It was just dumb luck that this worked out so well: I could use my favorite 40x16 gear with a half link chain, no dropout filing required. With my cheap Nashbar touring fork on the front, I could fit 700c wheels and a moderate sized 34mm tire. It makes for a surprisingly fun bike to scoot around on:
Tire clearance is a bit limited in the back. I'm not sure I'll be able to fit a fender in here:
Up front I have my Mary + bar end combo, a really nice setup for a variety of riding:
Speaking of technology used incorrectly, the rear hub is my very nice White Industries ENO eccentric hub... converted back to a regular axle. Maybe I'll re-eccentric this some day:
I took the Rockhopper for a spin today, heading north to some still undeveloped areas in Jerome Village. I found an old, rough road, gracelessly hopping over logs on my fixed gear until I came to this quiet pond:
Maybe a nice camping spot, but I'm not sure if it's on private land or not. The road petered out shortly after this, and I had to turn around and head back.
The Rockhopper WAS my old around town bike, but this change was enable because I rebuilt my VO Polyvalent back into a city bike:
I stripped the VO down shortly after building it. I was a bit underwhelmed by the ride, and I wanted to use the 650b wheels on my Raleigh, and I had a buyer for the frame. But the 650b wheels didn't work out on the Raleigh, the buyer backed out, and I rebuilt it back almost to how I had it the first time. The only change this time was Surly Open bars in place of the Marys, now on the RH:
If the Rockhopper isn't the best bike for a mostly street 700c fixed gear, the VO is pretty darn designed to be a city bike. I need to give it a fair chance to see if I warm up to it.
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