDetails.asp?productID=17375

I'm gonna try and get a test ride at the weekend and weigh it up.

How much better is the Recon SL than the Tora SL anyone? As far as I could make out they have similar features, but the Recon is lighter.

adb1006

llamafarmer wrote:

Thanks for the input mate.

At £580 the 09 comp looks a great compromise.

http://cyclestore.co.uk/productDetails.asp?productID=17375

I'm gonna try and get a test ride at the weekend and weigh it up.

How much better is the Recon SL than the Tora SL anyone? As far as I could make out they have similar features, but the Recon is lighter.

Can't speak for the Recon but my mate's has the Tora which is a nice fork - has adjustable rebound and lockout which is a bonus - gives a decent ride with plenty of travel for XC riding.

littleandy0410

Have you looked on http://www.edinburghbicycle.com ?

If a 17 will fit you, have a look at the non disc version of the 08 rockhopper, it's £339. You could then buy a set of disc brakes for about £100-£150 and have a great bike for £100+ less than what you're looking at.

If you need a 15, I think you're out of luck there.

Northwind

The 09 bikes mostly have some downgrades on the 08, especially in the forks, so watch out- it's not really like for like by name as you might expect. Hoppers seem to run small, I usually take a small or a medium but their small seems tiny to me, low BB maybe as well as the short fork.

The Spiderman

Rockhoppers actually have quite a long top tuBe length relative to their size,so you may find you get enough reach on a smaller frame.

llamafarmer

littleandy0410 wrote:

Have you looked on http://www.edinburghbicycle.com ?

If a 17 will fit you, have a look at the non disc version of the 08 rockhopper, it's £339. You could then buy a set of disc brakes for about £100-£150 and have a great bike for £100+ less than what you're looking at.

I'd also have to buy new hubs to mount the discs. I thought about upgrading my current bike to discs but would have cost me a packet.

Northwind

The Hopper v-brake models I've seen had 6-bolt hubs.

supersonic

The 09 Comp gets a Dart 3. Not a patch on a Tora.

The Spiderman

supersonic wrote:

The 09 Comp gets a Dart 3. Not a patch on a Tora.

The 09 Comp has a Tora .Spec is as last years standard Disc model.(Standard 09 Hopper Disc has a Dart).
You need to go up to the £850 to get a recon or £1k to the Pro to get a Reba on the 09 models.
Basically they have downgraded the spec on the standard,called what was the standard disc model a comp,the comp an expert,and so on.Its all smoke and mirrors to disguise the fact they have hiked the prices,or downgraded the spec at certain price points.

supersonic

Oops, yep, I meant the basic one lol.

The name game is one that Spesh have done for a few years now lol. But the 09 full sussers still look great value.

llamafarmer

With littleandy0410's help it's looking like

'09 Comp is £580
'09 Expert is £700
both at cyclestore.co.uk

Evans have the '08 Disc for £450 with a Tora, which looks an absolute steal if they have my size!
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/rockhopper-disc-2008-mountain-bike-ec001452

littleandy0410

llamafarmer wrote:

littleandy0410 wrote:

Have you looked on http://www.edinburghbicycle.com ?

If a 17 will fit you, have a look at the non disc version of the 08 rockhopper, it's £339. You could then buy a set of disc brakes for about £100-£150 and have a great bike for £100+ less than what you're looking at.

I'd also have to buy new hubs to mount the discs. I thought about upgrading my current bike to discs but would have cost me a packet.

The wheels and frame are both disc-ready on the non-disc RockHopper 08.

Surf-Matt

Have an 08 Rockhopper Disk which Mrs Matt uses - very competent bike that does almost as much as my 07 Stumpjumper Comp.

Solid, dependable and pretty fast. Just need to change the pedals and in our case, we changed the riser bar for a flat one which made it feel a lot more XC orientated.

Carlos13

I have an 08 Disc which as other posters say is equivalent to the 09 Comp. I've been gradually upgrading parts on it, with a view to swapping out the frame for something nicer when I've replaced most of the standard stuff with lightweight or higher performance bits.

However, of late I've been preferring to ride it over my Meta 5.5, been having great fun on it in the dodgy conditions, and so have abandoned plans to get a new frame. With hindsight I would have bought a higher model in the first place, and perhaps not bought the meta.

In short I can't recommend it highly enough, but I haven't owned another hardtail to compare. Only negative is I find the frame scratches easily.

llamafarmer

Well I went into Bristol and tried out an 09 Rockhopper Comp this weekend. The main problem I found was that I seem to be in between frame sizes - the 17" had the right geometry, but very little standover clearance - I could probably live with it, but I think when the going gets a bit tough it would not have filled me with confidence. The 15" was much too small.

I took it for a quick test ride and I loved how fast and responsive it was to a stomp on the pedals and I could imagine having some awesome fun on it on tight, flat singletrack. The downside was that the stiffness of the frame really stood out on anything rough - a little hop off a curb felt VERY hard! I got the feeling that on any tricky rocky decent it would be really skittish.

Having been for a good ride with some mates on Sunday they've very much persuaded me that full sus would be the way forward - I can keep my current bike as a winter hack and push the boat out for something really sweet....

So I'm now thinking an 08 Stumpjumper FSR Comp for £1200.