Bikes Outside: Vito Power

Following our recent excursion to to the hinterlands outside of the capitol city, we find ourselves back in Downtown Hartford proper for this week's street-parked bike. It seems I've been around Bushnell Park a lot this year, which is true. I've been sort of a blog slacker of late in the face of other obligations, but I'll try to raise the bar a bit in the future. In the meantime, check out the Rockhopper I saw near Vito's on Trumbull Street.


Specialized no longer offers a full-rigid Rockhopper, which I think is a shame. I'm all for innovation, but don't deprive riders a chance to taste the original recipe. I'm not sure how old this particular bike is-- mid/late 90's? early oughts? It's new enough to have a threadless fork and V-brakes, but beyond that it's a Grip-shifted throwback to the golden era of mountain biking. However many years it has been around have been relatively easy ones, as it's in good condition.

The slam-dunked, nose-in-the-air saddle suggests someone is either too small for their frame or nostalgic for their BMX bike. Other than that, everything here could have easily been as it was the day it left the bike shop. I've been meaning to obtain or piece another mountain bike together, as my latest all-terrain beater is getting commuterized for my neighbor. The "Piece together" option is the more likely and viable of the two, but something like this would suit me fine.