This time with drops!
I just cant say no to these Rockhoppers it seems.
First things first, a deep clean. the rims had never been cleaned so got the full surgical spirit treatment so it would actually stop on command. Headset and BB replaced with Tange sealed bearing units for smooooooth operating, hubs serviced, wheels trued and then onto the fun stuff.
I've wanted to do a drop bar MTB for a while, but rando style rather than the full Tomac. These lovely Nitto randonneur bars fit the bill perfectly. Shiny, slight upsweep, very subtle flare. supremely comfortable, especially when cushioned with some supacaz grips. The tape is Newbaums milled, its soft, but grippy.
Brakes reshod with Koolstop salmons. Always.
Shifting is taken care of by some lovely sunrace friction shifters. The action is micro-ratcheted rather than full friction, so its a lovely positive shift experience, and takes some of the thinking out of it.
The saddle, atop a repainted seatpost to match the repainted stem, is a san marco. Lightly cushioned, but not to an extreme, and with a cutout for long miles.
The other clear nod to comfort is the giant thickslicks. It took me a while to get the pressure right, as they need to be run harder than you expect to not feel soupy, but at about 55psi they are beautifully fast and smooth as butter. Plus you can really lean into the corners; I am a terrible descender thanks to a bad crash in my youth, but even I felt like Valentino Rossi on this thing.
All else is original besides the front derailleur (the original fell foul of a rounded off limiter screw) and the paracord chainstay protection, with some brighter ferrules to make things pop.