THATmanMANNY said:
you need to watch my friend pedal his vp free then

We are talking 2k elevation gain on a single ride
The Scratch looks to be a promising ride but compared to my '08 ReignX the differences are minimal. I wouldn't be trading "up" for any benefits.
Has anyone ditched a good amount of the DH specific parts and swapped for lighter XC/AM parts? How much could it weigh?
My ReignX weighs like 37 lbs and has 170rear /160front. If the 88FR can get to that weight and you can get a granny on it... I don't think 20mm of travel will be holding me down too much.
Anyways, my question is can you make it a double FD bike? Using FD and/or hammerschmidt? I really need one bike that does it all. I have limited storage space and funds.
The issue isn't the travel. I've owned 8 inch bikes with almost identical geometry to the VP free. I've ridden the VP free. Its got the same geometry as many 5 inch travel bikes on the market. I had a glory FR a couple years ago. Its not about quantity of travel, its about geometry and what the travel is tweaked for. I used to take my glory FR out for the same deal ~ 4K feet of elevation, and ride down a super rocky trail at the end (tunnel trail, in SB, if you're curious).
There are two things that make a good pedal bike -
1 - geometry - being able to get over the pedals, not having he front end wallow, while having enough clearance to pedal over rocks and roots without bashing pedals,
2 - suspension ratio - Is the bike designed to sit high in its travel and provide firm pedaling platform.
The VP free has both of those in spades. Its the definition of a big hit freeride bike. You can go out and pedal all day, and then send that 40 foot drop at the end. There are other bikes that do that as well - the old glory FR's, the new giant faiths, The scratch's, sx trails, Knolly FR bike (whatever its called), pretty much every bike company has something that fits the bill.
The things that specifically make a DH bike a DH bike (and make it bad for anything else): If the bike is designed to ride out over the back end (which most DH bikes are designed to) if the bike is designed to be slack and provide maximum stability at high speed (which most DH bikes are) and to have a compression ratio that allows for the best bump compliance possible, even at the cost of pedalling. (the session pedals pretty well for a DH bike, but its a pretty terrible pedaller for a long travel trail/fr bike) The session has those traits in spades - it sits really far back, its designed to be ridden over the back wheel, its low, and its really slack. There is a reason that the stock frame is raced on the WC DH circuit - remember, the "FR" and the "DH" actually have identical frames.
Do what you want, its your money, but there are way better places to spend your money if you want a descender that can climb. The session 88 FR is basically a bike park bike. Its designed to be ridden at whistler all day.