[Moosey]

My friend and I are planning a trip to northstar this saturday. It will be his first time ever downhilling and he needs to rent a bike. the question is, should he rent a Giant Glory 01, or a Giant Faith 0. I looked on giants website and the Faith 0 costs more money...

This will be his first time so he probably wont go SUPER hard.

I checked Northstar for saturday and all the large Glory's are rented out already, so if u think he should go Glory, then we'll probably wait and go some other time. If a Faith will work then we can still go Sat. I think a Faith will work, but what are your opinions?

We are looking at riding Livewire (fer sure), Manure Pile, Gypsy, and Flameout...

Thanks in advance for the advice

 

[huntandride]

For someone of his ability i dont think it would matter, and even if he was better on those trails a faith would be fine if not better than the glory

 

[ustemuf]

Either is fine, I tore up every single NorthStar trail on my Wildcard /w a Lyrik up front last week...only 5" travel in the back.

 

[DHmonkey123]

i might ride with a scott genius 50 with a lyric

 

[Thaumaturge]

For a first timer, I would say the Faith might actually be a better bike, based on the numbers. It has an additional inch of standover clearance, which helps new riders (and everyone else really). Plus, it's still slack enough to rail, but the slightly steeper head angle should feel more natural for someone who is likely going to be going slower and will want to turn the handlebars rather than leaning the bike over.

Take this with a grain of salt--I've never ridden at Northstar specifically. I was just thinking which bike I would rent for my wife if I were in that position, and it's the Faith, hands down.

 

[lelebebbel]

that is a very philosophical question

 

[godfather]

I don't have seat time on either bike, or at Northstar for that matter, but I would tend to agree with some of the other comments. He would likely do ok on either bike, especially if he's at all athletic. If it was my friend that I was taking to ride DH for the first time, I would choose the Faith, or a similar bike, for many of the reasons listed above. The geometry will allow for better manueverability for a less experienced rider (steeper HA, shorter wheelbase, etc.). It still has plenty of cush for someone who isn't riding flat out on super gnarly DH runs, and it should be an all around fun bike for him. I say go now and get the Faith. No time like the present. You can always go again later and get a Glory to compare after he's had a little experience.

 

[iguanabartola]

Faith would be easier to handle.

 

[big_slacker]

I haven't ridden N*, but I did recently do my very first downhill run(s) on a glory. It wasn't hard to handle at all compared to an XC bike. Really the slacker HA, travel, weight, sitting "in" the bike and all of that inspired confidence. Handling was a non issue, it handled great. I even did some switchbacks, just turn in, lean a little, lock the rear to bring it around and pedal out.

With that said it probably doesn't matter. As someone who normally rides a HT I can say that I don't give a **** if its 6" or 8", just having all that travel is cool, I doubt I taxed the suspension or any of the other limits of the bike and your friend probably won't either.

 

[phatfreeheeler]

I've never ridden N*, but making sure the bikes suspension is properly setup for your friend is way more important that which bike. That's my biggest complaint in general with rentals. Make them put the proper spring weight on whichever bike he rents.

I don't know about Faith's, but I had to go down 25% on my 2010 Glory's spring to make it ride properly and I'm pretty average weight on a medium. Now I think it's the best thing since thick sliced bacon.

Use this calculator http://www.bearandwife.com/bear/cycling/springcalc.html

IMHO - The only negative to the Glory would be that with the dual crown fork you can't turn the bars very far, so you have to have other skills to do tight cornering.

But I sure as hell would not wait to ride just because of an inch of travel.

 

[godfather]

Very rarely does the rotational limit of a dual crown fork have an effect on turning capability of a bike. Wheel base will play just as big a role, or bigger. You might not be able to do barspins, tail whips, or X-ups with a dual crown, but everything else should be just fine.

 

[phatfreeheeler]

You've obviously never ridden a 2010 Glory. The downtube is HUGE all the way till the headtube. I've never seen another DH bike that was close to this wide in that area and that is one reason I use a Totem.