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1999 Hardrock FS Help

2K views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  dotcommunism 
#1 ·
Hello everyone. I recently bought a 1999 Specialized Hardrock FS that was basically in brand new condition off of Craigslist, close to 10 years after it was bought. A rich lady got pregnant a week before she bought the bike, used it for a week, and hung it up in her garage. Long story short, I saw her ad and bought it. It's a 21 speed with the grip shifts and Rock Shox Jett fork, stock everything.

Anyways, I got it tuned up before I personally rode it, and it's starting to act up only three weeks of normal use by not changing gears, not letting me pick certain gears, inability to change gears right away, etc... this is starting to become a hazard in all honesty. Further, I'm not even sure the bike shop even touched it as the bike looked brand new, or if the cables stretched. I just don't know.

I figure since I want to replace the grip shifts to the rapidfire kind, I might as well try to replace the front and back derailleurs as well... If I can do it for cheap. Say like $80 after shipping. I'd like to not spend a lot of money on this project as I bought the bike for $90, and I just use it to tool around my large university.

Anyone have any recommendations as to what parts I should buy?
 
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#3 ·
Okay. I guess I should just bring it back to the bike shop for them to re-tune it. As far as the shifters go, I really just dislike the grip shift style as I have rapid fires on my bike back home... I'm just 600 miles away from it.

Thanks for the reply. I've been to Oneonta many times, my buddy goes to Heartwick.
 
#5 ·
Berkley said:
If it's never been ridden, then there shouldn't be anything wrong with the derailleurs or shifters. For $80 you'll be hard-pressed to get a decent set of shifters/derailleurs.
I disagree--it doesn't have to be an upgrade, it sounds like the OP just doesn't like the style of shifters. eBay is probably full of people selling off their old trigger style shifters for top of the line stuff. You can score a bottom of the line shimano trigger fire set and be happy. The key is to find a bike shop you trust to charge a fair fee for installing them. Ask around and get recommendations and you should be able to be happy. Also, try adjusting the der. before getting a new one. Most new bikes need to be sent back to the shop after the cables stretch. The biggest symptom of this is gears skipping.
 
#6 ·
Berkley said:
Your buddy doesn't happen to ride, does he? If so, I may know him - we ride with a couple guys from Hartwick.
No, my buddy does not ride. Actually, I'm originally from Syracuse NY but I go to school at another OSU, but it's Ohio State University :)

Great idea joejakk. I will look on ebay for parts. I don't know why I didn't think of that.

I'll go in tomorrow afternoon to the bike shop and ask them to readjust the cables. It's fair to ask them to do it for free if they charged me for a tune-up less then three months ago, right?
 
#7 ·
dude, awesome!

I recommend Handybikes
2489 N. High St., a block or two below Hudson

ask for Chris and tell him the guy with the new white rockhopper and Mavic rims sent you (he complimented my bike). He just installed my fork for me and did it fast and cheap. I sent a few bikes there and they never suggested anything I didn't need, be it parts or labor, they just fixed my bike, like a bike shop is supposed to do. They might even have some shifters in stock.
 
#8 ·
Haha, cool joejakk... nice to see you're from Ohio, and I take it Columbus? I took my bike the first time to Bike Source at their Dublin store as I just moved here and had no idea there was one down the street from campus. I'm going to go to them first to see if they'll re-adjust it for free.... but since you speak highly about Handybikes, I'll just bring it to them from now on.

If you ever want to meet up for a beer, let me know.
 
#9 ·
Well.... Turns out some of the cogs have a deep groove in them not allowing the bike to let the chain slip off them correctly, causing the problems listed in the first post. No idea how this happed at all, but once the guy at the bike shop pointed it out, I could see right away something was wrong.The parts with the desired shifters cost a bunch, around $125 with labor and parts...

So after driving around for a while, riding some kids bike on campus that was a fixed gear bike, I decided to bring my bike over to Chris at Handybikes and he's going to change the bike into a fixed gear. It should be done done tomorrow. Not the direction I thought I'd take this morning thinking I just needed cables tightened up, but I'm flexible and was toying with the idea for a while. I don't go off the pavement, travel on the stock Rock Shock Jett is minimal, and I really won't have to worry about getting it tuned up or anything like that. I'm excited to see the end result. I'm not sure what Chris has in store for me as I left it up to him, but I'll let him work his magic.
 
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