[Phantastic79]

I land in at YVR on Wednesday the 14th and driving up to Whistler directly from the airport with the Wify and her Family. I get Thursday to myself to explore the mountain. No one else is interested in biking with me, which may be a good thing. We are staying at the resort on Blacomb mountain. I was just planning on renting a demo bike for the day, from the demo center. Maybe a V10 or Trek Session 29er DH bike....not sure which one I want yet.

Is this the best option for me since I'm only going to be biking for 1 day? Should I go 29er Trek or V10? I rode a YETI SB-150 at northstar this weekend and it was amazing. Love 29" wheels.

Is there any other options I should explore? Perhaps a bike shop that is outside of the resort that may be cheaper or better? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[k2rider1964]

I'm sure I'm in the majority and I'm definitely NOT a dedicated park rider by any means but I rented a V10 one day on our trip last year and I have to say, I had 10X more fun on my Tracer. I rode A Line, Dirt Merchant and many of the other "standards" and had no issues. If you ant a V10, there were only a few options in the village and they were sold out most of our trip. I think I paid $140 for the day but to be honest, don't remember if that was $140 US or CAD.

Not really a true comparison but I rode my new Ripmo at Snow Summit in SoCal yesterday and while it held it's own, the Tracer was more fun to ride there as well.

 

[Phantastic79]

I'll definitely keep that in mind. Since riding the SB-150 was sooooo nice last weekend I may consider renting a regular trail bike. Thanks for the reply.

 

[k2rider1964]

I'll definitely keep that in mind. Since riding the SB-150 was sooooo nice last weekend I may consider renting a regular trail bike. Thanks for the reply.

It's my understanding that the shops have it directly in their contracts that you can't take rental trail bikes into the bike park. I have no idea how they enforce that but you might want to ask.

 

[Phantastic79]

It's my understanding that the shops have it directly in their contracts that you can't take rental trail bikes into the bike park. I have no idea how they enforce that but you might want to ask.

That sounds very odd. I'll double-check. Thanks.

 

[gramboh]

They can't really enforce it unless their staff somehow sees you in the park (unlikely). Could they tell if damage occurred on the bike from the park versus valley trails? Again not likely, but they will ask you what happened so you will need to lie to them about what trails you were riding what broke where etc.

On that note, I vote V10 (look up Whistler Evolution Sports to rent one). Yes, enduro bikes are fine in the park, but nothing beats the stability and confidence of a true DH bike with dual crown fork, DH casing tires etc. The trail bikes you rent in town usually have Exo casing trail tires which suck for park riding. DH bike you can go faster and more margin for error on jumps and double black tech. It takes more skill (and beats you up physically) to ride a trail bike hard in the bike park all day.

 

[Phantastic79]

I'm sure I'm in the majority and I'm definitely NOT a dedicated park rider by any means but I rented a V10 one day on our trip last year and I have to say, I had 10X more fun on my Tracer. I rode A Line, Dirt Merchant and many of the other "standards" and had no issues. If you ant a V10, there were only a few options in the village and they were sold out most of our trip. I think I paid $140 for the day but to be honest, don't remember if that was $140 US or CAD.

Not really a true comparison but I rode my new Ripmo at Snow Summit in SoCal yesterday and while it held it's own, the Tracer was more fun to ride there as well.

OMG ....sorry for the crazy late reply. You are so correct, I would have been better off with an Enduro bike. I ended up renting a 29" GT fury with a fox 49 fork and X2 shock. This thing was all setup to bomb the mountain but in reality it was too much effort to ride. The front wheel felt like it was 4 feet in front of me and steering took serious effort. Even on the jumps and chunk it was plush....but not any more than the SB150 I rode. But who knows... .maybe the rental agent didn't setitup correctly, I'd gladly give it another try but if I'm renting again I'm going with a hightower or another SB150.

To be fair, if I was actually racing down some of the chunky stuff the Fury might be faster but it definitely is not as fun as riding an Enduro bike in my opinion.