[skyno]

I've been riding the hell out of my 160 HD for over 3 years now on mostly AM / XC stuff but dabbling in DH / FR. I have ridden XC forever and found myself gravitating more toward AM, then a bit of FR/DH-ish riding, but still love XC. The HD was a great do-it-all rig for me, but I was definitely under-gunned at bike parks, especially w/ RP23s.

Now I am building up a sweet new RM Altitude AM rig with the original intent on selling the HD. However, it seems like you can't get much these days for a 26" bike and frankly I have beat that frame up pretty good, but it still keeps rollin'. I was thinking that instead of selling it, maybe I could turn it onto a mini FR / DH-ish rig w/out having to shell out a bunch of coin for a dedicated bike - throw a different fork & shock on it - get a beefer, shorter stem, some even wider bars - I already have DH rims & tires (I just like DH rims on all bikes) and run 1x10.

I have no illusion that this will take the place of a proper DH rig, but thought maybe it would be a good gateway drug for me and maybe 1 day I would pony up & buy something proper if I get more into it. The other nice thing about doing this is that I could always swap out for some of the old parts and I have an AM rig again when a buddy comes into town.

I'll be honest and say that, while I am somewhat knowledgeable about XC / AM bikes & how to work on them, I don't know much about FR / DH bikes so maybe this is just a bad idea. I read some other threads where others have done similar, but they are old and never really read much about how it worked out.

After all this rambling, I guess here are my questions:

1. Is this even a good idea or just a waste?

2. Assuming it is a viable idea, what forks / shocks should I look at that would fit? I'm assuming I should look at 180mm forks? With some of the great new shocks coming out, would a really good air shock get the job done or should I not mess around and just jump on a coil?

3. What else might I need to consider swapping out if I were to do this conversion?

Thanks a lot for any input or suggestions!

 

[rodeoj]

Heres my two cents,

Ride the hell out of the HD. Throw on a 180 up front, and a coil/air in the rear with something other than the stock RP23 shock. Throw on an angle set to your taste and rally that bike like you stole it.

I raced my mojo HD last year in the BME series, we raced down just about every DH track in CO. I'll also be racing my mojo hd in this years Central States Dh Cup series.

When its not at the park or dh'ing, throw back on your stock suspension and am/xc it.

Highly versatile bike. The frame is solid, and will take the punishment.

.02

 

[skyno]

Heres my two cents,

Ride the hell out of the HD. Throw on a 180 up front, and a coil/air in the rear with something other than the stock RP23 shock. Throw on an angle set to your taste and rally that bike like you stole it.

I raced my mojo HD last year in the BME series, we raced down just about every DH track in CO. I'll also be racing my mojo hd in this years Central States Dh Cup series.

When its not at the park or dh'ing, throw back on your stock suspension and am/xc it.

Highly versatile bike. The frame is solid, and will take the punishment.

.02

Thanks man! What fork / shock do you run?

 

[rodeoj]

Last year, I ran a 160 RC2 upfront, and a stock CTD ( with two volume spacers, still was horrible on anything choppy ). This season, the plan is a 180 RC2 upfront and a CCDB air in the rear. Ill pick up the CCDBA first, and see if I can live with that and the angle set, as forks > shocks ( cost wise ).

 

[mykel]

What 160 fork do you have?
Just wondering if talking to Craig at Avalanche about upgrades would be worth it.
If you have a good chassis, better damping is moar betterz than than an extra 3/4 of an inch of meh travel.

The Mojo was designed with Air in mind regarding kinematics no?.... if so be careful with shock selection if going coil.

Just a thought, but what did Lopes run on his 160 when he was railing the Whistler DH? That would be a pretty good indication of a starting point....

michael

 

[skyno]

What 160 fork do you have?
Just wondering if talking to Craig at Avalanche about upgrades would be worth it.
If you have a good chassis, better damping is moar betterz than than an extra 3/4 of an inch of meh travel.

The Mojo was designed with Air in mind regarding kinematics no?.... if so be careful with shock selection if going coil.

Just a thought, but what did Lopes run on his 160 when he was railing the Whistler DH? That would be a pretty good indication of a starting point....

michael

Right now I just have the stock Float RLC 160 fork & Float RP23 rear - neither are any good when the going gets gnarly - especially the RP23

Good idea on checking what setup Lopes was running - I'll look into it

Thanks!

 

[skyno]

The Mojo was designed with Air in mind regarding kinematics no?.... if so be careful with shock selection if going coil.

Just a thought, but what did Lopes run on his 160 when he was railing the Whistler DH? That would be a pretty good indication of a starting point....

michael

Here was BL's setup:

Fork: Marzocchi 55 Micro Ti

Rear shock : Marzocchi TSTR coil with 350 ti spring

 

[pinkrobe]

Yeah, the HD can work with a 180 up front and a better shock than the RP23 in back. I have the CCDBA on mine, and it is awesome. I have seen full DH forks on the HD, with the axle to crown dropped down to 180-ish height. If you have a fork with a straight steerer, you can pop in an Angleset or similar item to slack the head angle a bit more.

 

[Fullcoilmojo]

What park do you ride? I put an x-fusion vector hlr coil on mine and that completely changed the bike. So much more capable. I agree with keeping your 160 float on there but I would slack it out as much as possible. The bike is so much more stable at speed and seemed to get through rough sections a lot better. I think hd components makes -2 angleset.

 

[skyno]

What park do you ride? I put an x-fusion vector hlr coil on mine and that completely changed the bike. So much more capable. I agree with keeping your 160 float on there but I would slack it out as much as possible. The bike is so much more stable at speed and seemed to get through rough sections a lot better. I think hd components makes -2 angleset.

I have ridden N* several times, Park City, and Sundance. Good to know that keeping the current fork could be an option - that would make it a relatively inexpensive conversion - maybe I should just get a new rear shock, stem, & bars, slack it out and see how it feels - I could always get a new fork later. If I kept the Float 160 fork, is there anything that should be modified to set it up for big hits? I have the largest volume spacer in the RP23 now and that thing is still a POS - I have to run it at 185 in order for it to not bottom out & I only weigh 155.

So after doing a bunch of reading last night I need to decide: Air or Coil? CCDB?, RS Vivid? , X-fusion Vector? I also came across a very inexpensive & lightweight option that had a few rave reviews, but definitely seems a bit fringe: https://www.dspracing.com/index.php?fn=products&fn1=01&no=1&no5=E

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Fullcoilmojo]

I went through the same thing with my HD. The thing is by the time you upgrade you fork, shock, bars etc you come really close to the cost of buying a used DH bike and your left with sweet rig but isn't nearly as capable as a dedicated DH rig. Just my .02

 

[sdemars]

How did the conversion go? Any updates? (I'm in almost the exact same boat...)