Specialized Rockhopper SL 2010 Mountain bike Review – Hardtail

Basic Hardtail Bike

Specialized Rockhopper is a popular brand name that has a strong presence in the mountain bike market for more than two decades. It is known for its solid frame design and quality of ride. Though this market is filled with full suspension bikes, hardtail bikes are still preferred by most beginners and intermediate riders who want to upgrade to full suspension bikes after gaining good riding skills in hardtail.

Specialized Rockhopper SL is a new hardtail mountain bike that has a fresh facelift and many changes that is sure to impress the riders. It is a well known fact that specialized engineer their bikes keeping in mind a perfect balance between quality and looks. It is a great foundation for freshers to start, with one of the best designed Rockhopper XC bike frame. This SL 2010 version is the current line of Rockhopper bikes and is a basic hardtail model, which is reasonably light and affordable.

Popular Frame Design

This specialized bike is made with an M4 fully manipulated alloy frame and comes with 100 mm travel. Its unique frame design flawlessly defines the backbone strength by intelligently built down tube that originates from the headset with a meticulous clean shape. It is not a straight down tube. Rather, the upper end is well built with a rectangular shaped cross section which is neatly bent to form straight down tube that comes down towards bottom brocket shell. The top tube also accompanies the full frame structure that has a slightly curved design.

Riding Performance

This hardtail bike is built to work harder when it encounters bumpy rides and it adjusts well to handle the balance. It is slightly heavier than a recreational XC bike and its weight is a great advantage. This gives good pedalling response with acceleration agility on trail. It all depends on the rider’s ability to handle the bike and this Rockhopper SL would obey your rules based on how you ride.

This cross country is a faster bike and the 100mm of travel can be fully utilized when you put the weight forward while driving. Let the rear end follow without impeding the forward progress. The light weight alloy frame would help you to control the speed on rougher trails and it lets you to easily navigate through them. All this is possible because this XC mountain bike has wide bars, fitted with suitable travel fork and nicely arranged frame design.

Valuable Equipment

This Rockhopper SL model comes with a Dart 3 front fork and hydraulic disc brakes. The fork is made with coil shock, which works best for the specific weight of the rider. This specialized mountain bike has detailed frame design along with intelligently built chainstays and seatstays, which provide trials of bolder tyres and enough mud clearance. It has good stopping power with hydraulic disc brakes and this cross country bike brings the rear wheel to halt during eccentric/ erratic driving conditions. It is featured with a 9 speed drivetrain.

Rockshox Dart 3 is a basic and entry level fork that does its job well and is suitable for cross country style rides. Rockhopper is also available with Air shocks but in the higher end model, which is expensive. If you could stretch your budget you can also try Tora SLite fork with Avid hydraulic disc, which is available in the next model Rockhopper SL Comp at an additional cost of £100. The shifter though of average performance is worth it. This mountain bike has achieved good reputation in ‘dirty dozen test’ and gives an excellent riding experience.

Hardtail Bike for Beginners and Intermediates

This XC bike would be a great experience for those beginners who like to start their MTB sports. It would definitely help them improve their riding ability and provide a platform for transforming from hardtail to full suspension mountain bike later in their riding experience. This Specialized Rockhopper SL bike has an average component setup and performs at its best level, which gives true value for what you pay.

For beginners the bike would give a good ride and need no immediate upgrades, but for intermediates, this bike would require marginal upgrades. If you have several years of hardtail bike riding experience and if you are in the verge of trying full suspension bike- this bike is not for you. You must try Specialized Stumpjumper FSR full suspension mountain bike.

Bike Upgrades

This Specialized bike frame is light and strong. Enough for future upgrades which is easy to execute and cost-effective too. The fully butted alloy frame has good agility and performance, which satisfies all the needs of a recreational XC rider. For Intermediate riders, you must put bolder tyres and tubes along with Crankbros clip pedals in order to manage hard trail rides. You must mainly consider fork, crankset, rims, brakes and shifters for future upgrades in this Rockhopper SL basic model. After upgrades the bike would give you a better ride. Do not push this bike too hard on bumpy trails. You will end up replacing almost every component in it if you do so. This mountain bike is not meant for serious riders.

Rockhopper Variants

Specialized Rockhopper hardtail bike is available in four variants such as SL, SL Comp, SL Expert and SL Pro. The most important difference among the four variants is the front fork, hydraulic disc brake and rim. All the variants use the same M4 fully manipulated alloy frame. The basic Rockhopper SL bike starts with £700.

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