neo_pop_71

What era Rockhopper are you talking about? The Rockhopper has been around since the 80’s, does the frame have a 1″ or 1 1/8th” head tube? Are you after a threaded or threadless steer tube?

Give us the details and we can let ‘ya know.

Cheers to a fine build!

-D-

that is such a cool bike and that name is awesome.

I saw those rims doing my search. I decided to go a little new school on the rims and just pulled the trigger on some ceramin cross max. I think they come in under 1600g and I really wanted a black and white rim to go woth this frame.

Nice call on the Cross Max wheels! My buddy is a svelte 150 pound racer, to this day he still swears by Cross Max wheels and that’s all he races on. The strength to weight ratio is better than amy other set of wheels based on the abuse he generates. I wish I had his lungs, his stamina, and his speed! I won’t even ride with him anymore because I know I’m getting dropped, gotta salvage some pride! The guy is hard core, he has climbed half of the 8 great peaks in the world. For his full training session on Sunday mornings he climbs Mt. San Antonio (aka Mt. Baldy), it’s a full day with 3 different trails to the summit with 10,000 foot elevation gain. He does 3 mini sessions each week consisting of an 8 mile trail run with 4,000 foot elevation gain in about an hour (not counting the decent back to the trailhead), it’s a trail raced every year since 1965 called “Run To The Top” that ends at the summit of 10,064 feet.

Thanks! That Area 51 is pretty special, it was a custom one off CX bike that I bought from the racer who commissioned the build. All the AREA 51 bikes were built to be an affordable in to the track market, all the frames were track frames. That is to say, all but mine, mine is the only cyclocross frame as it was custom ordered from John Knox himself. It is basically the same as the track frames, but mine was custom built using long horizontal Campagnolo dropouts. Each and every frame was built by John Knox around 1999/2000 using NOS Columbus tubing (Aelle with Thron stays) supplied by Euro-Asia Imports. They supplied John with 50 to 75 sets of tubing and he developed the name, graphics, and paint colors. Eventually, as all good things must end, AREA 51 slipped away into history. The story doesn’t end there, Euro-Asia original interest/plan to build affordable track frames would come full circle, hence the modern BAREKNUCKLE track frame is an extension of AREA 51. The two projects only share frame purpose, as BAREKNUCKLE frames are built in Italy and John Knox has basically disappeared. If you have some free time and want to see some amazing stuff, check out E.A.I. site, there’s a link below:

http://www.euroasiaimports.com/

For example… go to “frames” and then go to “road” and there you can pick out a NOS Cinelli Supercorsa frameset in any one of 12 color options. Who on the planet has that??? E.A.I. does and so much more, it’s goes so far beyond NOS, it’s like paradise for the C&V crowd! They even have NOS vintage Campagnolo bike shop tools sets with every Campy tool, your choice of English, French, or Italian specific. I heard they made a few Campy sets available last year to preferred customers, they were reported to have offered them at the 1988 original sale price of $10,000.00. I’d hate to think what the current asking price is on one of those Campy tool sets… OUCH!!!

All that is a side note Big V., Ron did not specify SPOX, he only stated Spinergy wheels… as I have no faith in carbon fiber… especially 15+ year old carbon fiber wheels… Ron, what Spinergy wheels are you talking about going on the Spooky?

If you are talking about the Spinergy Rev-X carbon blade wheels, please Google search “Spinergy Failure”

Please keep in mind that the image I’ve attached is very mild with little carnage. I watched a set of Rev-X literally go away in front of me (back in the day) during a Clydesdale NORBA race. I was coming up on a lapped rider, he was riding an AMP B-4 with Rev-X wheels (both the B-4 & Rev-X are intended for light weight riders) and this guy was easily 250 pounds. His front got crossed up with the rear in a divot… “Creek” “Ping” “Pop” and the derailleur snapped as his B-4 looked like a soggy noodle… “Crack” “Crack” “Crack” and his rear Rev-X gave way under the lateral pressure and he and the bike balled up into a mess. I stirred hard right and did a bunny hop over his front wheel and continued on. When I came back around on my next lap the med-techs were scratching their heads as to whether or not to pull out the broken carbon blade that had impaled his thigh. Yes, he was plus size and way too big to be riding that set up but that’s the way it was and everyone did that… so, be aware that a used set of Rev-X wheels that gave been “sitting for years” may have been stressed to catastrophic failure potential by some chubby dude that had no business riding them in the first place. To that I add, for the last 10 years every “Fixie” kid has wanted a carbon wheel on his “whip” so keep that in mind too!