Oh no, not another....

nickel

Hardrock I know they're as common as anything around here but I love mine and thought I'd share a few pics of the transition from the stock bike i bought back in July to the bike I have today.

I was seriously bitten by the MTB bug at the start of the summer so decided to buy a 2010 Hardrock Disc, rather confusingly when i picked it up from my LBS i found I had a hardrock pro frame, but the standard disc spec. Apparently Specialized were running out of bikes towards the end of the 2010 model year and were cobbling bikes together from whatever parts they had. Not complaining though, got a much nicer looking frame for no extra cost!
Anyway here's a pic of the bike as it was when I bought it (the VP flat pedals were offered as a free upgrade by my LBS when i said i didnt like stock plastic crappy ones)



Apart from the pedals the only other thing i changed to start with was to get some good quality Avid brake leavers which did help to increase the feel of the budget mechanical discs a little. After a while I also decided to try some SPDs so bought some Shimano M520s and havent looked back since!

However the first major change came when it was my birthday in October, I decided it was time to ditch the Suntour forks as they really were awful and I felt they were holding my riding back. So i got some Tora 302s, i simply couldnt believe the difference they made, it was like riding a different bike! Pic of the new forks:



After this I then decided to try some flat bars and I wanted to get the front end a bit lower and give the bike a slighly 'racier' feeling as cross country riding seems to have ended up being the main type of riding I do, a friend gave me some Ritchey Prolites which I really love, they're quite narrow at 560mm but I've got narrow shoulders so they suit me just fine (only weigh 140g too!) A new exotic stem promptly followed the bars. I also found out at this point i had worn out the chain and cassette because I'd been using the bike that much, so I got a new Sram chain and shimano cassette.





So I assumed at this point that would probably be it for a while, however i got a little carried away and so as an early xmas present from santa I got a new wheelset from Merlin, Mavic XC 717s on XT hubs with DT Swiss spokes, the bike accelerates SO much nicer now. The new wheelset was also quite timely because about a week before I got it i completely buggered the rear wheel doing nothing more than road riding :shock:

Last week I also picked up some Juicy Threes on ebay to finely replace the tektro mechanical discs, they've served me well but I felt as a better rider than I used to be I needed a little more stopping power.

Pics of the bike as it is now:




I've also nicked the saddle from my dad's road bike for the time being to see what a lighter, sleeker saddle feels like. I bought some DMR V8s yesterday as I'm fed up of my SPDs jamming in the snow. I've also taken the big ring off for the time being as I really dont use it.

Current spec:

Frame: Specialized Hardrock Pro 2010
Forks: Rockshox Tora 302 100mm coil.
Bars: Ritchey Prolite Flat bars, 560mm, 5 degree backsweep
Stem: Exotic Meta 25.4mm clamp, 80mm, -6 degree rise
Headset: Stock
Grips: Outland

Front Brake Lever assy: Juicy 3
Front Caliper: Juicy 3
Front disc: G3 160mm
Rear Brake Lever assy:Juicy 3
Rear Caliper: Juicy 3
Rear Disc: G3 160mm
Hoses: Avid


Shifters: Sram x3
Cables: Stock
Front Mech: Shimano Altus
Rear Mech: Sram x4

Seat: Selle Italia
Seat Post: Stock
Seat Post Clamp: Stock

Cranks: Sr Suntour XCT v2
Chainring(s): Sr Suntour (44,32,22)
Chain: Sram PC850
Cassette: Shimano CS HG30 (11-28t)
Pedals: Shimano M520/DMR V8
Bottom Bracket: Stock

Front Wheel:
Rim: Mavic XC717
Spokes: DT Swiss Plain Gauge
Hub: Shimano XT
Tube: Specialized
Tire: Maxxis High Roller XC 2.1

Back Wheel:
Rim: Mavic XC717
Spokes: DT Swiss Plain Gauge
Hub: Shimano XT
Tube: Specialized
Tire: Maxxis High Roller XC 2.1


I hope I haven't bored you all to death with this rather long post!

Cheers

Nick

jakeeeeeee

i'm not bored with your post i found it rather interesting have you ever thought about trying bar-ends ?

ilovedirt

Very nice, you seem to have made some very sensible upgrades there, most people go for bling, personally, i would have upgraded the forks, wheels and brakes first as well, as they're the bits that let the bike down most. Very nice looking bike, treat her well

Chunkers1980

Yeah - you seem to have done the upgrades in a very good order.

Now just wait for a couple of the drive train components to fail and 9 or 10 speed it.

Mind you, next in line for me would be some HTII cranks that should be fine with everything as current.

nickel

cheers for the comments guys

@jakeeeeeee I have tried bar ends but because the bars are only 560mm wide as it is putting bar ends on si mply makes it too narrow, but if i get wider bars at some point in the future I may put some on!

@Chunkers1980 Yup the drivetrain is the next (and probably last!) major upgrade, but as you said im only going to do that when it brakes, i'll probably get a deore chainset and perhaps slx/XT mechs, but i've spent enough money as it is recently :P

Pik n Mix

that looks familiar

make the most o it on the decent trails you have there on your doorstep

jakeeeeeee

i upgraded my wheels first and some new forks should be fitted in the next few days and hopefully some new brakes aswell. these parts tend to make the most difference !