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SAM BENEDICT: Welcome to SBCU.
We're going to talk about the Rockhopper, a true mountain
bike trail performance hardtail.
This bike has been part of the Specialized family for many
years, has been under so many different riders, and
continues to be an integral part of the Specialized line,
because this is where you really get
into mountain biking.
All right, so what does trail performance mean?
Well, this bike's going to be ridden out in the dirt.
There's logs, there's rocks, there's jumps, there's things
out there, and you have to be able to attack those things
with confidence, roll over them, jump off them, do
whatever you want to do, and be really confident about that
you're going to be able to go home safely.
So what we're first going to talk about is the geometry.
This is trail geometry, means that we have a slack head-tube
angle for a hardtail, which means you're going to have a
nice roomy wheelbase, and going to be able to control
those high speed jumps, and logs, and bumps,
and things like that.
Nice roomy top-tube, so you're going to have a true mountain
bike fit, and a low bottom bracket, but not too low.
You want the bike to be able to change directions pretty
darn quick as you're going from turn to turn or avoiding
certain things or people out on the trail.
And the last part is the chain-stays here.
So these chain-stays are going to be just a wee bit shorter
than you would find on a little bit
more entry-level bike.
It's going to make the bike a little bit quicker, a little
bit snappier handling bike, which again all adds up to fun
out on the trail.
The second thing we want to talk about is how the geometry
has been adopted for 29-inch wheels.
Now, 29-inch wheels have not been around forever, but
they're great for mountain biking, because they offer
stability, they roll over bumps really easy, and they
hold their momentum very well.
Now, stability is super important when you're getting
out there on the trail bikes, because there's rocks, there's
logs, there's bumps.
And you're going to be going pretty fast, so you want the
bike to hold its line and stay planted,
so the super important.
Rolling over things, you're going to smash into things.
Sometimes it's a curb, sometimes it's a rock,
sometimes it's a squirrel.
A bigger wheel is going to go over those bump better.
You're going to be way more confident on the bike.
And the last thing is holding your momentum.
Now, even though these bikes aren't the most expensive
bikes out there, that doesn't mean you don't want to go
fast, so once you get up to speed, you want to be able to
hold that momentum.
And the bigger wheel is going to hold the inertia, going to
keep the speed, way more fun like that.
So you can't just take an old frame built around a smaller
wheel size, and put 29-inch wheels on there, and call it a
day, doesn't work the best that way.
So what we do at Specialized is build the geometry around
the wheel size.
That means that the head-tube angle, the bottom bracket
height, the chain-stays, everything is built around the
way that the bike should handle, a true performance
trail handling bike, along with the 29-inch wheels.
So everything is built part of a package, even when you get
into things like the handle bars and the way that the fork
has been set at its travel.
Everything has to work together, built as a system,
and you get that even at the Rockhopper level.
So we talked about the performance of the bike.
Now let's talk about some of the key pieces that are
important to pay attention to.
The first one you should always look at is the frame.
This is the centerpiece of any bicycle.
This is where the magic happens and where the
Rockhopper separates itself from the competition.
This is a fully butted A1 aluminum.
That means that the tubing is thicker where it needs to be,
at the weld and high stress areas, and thinner where you
don't need as much materials.
This means we save weight, and you get a better performing
bicycle all around.
Now, you might be thinking, well, I don't know.
Thinner in the middle sounds kind of dangerous.
Don't worry about it.
We've got testing facilities here and around the world to
make sure that these bikes have been tested in all the
different standards--
and our own standards-- to make sure that when you're out
there on the trail, all you have to worry about is having
a good time.
These will hold up through the test of time and whatever you
can throw at them.
Let's talk about some of the rad features on your new
Rockhopper here.
We have disc breaks right down here.
We have sport tires, damp forks, and then Body Geometry
touch points.
All these things are key and make for a better ride.
Now, disc breaks, that means if you're going real fast and
you want to stop real fast, you've got these.
The second part of disc brakes is if you're going real fast
in the mud, the rain, or whatever kind of thing, disc
breaks are super reliable.
They're always going to work.
They're going to work better than a rim brake.
You definitely want these.
Sport tires, now, a lot of times when you don't pay tons
and tons of money for a bike, you give up
a good riding tire.
And I tell you what, tires are where the
rubber meets the dirt.
This is how you get grip.
If you have bad tires, you're going to have a bad ride.
So sport level tire, this is a 60 TPI tire.
It's going to grip great.
It's going to feel good, guarantee you're
going to love it.
Damp forks, this means you get more control.
You can control how fast the fork goes down, how
fast it comes up.
It's going to add up to a better ride.
And the last thing, our Body Geometry touch points.
You're going to spend a lot of time on your bike.
It's fun.
I guarantee you're going to have a great time, but you
have to take care of your body as well.
So things like your grips, you're going to take care of
your hands to make sure you have more
control over the bike.
And the saddle here, you're going to be sitting on that.
You're going to be moving around.
You want to make sure that you have feeling and blood flow to
the places that you want feeling and blood flow.
This pays off in the long run.
Guaranteed you're going to want to have that.
Get out there, rock it on the Rockhopper.
Have a good time.