Is Cortina still operating their website? If not, do any of you have any info or specs on the Dh Extreme-8? I'm thinking about trading for one and as such any info or comments would be helpful, especially in the sizing department since I'm about 6'6" and was wondering if a large would fit or not.
Cortina Pics & Info (merged thread)
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Does anyone wanna say something about Cortina?
Alright so I've been looking around the web for the last couple of days and have been able to find very little in terms of reviews or thoughts on Cortina's bikes. I'm interested because I'm considering trading my Giant Dh Team for a Cortina DHE-8. Both are 2002 models and the Cortina is speced with a Stratos S8 fork and RS Pro Deluxe rear shock. What am I giving up/ gaining with the Cortina, in areas such as: durability, weight, suspension design, etc....? Also are there any chronic problems which the Cortina or Stratos had that I should look out for? Any help would be much appreciated.
Alright so I've been looking around the web for the last couple of days and have been able to find very little in terms of reviews or thoughts on Cortina's bikes. I'm interested because I'm considering trading my Giant Dh Team for a Cortina DHE-8. Both are 2002 models and the Cortina is speced with a Stratos S8 fork and RS Pro Deluxe rear shock. What am I giving up/ gaining with the Cortina, in areas such as: durability, weight, suspension design, etc....? Also are there any chronic problems which the Cortina or Stratos had that I should look out for? Any help would be much appreciated.
I'm aware of the so called "issues'" on the Pro Deluxe since that's what is on my Giant right now, but are the fork "issues" maintenance based, or designed based? In essence is it any better than an 2002 Boxxer, or would I just be picking up a problem fork regardless of what condition it is in? If you can answer this great, otherwise thanks for the first info.zedro said:
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The 02 Boxxer is like the best boxxer they made.... keep it. lol.
pretty much designed based. Its one of those things where they work well....when they work. Their performance seems to be as inconsistant as their service. I would point you towards a Shiver; its lighter, somewhat stiffer and extreamely reliable.justflow said:
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Zedro, the Shiver Pimp has spoken.zedro said:
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I ride a 04 Cortina DH-8 (sponsored) Suited out with 04 dorado's and 6 way swigger ect.. all the booties.justflow said:
Anyways what I can say... 1st Great awsome racing bike super fast easy to handle if you know how to DH. Gaining by trading for a DH-8 alot! you don't have to have a pain in the ass linkage like a Giant Dh. Can you adjust the drop out wheel base away from the frame on a Giant DH NO!. So pretty much if its very muddy and you need more mud clearance in the back just move the drop outs away from the triangle so you have at least 2" space from the wheel and frame. Or bring it in close to just 1/2 an inch for those close tight corner DH races. The DH-8 is a proven bike simple and very well built TOUGH! Listen to this I have an old 01 rear triangle on my DH-8 and a new front triangle. The rear TRiangle is Super Stong has not broken bent ect.. in any way with how many races drops FR I've done. Simple but here is a tip. Make the trade, How ever the stratos will have to go. Great bike deserves a great Fork and you will get 100 % satisfaction. Its like you can't have shity components on a Awsome M3. So make sure you have good components for this bike.
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Hmm wierd... when I had my pro-delux on my Cortina Dh-8 It was fine went through 2 season's with out it blowing out on me once and 1 rebuilt for cleaning.zedro said:
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Like this one LOL, took the place of the Dorado this race (fixing)COmtbiker12 said:
http://www.dropmachine.com/media/showphoto.php/photo/4262/sort/1/cat/501/page/1
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I used to own a DH8... Great bike... About the only complaints I had on the bike is on square edge stuff it was a little rough and that some bastard barrowed that bike from my garage and I haven't seen it since.... Other than that, it was a great bike.justflow said:
Brian
The DH-8 is a beautiful bike and very well built. I unfortunately never felt comfortable on it. I am tall at 6'3" but I like small frames. I ride a medium Turner DHR for example. The problem is that Cortina changes the frame size by supplying differant seat towers. This is all fine and dandy if you only ride seated. Except much if not most downhill riding is done standing up. So the real measurement that matters is headtube to bottom bracket since this determines coqpit size while standing. The Cortina front triangle is very small, smaller then my son's small Turner DHR. So if you can fit it, then it is an awesome frame. Nice feeling progressive suspension.
The other thing to consider is although it has horizontal drop outs it has verrrrry long chainstays. I'm going by memory but this should be pretty close, I think the shortest you can get is 18" or very close to that. That's pretty long. Nice and stable at speed but can be tough to get the front end up.
As far as the RockShox Pro Deluxe, don't worry about it. Cortina custom valves them in house for the frame. If you are buying it used then send it back to them and get it revalved for your weight and riding style. Runs around $70. I am firmly convinced that most the problems they had with the Pro deluxe is because the compression adjustment works exceptionally well. Very wide range, an makes a noticible differance in even 1 click of adjustment. My guess is many riders use it to compensate for to light of a spring and crank it up to high and blow the shock. I had mine tuned exactly to my weight and riding style and never had a problem. It was actually an awesome shock.
The other thing to watch out for, especially if it is a older one. Is the headtube. Cortina did have some issues with them ripping right off, quite unexpectedly in some instances. The headtube itself is also pretty thin, at least it was on mine. Looked like the headtube on an XC bike. Like 1/8" wall thickness and then releaved (even thinner) towards the middle. Pretty easy to ovalize and a steelset won't work because it steps up (inside diameter gets larger) past the machined area were the headset presses in. Not sure if that makes sense. Can't think of another way to explain it. Sufficent to say only a standard headset would work. The newer ones may have been improved.
I had an Stratos S8 in 01. It was a great feeling fork but pretty heavy. I personally never had any problems with mine, but I didn't run it very long.
Hope this helps.
Rick
The other thing to consider is although it has horizontal drop outs it has verrrrry long chainstays. I'm going by memory but this should be pretty close, I think the shortest you can get is 18" or very close to that. That's pretty long. Nice and stable at speed but can be tough to get the front end up.
As far as the RockShox Pro Deluxe, don't worry about it. Cortina custom valves them in house for the frame. If you are buying it used then send it back to them and get it revalved for your weight and riding style. Runs around $70. I am firmly convinced that most the problems they had with the Pro deluxe is because the compression adjustment works exceptionally well. Very wide range, an makes a noticible differance in even 1 click of adjustment. My guess is many riders use it to compensate for to light of a spring and crank it up to high and blow the shock. I had mine tuned exactly to my weight and riding style and never had a problem. It was actually an awesome shock.
The other thing to watch out for, especially if it is a older one. Is the headtube. Cortina did have some issues with them ripping right off, quite unexpectedly in some instances. The headtube itself is also pretty thin, at least it was on mine. Looked like the headtube on an XC bike. Like 1/8" wall thickness and then releaved (even thinner) towards the middle. Pretty easy to ovalize and a steelset won't work because it steps up (inside diameter gets larger) past the machined area were the headset presses in. Not sure if that makes sense. Can't think of another way to explain it. Sufficent to say only a standard headset would work. The newer ones may have been improved.
I had an Stratos S8 in 01. It was a great feeling fork but pretty heavy. I personally never had any problems with mine, but I didn't run it very long.
Hope this helps.
Rick
Great response! I'll be checking the bike out tomorrow so we'll see what happens. The smallish cockpit might be a problem considering that I'm 6'6". I'm hoping that it will be ata least as large as the Giant, but I've heard many people saying that Giant larges are larger than most other DH frames. Anyway thanks again.RickyD said:
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