Upgrading a Specialized Hotrock

felix.london

I've recently moved to the French Alps and got back into mountain biking in a big way after 20 years out the saddle. The terrain here is pretty harsh to say the least and I want to start servicing, repairing & upgrading my bike myself rather than giving all that money to the LBS.

The project : My daughter has an old Specialized Hotrock w/ 24" tyres and for me to learn my way around fixing a bike again and at the the same time upgrading here bike so it's a bit more capable for this part of the world I want to do just that - upgrade her bike with better forks, brakes, shifters, wheels(?), stem, bars, seatpost & pedals etc.

So I am looking for any help for where to source parts (new, cheap or used) and what components are available for the little bike i.e. would I need smaller disc rotors for the smaller wheels, The RST fork isn't great - should I go for an air sprung fork etc etc.

Any help with this project will much appreciated and I will post pictures as I progress. I'm basically looking to pimp her bike and make it something that will last so I can pass it on to my son in a few years.

Cheers.

nicklouse

so which Hot rock is it? year? so we know what we have to start with.

felix.london

I think it's a 2004..it's a girls model size 10. It has RST forks, Revo gripshift shifters & a Cane Creek headset. The drive train is a basic Shimano setup.

Cheers.

nicklouse

so V brakes on it now.

and it is only a 51mm travel fork

service the fork and fit better V's.

felix.london

Yep - V brakes now. Upgrading V brakes might be the most sensible option but it will hardly test my skills at upgrading my own disc brakes when the time comes. My bike building skills were honed in the early 90s i.e. no disc brakes & no suspension (at least not in my price category ). Can I upgrade the RST's myself? - do they have springs inside?

Thanks.

Chunkers1980

Yes and of course they do. Why change the spring? A service would do as nick says.

Chunkers1980

Oh and there's no skill in up dating to discs. All you need is a bike with the correct fitments, and buy brakes to fit those fitments and bolt on - that's it.

nicklouse

felix.london wrote:

Yep - V brakes now. Upgrading V brakes might be the most sensible option but it will hardly test my skills at upgrading my own disc brakes when the time comes. My bike building skills were honed in the early 90s i.e. no disc brakes & no suspension (at least not in my price category ). Can I upgrade the RST's myself? - do they have springs inside?

Thanks.

if you want to fit discs to her bike buy a new bike.

the frame will not take discs the fork will not take discs and the wheels will not.
fitting a disc ready fork will mess the bike up as there are none suitable with only 51mm of travel.

felix.london

OK - got it. New V brakes it is!

Thanks

felix.london

The RST fork has disc brake mounts and a cable guide. Maybe I got the year wrong.

Anyway - any advice on what disc ready wheel (24" ready-built) to buy and what brakes to get would be useful.

Thanks.

apreading

I think you are on a hiding to nothing by trying to do this on a 24" bike.

There will be limited parts available in that size, which means what is available will be a compromise and probably more expensive.

If you want to change the drivechain i.e gears and derailleurs etc then that may be worth upgrading, but other than that I would learn how to service the parts that are on it, but I wouldnt bother chaning anything that isnt broken.

felix.london

Thanks for the advice.

mac_man

Maybe consider a 2nd hand bike? How tall is she? marin do bikes in 14" frames which is fine for people around 5'.

I got a Marin 08 Juniper Trail for my Mrs - great spec and only £320 2nd hand. Disc brakes, decent 100mm fork, 26" wheels, 27 speed gears etc.

Just a thought

felix.london

was thinking that but really wanted a little project for the winter and it'd be a pretty cool bike to pimp out! Found a set of blingy wheels on Superstar Components for £150 - fully built & disc ready. Gold hubs/gold rims anyone? - think I'd go for the black hubs/white rims actually - a little more classy I reckon...

diy

I'm currently looking at the options on taking a s/xs framed adult 26" bike and fitting 24" disc wheels to it for my oldest's next bike. It may require shorter cranks, but my thinking is kids tend to go through 24" bikes fairly quickly and s/xs frame adult bikes tend to go cheap because they have a limited market.

bails87

felix.london wrote:

Found a set of blingy wheels on Superstar Components for £150

24 inch?

felix.london

yep

http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_ ... cts_id=423

nicklouse

felix.london wrote:

yep

http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_ ... cts_id=423

great a heaver DJ wheels set. Poor girl. the bike is going to he worse to ride than it was before. you have 1.2kg of rims there, and then you will need some really wide tyres to suit.

But it does depend on which Subrosa rims they are as there have been a few and the info on SS webby is very very sparse.

felix.london

hmm, good point...