90's Rock Hopper - Foot Pegs and Handlebars
 

Hello Bike Forums Mechanics Crew,
I just scored the bike with black tires for free :-). The bike with the Rock Shox I got used sometime back in the 90’s and now we’re sprucing it for my son.
It’s just for cruising and goofing around on the neighborhood streets and hopefully doing wheelies if we can learn how.

We want want to put foot pegs on it.
How do I figure out what size/type of axles we need?
Any warnings or advice before we take this on?

We’re also considering new handle bars with some rise.
Would that make pulling up the front wheel for a wheelie any easier?

Thanks
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...72fb776951.jpg

Too bad I don't have any nutted rear mtb wheels. I would have given you one since you're in the Peninsula. Good luck with your search!

You’ll just need an solid axle with the proper diameter and threading. Changing them is fairly easy if you’ve ever rebuilt a hub.

Take care with the riding loading of foot pegs when a 9 or 10mm axle is used there's a reason why freestyle/flatland/street style "BMX" bikes have gone to 14mm axles. Oh and cast AL or Mg fork dropouts don't like the bending forces either. Andy

He probably wouldn't be grinding the pegs on rails or anything crazy. Just standing on them.
Replacing a bent axle wouldn't be a big deal, but i wouldn't want to destroy the frame.
Is that a real issue?
Is it something I can monitor, or does this end with sudden catastrophic failure?

I was hoping someone familiar might know the size and threading off-hand so I could order the parts online.
I might just take it to the local bike store to get the right size.
I've never taken a hub apart but it look pretty straight forward. I'd just need to buy some tools that I don't already have.

Steel bends far before breaking when the load paths are of small cross section (think paperclips). You'll likely see the pegs drooping down like 1 piece crank arms do on low cost BMX type bikes that get ridden like the ads show:) I generally don't fear steel cracking without much warning. Unlike AL the crack propagation is far slower and unlike brittle materials the "deformation strength" (sorry I forget the metallurgical term) is well below the ultimate tensile strength. Sure axles are not hard to replace and when the bearing surfaces in the hub finally are done in the wheel is easy to replace. But those drop outs are a different mater, only a concern if you rider really heavy/hard and wish to keep this bike going for a long time. Andy

Thanks. He weighs 105 lbs right now. I wouldn't describe anything we do as "heavy/hard". I think we'll take our chances for the time being. If/when his skills advance, I'll consider throwing some ching at a new bike.