Corey
OverCamping Specialist
Been out of the biking scene for several years now.
I use to have a nice Raleigh 18 speed I bought back in '88, and it served me well for mountain biking Pacific Northwest trails up where I have 4wheeled and camped for years.
Even carried my youngest on the back of it when he was just a baby.
Anyways, I have not ridden in eons, and last week I had set my in dash DVD nav unit to see how it would route me to work.
It guided me down a street about a mile from my work that I normally do not take, and it went right by a shop called Center Cycle of Renton, WA.
I looked them up online then stopped in there later to look at a few I had seen on their website.
I liked the Kona Hoss, as it was made for those over 200 lb, and around the same price range I researched the Specialized Rockhopper Pro.
The latter ways in around 25 lb, the Kona tips the scales at 33 since it is more heavy duty.
I took both the Rockhopper Pro and the Kona Hoss for test drives yesterday.
The Rockhopper was silent and light weight.
The Kona was heavier and noisy.
The Rockhopper Pro just felt better to me.
Not use to double shifting levers, but it is easy to get the hang of it.
The rack I had looked at earlier in the week does not fold down, then we looked at another one that did, but it was flimsy.
One of the sales guys had this burly rack on his hitch that is meant for off road.
Company sold the rights to Thule, and the newer one (his was four years old or so) is lighter weight with some improvements.
The rack folds up against the spare tire when not in use, and when down the door will hit it, but you can pull a pin and lay it down more onto the ground.
Nice!
Door clears it perfectly for accessing my camping gear then.
I had three guy's taking care of me plus two guy's prep the bike.
Manager and two sales guys were great!
They swapped out the tires for Kenda Nevegal kevlar tires (mags rate this tire very high) sized at 2.1, 2.3s are a little big to clear the brakes and frame.
The stock tires were 2.0s, and not beefy like these, and did not have very great reviews.
Got a couple of nice alloy water bottles based on the same technology as my Kleen Kanteen bottles I use at work and in the rig.
Water stays cool lots longer.
Got a nice floor pump with gauge, and the filler you do not have to changed anything to go from Schrader to Presta vales, nice!
I got a Topeak seat bag/toolkit, and instead of getting a mini me tire pump, I went with CO2 after Jeff saw my Powertank setup in the back of the FJ.
They were all digging the roof top tent too.
One CO2 cartridge will fill two mountain bike tires.
Got some spare tubes too to carry in the seat bag, and also got some Finish Line Dry Teflon lube for the chain.
I already had a chain cleaner setup that you put in degreaser and put the chain in and run the chain through a bath to clean it.
2010s are coming out shortly, so they knocked off some for me from the $1.2K price, plus all accessories were 10% off too since I bought it all that day.
The first three pics at the shop I took with my LG Dare cell phone, last three with my Sony digital.
In the future I may look into a 29er, but 36er's are on the horizon after seeing a link from Expo here.
With my summer vacation coming up next month, this bike will see lots of use, as I will be up at Greenwater, WA. camped by a creek, and the whole area up there is mountain bike mecca with both fire roads to blast down, and single track within the forest hidden from vehicle view.
Here is a stock picture used by sites to show the bike.
Links:
Specialized 2009 Rockhopper Pro
Thule T2 2" 2 bike rack (expensive, but the shop was much cheaper than Thules site.
Genuine Innovations Powered Inflation Kit
Extra Big Air refill
Topeak Survival Tool Wedge Pack
Kenda Nevegal 26x2.1" tires
Kendal tires from the shop
Kenda Nevegal reviews
Specialized Airtool Comp floor pump in camo
Kryptonite Kryptoflex 1007 Looped Cable 7' cable (to lock the bike to the rack)
Few odds and ends such as the water bottles and brackets.
I use to have a nice Raleigh 18 speed I bought back in '88, and it served me well for mountain biking Pacific Northwest trails up where I have 4wheeled and camped for years.
Even carried my youngest on the back of it when he was just a baby.
Anyways, I have not ridden in eons, and last week I had set my in dash DVD nav unit to see how it would route me to work.
It guided me down a street about a mile from my work that I normally do not take, and it went right by a shop called Center Cycle of Renton, WA.
I looked them up online then stopped in there later to look at a few I had seen on their website.
I liked the Kona Hoss, as it was made for those over 200 lb, and around the same price range I researched the Specialized Rockhopper Pro.
The latter ways in around 25 lb, the Kona tips the scales at 33 since it is more heavy duty.
I took both the Rockhopper Pro and the Kona Hoss for test drives yesterday.
The Rockhopper was silent and light weight.
The Kona was heavier and noisy.
The Rockhopper Pro just felt better to me.
Not use to double shifting levers, but it is easy to get the hang of it.
The rack I had looked at earlier in the week does not fold down, then we looked at another one that did, but it was flimsy.
One of the sales guys had this burly rack on his hitch that is meant for off road.
Company sold the rights to Thule, and the newer one (his was four years old or so) is lighter weight with some improvements.
The rack folds up against the spare tire when not in use, and when down the door will hit it, but you can pull a pin and lay it down more onto the ground.
Nice!
Door clears it perfectly for accessing my camping gear then.
I had three guy's taking care of me plus two guy's prep the bike.
Manager and two sales guys were great!
They swapped out the tires for Kenda Nevegal kevlar tires (mags rate this tire very high) sized at 2.1, 2.3s are a little big to clear the brakes and frame.
The stock tires were 2.0s, and not beefy like these, and did not have very great reviews.
Got a couple of nice alloy water bottles based on the same technology as my Kleen Kanteen bottles I use at work and in the rig.
Water stays cool lots longer.
Got a nice floor pump with gauge, and the filler you do not have to changed anything to go from Schrader to Presta vales, nice!
I got a Topeak seat bag/toolkit, and instead of getting a mini me tire pump, I went with CO2 after Jeff saw my Powertank setup in the back of the FJ.
They were all digging the roof top tent too.
One CO2 cartridge will fill two mountain bike tires.
Got some spare tubes too to carry in the seat bag, and also got some Finish Line Dry Teflon lube for the chain.
I already had a chain cleaner setup that you put in degreaser and put the chain in and run the chain through a bath to clean it.
2010s are coming out shortly, so they knocked off some for me from the $1.2K price, plus all accessories were 10% off too since I bought it all that day.
The first three pics at the shop I took with my LG Dare cell phone, last three with my Sony digital.
In the future I may look into a 29er, but 36er's are on the horizon after seeing a link from Expo here.
With my summer vacation coming up next month, this bike will see lots of use, as I will be up at Greenwater, WA. camped by a creek, and the whole area up there is mountain bike mecca with both fire roads to blast down, and single track within the forest hidden from vehicle view.
Here is a stock picture used by sites to show the bike.
Links:
Specialized 2009 Rockhopper Pro
Thule T2 2" 2 bike rack (expensive, but the shop was much cheaper than Thules site.
Genuine Innovations Powered Inflation Kit
Extra Big Air refill
Topeak Survival Tool Wedge Pack
Kenda Nevegal 26x2.1" tires
Kendal tires from the shop
Kenda Nevegal reviews
Specialized Airtool Comp floor pump in camo
Kryptonite Kryptoflex 1007 Looped Cable 7' cable (to lock the bike to the rack)
Few odds and ends such as the water bottles and brackets.
