When I first read the Member's Machinery section, I said to myself, "My Hardrock is many things, but not something to be praised!"

That was six months ago, and things have changed. I still have a Specialized Hardrock, but now it's a bike with a tale to tell. For a start, it's not the same Hardrock I had back then.

I hated yet loved that Hardrock. Built to survive everything, ridden in many countries, raced in XC races, even survived a 24hr race. I'd been through a lot with that bike, and was devastated to find it stolen, especially as it'd recently got some new wheels on it.

So I was bikeless, almost penniless and the bike turned out to be considerably under-insured. And then something rather wonderful happened. Just a few days after the disaster, a campaign got started on the BM forum. John Gourette appealed to the bike industry to sort me out a new bike: "A hardnut hardtail is what he needs; something that will take 9ft to flat on the school run and still be up to the weekend race."

The thread attracted plenty of support from forum members, but nothing from manufacturers, which prompted Dan to start a "Make Mike a Bike" thread asking for component donations. The response was amazing. Almost immediately I had offers of bike parts. And not shoddy, worn-out parts either. I had offers of Fox forks, Hope hubbed wheels, Race Face cranks and plenty more surprisingly pimpy parts. It was almost embarrassing having to choose which offers to take up.

Five weeks later I had countless boxes of parts in my lounge, much to the annoyance of my family. I started building the bike up while waiting for the final deliveries, and I just knew that this bike was going to be a lot of fun.

Inevitably here were a few things that I had to buy myself. Cables, grips and headsets aren't really parts that people have laying spare. Cables are standard fare, grips are ODI Lock-Ons, but the headset is where I spoilt myself. The Hope headset is in blue to match the hubs - it wasn't really necessary, but it sure does look nice!

When the final box arrived from Mike D at BM, I stuck on the chain, cassette and shifters. And I had a bike!

How does she ride? Well, going from a Specialized Hardrock to a... Specialized Hardrock, there's not a lot in it framewise. I'm loving having a full range of gears again, as I only used to run a single 46t chainring before. The Magura Julies are impressive stoppers, and I was used to a 200mm Hope M4!

The bike accelerates like a rocket, and is surprisingly stable going down thanks to the 120mm of Marzocchi bounce up front.

Those of you that follow the BM forums know that I'm a bit of a mechanical disaster, destroying anything and everything I touch. The tradition of breaking at least one thing on the first ride remains true today - on the first ride out, I stripped a bolt from the stem, which made for some interesting riding. Other than that, it's been reliable so far!

Roll of honour

I'd like to thank:

• Mike Davis and David Arthur - brakes, shifters, chain, cassette. And postage...)
• "Dark Lord Chuckles" - frame and fork
• Paul Sheppard - wheels, and going to the effort of getting some tyres for me at a race when I was bikeless
• Nick Evans - lent me a bike at the same race, and sent a front mech
• Mark Pearson - rear mech
• "Jim" - cranks
• "Nobby" - tyres and seatpost
• "'Arry" - a chunky lock
• Dylan Turvey - a strong back wheel, a selection of handlebars and a stem
• "X-Commie" - stem and saddle
• "Jon" - a hand-delivered seatpost collar
• Steven Birch - pedals

See you at the races!