I stumbled upon this bike in a local shop. The shop guy told me it was Specialized but could not say exactly which year or model. He says it was going to be repainted but the owner changed his mind and put it on consignment. So it's solid black, no decals. I didn't think to look for the S/N. Can anyone tell me which model it is from this picture? He wants $950. It is in newish shape. It has many upgraded parts: Box 2 11-speed drivetrain, SRAM DB8 brakes, seat dropper, Alexrims MD 23, XR4 Team Issue tires which he says are in fact tubeless, XPEDO pedals, CBR220 Buklos handlebars, Bontrager seat, the RockShox say they are 100mm travel. I just sent my old hardtail to Goodwill. Getting back to mountain biking. Should I do this or run the other direction?
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2Welcome to Bicycles SE . It’s Possibly a Hardrock or Rockhopper from last 10-15 years. Valuations are out of scope on this site as they are mostly opinions. If the requested price is good relative to a new bike and if you trust the store it might be good value. None of the listed trim is of notable quality but as a complete bike it looks well put together. – Warren Burton Feb 25 '24 at 09:04
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5Not sure if its the angle of repose, but that fork looks bent backward. The stanchions should be parallel to the head tube and it looks knocked back in the photo. I'd pass on this and the whole bike shop if they can't spot a crash-damaged fork. Or its fine and the camera is lying to us. – Criggie Feb 25 '24 at 18:48
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2@Criggie Looks like some wide-angle trickery, judging how much deeper and wider the front wheel appears towards the left of the image. All-in-all too many question marks based on the information available. I can't judge if the upgraded parts make the bike so much better but the price is in the range of new 2024 Rockhoppers, just saying... – DoNuT Feb 26 '24 at 07:02
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1@DoNuT good point - Its definitely worth commenting on though. – Criggie Feb 26 '24 at 07:19
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1@Criggie Absolutely. My guess is that a "fisheye anomaly" would rather make the whole fork appear curved than just a singular bend exactly at its weak point, so maybe it's not just that. Looking at 2000-2010s Rockhoppers, the wheel-downtube clearance also looks pretty tight and somehow off. So, perhaps it was some kind of cold-forming trail/wheelbase modification, indeed. – DoNuT Feb 26 '24 at 07:29
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1Thanks for the info! Yes, I believe what you're seeing is the "fisheye" phenomenon. The bike was straight when I test drove it. No worries there. The tires are a little fatter than standard issue, I think. And it did rub the inside of the fork at the top during the test ride. But I think that was just an adjustment thing. But at the end of the day I think I'll pass on it. The drivetrain is no longer supported by Box. And I'm not crazy about tire clearance and the fact that they are tubeless. – Michael Feb 29 '24 at 02:15
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1@Michael I generally am suspicious of change and stay old school until I'm all but forced to change. Going tubeless was one such transition. Then running those tubeless tires with pressures in the high teens. Took some time and serendipity to get me here. On the trail, tubeless tires and low pressures make such a dramatic difference in performance and confidence that describing it as a "game changer" is not marketing fluff. Tubeless systems on a mountain bike is a very good thing. – Jeff Mar 03 '24 at 21:14
1 Answers
The bike in your photo has internal cable routing which was first seen in Specialized Rockhoppers in MY 2021. (BTW, the cables on the bike in the photo are crazy long messing up any clean look afforded by internal routing). Other aspects of your frame like the zero stack head tube, the triangular top tube and how it comes together with the down tube at the head tube, and how the seat and chain stays terminate at the rear dropout are all consistent with a Rockhopper frame of the last couple of model years.
Besides the addition of the dropper seat post, I question the adjective "upgrade" in describing the parts you mention. They're definitely not stock options but neither are they more than mid-range quality. This is squarely in the realm of opinion, but those parts don't conjure up excitement.
Your quoted price is consistent with the range of prices seen online for '21-'23 MY Rockhoppers. Note, however, that today, for between $750-1000 (price difference reflects different components outfitted to essentially the same frame), one can have a brand new Rockhopper that carries a lifetime warranty on the frame and other perks. See Specialized's webpage of the current line of the Rockhopper.
Given these facts, including the requested price of the bike in your photo, my opinion is that far better options exist to purchase a bike similar to the one in the photo. That one is not a good deal at that price under the given circumstances.
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