REVIEWS DEALS BIKESHOPS TRAILS

Very much a noob, and I have a question(s)...

607 Views 6 Replies 7 Participants Last post by essenmeinstuff, Jan 13, 2010

honkeystyle

Discussion Starter · Jan 13, 2010

So I’m very new to the whole DH world. Like I just popped out of the vag new and haven’t had my tail spanked so I’ll start crying. I’ve been riding XC for a while now and it’s getting rather lack luster, and I’m breaking things on the bike and on my body from over riding my current machine. (‘08 Stumpy) Now I have read tons and then I read some more. But from my experience, getting a personal opinion is the best thing to do. So, currently I am in the market for a new machine. One that can take a bit of a beating. I’m just not sure what bike styles do what. For example, I’ve been looking at the SX Trail, seems to be a *****in' little bike, but maybe it’s too much? Maybe an ASR-7 would be more useful? I don’t know, and I don’t have the means to go test ride any of these rigs. Boo Hoo for me. I am considering getting a very beefy machine simply due to the fact that my skills seem to develop much faster than my wallet. So I don’t want to get a trail bike (Say the Spec. Enduro or Pivot Firebird) and in a year be tired of it. That is my current case with the Stumpy. Fun bike, just can’t handle what I like to throw at it. So therein lies my issue. Would a trail bike be suffice to handle regular mountain riding and some DH stuff? Or should I just get a full on DH bike and ride the stumpy everywhere else? If I wanted to race some DH, could a trail bike handle it? Or is it a useless question that I should just stop pondering and get 2 new bikes? *note that this would take a long time given my wallet size*

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mcap

· #2 · Jan 13, 2010

Check out the Trek Scratch and Santa Cruz Bullit. The Bullit you can custom build from the ground up on their site. Only problem with a straight DH bike is that they can be a little heavy and limit you if riding XC with buddies. It would be nice to have a DH, All MT, XC though

Also Transition makes some sweet rigs

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Bikesair

· #3 · Jan 13, 2010

I was pretty much in the same boat and got a 2005 giant faith. Inexpensive and can take a serious beating.

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zerossix

· #4 · Jan 13, 2010

I bought a SX trail a couple months ago, definitely the bike I should have bought a long time ago. Very pedal-able, very stable, pretty tough. Go with some sort of good pedaling tail/AM bike. SX trail, Nomad, Reign, something like that. Put some decent components on it, make sure you put some strongish wheels, and you'll be good to go for quite a while.

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4JawChuck

· #5 · Jan 13, 2010

Buy a dedicated DH bike and ride it XC, it will make a man out of ya and really appreciate your mid 20 pound hardtail...not to mention your speed on it will increase tenfold.

Forget the in between stuff.

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dirtwhip

· #6 · Jan 13, 2010

If you're planning on keeping the stumpy then maybe look into the Scott Voltage FR. I have a 6point which is a very beefy trail bike and am running into the same problems you're having as far as feeling like your outgrowing the bike's capabilities. It works great for trail riding and it will handle most DH, but I've built it up a little more for DH/FR and the pedaling isn't the greatest anymore. Probably gonna put all the lighter XC stuff back on it for rides with the wife and look into the Voltage FR as my new play thing. Looks super fun and covers most of the stuff that you wouldn't need a good pedaler for anyways.

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essenmeinstuff

· #7 · Jan 13, 2010

You need to have a look at what you plan to ride with it, what trails, take stock of what you really plan on doing.

Things to consider:
- Lift/shuttle hill near by?
- Do you have to pedal/push up to earn your fun?
- Racing in your future?
- Will this be your "only" bike or you keeping the stumpy?

The new gen AM bikes that are on the burly side, like trek scratch (air more AM, coil more FR/DH), reign x/sx and the new faith (which looks like almost the perfect "one" bike IMO), sx trail etc are shredding machines in the right hands but are still decent pedalers, they are at home in all but the proper sketchy DH stuff.

A full blown DH bike is a pretty single minded creature that gets cranky (or the rider does) if its not pointed down something.

There are various shades of grey in between, eg my lucky does a pretty convincing job of being up hill friendly and eats tech fast DH for morning snacks.

Most importantly look at the trails you ride.

Fast flowy smooth? Look at bikes like the reign x etc
WC style steeeeeeeep DH trails? get a DH bike!

Most importantly, have fun! :thumbsup:

and welcome to the dark side!

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