Dans Specialized Hardrock.... STOLEN!

Farno

Really great thread mate, you're an inspiration to all of us wanna be upgraders

Did you have much mechanical experience (and importantly, tools!) before you started doing all of this?

And just a quick question about the wheels, did you notice much of an upgrade with them? Do you think it'd be worth upgrading factory ones, even if nothing is wrong with them! I'd imagine there was a bit of a weight difference between old and new too.

Dan Dare

gezzs wrote:

Interesting read. Thanks. I've just ordered a 2011 Hardrock Disc - same idea as you - try it and upgrade if I like it. Good to read about the parts you changed.

Enjoy!

whistleblower wrote:

A nice looking biike and the continuous upgrades are great. I would be looking to upgrade my bike later this month. The things that I am planning on upgrading would be the pedals for the time being. Perhaps next year I would replace other things.

Farno wrote:

Did you have much mechanical experience (and importantly, tools!) before you started doing all of this?

And just a quick question about the wheels, did you notice much of an upgrade with them? Do you think it'd be worth upgrading factory ones, even if nothing is wrong with them! I'd imagine there was a bit of a weight difference between old and new too.

Cheers folks With regard to mechanical expeience, yes I do have a fair bit but as I do lot of work on my own car, and as such I have amassed a large range of tools over the years. However the majority of the tools I have are useless for the bike I've bought the tools I needed as the jobs came up, so far the tools I have had to buy are a chain whip, cassette removal tool, crank arm puller and a bottom bracket removal tool. The bike is so much easier to work on than a car. I have no fear with taking it apart (even if I have no idea how I'll get it back together) as it's all pretty straight forward.

With regards to the wheel upgrade, yes there probably was a slight difference in weight but the main reason I changed them was because the bearings on the original wheels were pretty poor and failing, the new wheels have cartridge bearings which are much smoother IMO. They also look much nicer 8)

Latest addition is some Nomic ergo lock on grips from Superstar, I changed to these as I was getting some pain in my palms. So far they seem to be helping with this.

andy46

lovely bike you've got there, really nice job 8)

makes me wish i'd never sold mine

sold my 2009 sport (lovely white and red) to a lad at work in april and he's not even ridden it yet!!

i may get it back one day

keep up the good work

Valy

Nice read.

Resonates with me as I had a Hardrock Comp '10. I got all the tools along the way too, though I did not upgrade as such, more replacing the chain/cassette, brake pads and a new chainset because I bent the crank on the old one. Oh and yeah - two new rear wheels (latter never having the chance to wear out as the bike got nicked) and a couple of pairs of slicks. My forks also had a crack in the lower bits, so the shop replaced them, the bad thing being that I had to wait 3 weeks *weeps*.

:P

rockmonkeysc

You have made some nice mods to your Hardrock, pretty much the same major mods as I have done to mine, RS Tora forks & Juicy 3 brakes & quality flat pedals, they made a huge difference and some better tyres than the original crap also heps. The only other mod I have made which made a surprising difference was fitting an external BB and Deore crank set.
Specialized do fit some nasty components but it is a good bike for upgrading, mine rides really nice now. I was planning on selling mine when I got my Trance X but it is nice to have a hardtail as well as a fs bike.
I plan to keep upgrading my hardrock. Bars & stem next and maybe some spd pedals and it will get the mavic wheels from my trance when I get new wheels for that.

Nice Hat

Great read , pic n video links cheers for posting. The dragons back trail looks like deffo trail to go n ride, hopefully another 1 on the list for next year, looks super smooth with plenty of pop off's

Nice to see you are having a go at changing the parts yourself and giving tips on what/what not to do, deffo save a few £ doing bits youreslf & leaves good feeling when it all works out.

First bike I bought was a spec hardrock with v-brakes, until I pimped it up a bit adding disks n various bits, the bike was almost indestructible. Then moved onto spec rockhopper & now into the overly priced full suss carbon range.

If you care to share any of your pic's, vid links please feel free to post them FREE onto http://mtbguisborough.ning.com/

Best regards Nice Hat :0)

Dan Dare

Cheers for the comments guys

little did I know when I bought my Spesh in August 2009 just how much I would enjoy mountain biking, but it really has become a big part of my life. My Hardrock has served me well, I've learned so much this last year both about riding and bike maintenance, plus I've had my fair share of near misses and of course crashes and injuries Anyway, I've been looking at full suspension bikes for ages now, always liked the look of the Lapierre Zesty so today I decided to go over to Twelve50 bikes in Frodsham to take a look at a 2011 314. I wasn't disappointed, so much so that even though I wasn't planning on getting one just yet, I bought it!!

Valy

Me, jelling? Nooooh, not me... not way.
_________________________________
DAMN - absolutely awesome! Excellent bike!

Is that the 2011 version?

MountainMonster

Hardrock's looking but, the lapierre just tops it on insane levels.

Congrats on the purchase. Gotta love them impulse buys!

joshtp

Iv always liked the zesty... but that new one is simply stunning!

andy46

Zesty looks really really nice 8)

Are you keeping the Hardrock? Wish i kept mine now :roll:

Dan Dare

Thanks for the comments, I'll be starting a new thread for the Zesty in a minute

andy46 wrote:

Are you keeping the Hardrock? Wish i kept mine now :roll:

That's the thing, my brother wants it off me (at a very low price) as I said if I ever got a new bike I'd offer it to him. Now I have a new bike I'm not sure what to do as he'll only be using the Hardrock to get to work and I have a feeling it will get zero maintenance and end up looking very sorry for itself I've put a lot into it over the last year, and like my car and my first guitar I'm not sure I can ever let it go! If I do end up giving it to him I'll make it clear that if he doesn't look after it I'll be taking it back

The Zesty got a bit of mud on it today anyway 8)

Valy

Mugards man, gotta get some.

*puts on fire retardant suit*

andy46

Dan Dare wrote:

andy46 wrote:

Are you keeping the Hardrock? Wish i kept mine now :roll:

That's the thing, my brother wants it off me (at a very low price) as I said if I ever got a new bike I'd offer it to him. Now I have a new bike I'm not sure what to do as he'll only be using the Hardrock to get to work and I have a feeling it will get zero maintenance and end up looking very sorry for itself I've put a lot into it over the last year, and like my car and my first guitar I'm not sure I can ever let it go! If I do end up giving it to him I'll make it clear that if he doesn't look after it I'll be taking it back

i know what you mean, mine went to a mate at work cheap in April and he's only ridden it once!!

now it's just sitting there doing nothing, a waste of a good bike after i rode it regular but looked after it really well

Dan Dare

This bike was STOLEN from my brothers shed in Gosport at some point last night so keep a look out in the Portsmouth area!

Darkstalker420

Sorry to hear your old Hardrock was stolen . My girlfriends bike was pinched a while back (a "souped" up BSO) but they kind of become one of the family after a while! :roll: . Hope they catch the barstewards and nice new ride mate.

Thanks.