What the heck is 'Downhill' riding?

indysmith

Is it like regular mountain biking for people who can't be bothered to ride back up the hill.
How exactly does it work? do you push your bike to the top and then just roll down? Why do downhill bikes have gears? or even pedals? What's the point? :?

Anonymous

Ever heard of downhill skiiing?

Anyway, DH riding, is racing as fast as you possibly can, downhill, on a timed run. It's kind of like Rallying for bikes. Courses are generally incredibly technically challenging, and include rock gardens, big drops, jumps, rooty sections, tight corners and so on.
Riders have to be very skilled, it's certainly not something for the faint hearted, or for newcomers.

To get to the top of the hill, most "grass roots" DH racing involves pushing the bike to the top of the run, or if you're lucky, some sort of a pick-up truck, or van.
However, at the world championship level, gondolas/chairlifts are pretty much standard.

craker

Hey, well, like, what's the point of anything man? :shock:

If think you _can_ ride up or along even, just the geometry is not too well suited to it and the weight of the bike makes it a bit harder.. but the adrenalin really kicks in on the silly slopes these guys enjoy bombing down.


I've never tried it btw, just some guess work. As for getting back up, I've seen pushing a plenty, slow grinds up tarmac (when us XC guys are enjoying climbing on the singletrack), Cwmcarn have got some decent business ferrying folks up every half hour. & I'm off to the alps at the end of teh month where there are lifts a-plenty

BlackSpur

They have both gears and pedals, although usually with only 1 chainring on the front.

FSR_XC

indysmith wrote:

Is it like regular mountain biking for people who can't be bothered to ride back up the hill.
How exactly does it work? do you push your bike to the top and then just roll down? Why do downhill bikes have gears? or even pedals? What's the point? :?

Great statement to wind up the Downhillers on here.

Your theory sounds about right, however, having seen some of the stuff they'll ride, 99% of DH riders are a sh!t load braver than I am.

Think about riding 30mph + over exposed tree roots followed by a 4-5ft drop then clearing a double jump.

Now try riding a DH bike up even a gradual incline and compare it to your XC bike.

cee

and some of the courses are so steep you couldn't walk up or down them!

dirtbiker100

wow thats a pretty good trolling post.
you push up and sprint down. i'd say theres more bike skill needed than with XC. certainly a completely different skill set.
ie take sections like that (which is very tame really DH wise) at 20mph
you need gears like you need gears on any bike. its not one steady slope down.
pedals? you joking?
seems like you need to give it a decent go. you live near aston hill and are still asking these questions? lose the gringo for a day and borrow a DH rig, full face, body armour and throw yourself down the hill. theres more adrenaline than XC and thats where the fun comes in.

Bikerbaboon

I dont get it whats the point of doing some thing fun.....
thats gives you a great natural high, takes masses of
guts and skill. your right there is no point.

ATTENTION ALL DH RIDERS GIVE UP NOW FOR LORD INDYSMITH CAN SEE NO POINT.

:roll:

nicklouse

as we know Trolls should not be fed.

Even ones at Polytechnics !

cee

dirtbiker100 wrote:

wow thats a pretty good trolling post.
i'd say theres more bike skill needed than with XC. certainly a completely different skill set.

I disagree that more bike skill is needed. I agree that the skills are slightly different. Of course, the bike setups necessitate a different riding style at the very least.

Maybe the all-mountain style of riding is somewhere in between....xc ups with more BIG hits on the way down!

A good technical xc route would be difficult to ride clean (no feet down or falling off) and fast (keeping that speed through obstacles) for the majority of folks, and would probably include at least some reasonably big drops/chutes/step up/downs etc. Clearly, a 10foot drop would wreck all but the toughest xc bikes (or have a rider that has a certain floaty way about how they put the bike down), but 3/4/5foot...... (maybe im just lucky living in scotland, where the xc routes are more than a huge distance over a moor!)

The same is probably true of a good technical downhill route. In the majority of cases, I reckon that the stakes can be quite a bit higher on a downhill run, what with jumps over rockgardens that you really need to pin it to clear (and not clearing it is not something you even want to think about!), but then that is mitigated to a certain extent by the bike (massive suspension to eat up terrain, long low posture to increase stability etc) and all the body armour that you probably wouldn't want to wear for a 10 mile hump up a hill!

bluechair84

Dh riding is a completley different sport and style of riding. It demands more skill than any other form of two wheel transportiation - but a DH bike shouldn't be considered transportation in the same way a cannon shouldn't. Its one directional, you can't get back to where you've come from with the same vehicle. A quick comparison:

Frame:
XC - designed light and will travel for miles without stopping.
DH - designed invincble, needs to be heavy to hold a line.
Forks:
XC - light, small bump sensitive at the sacrifice of stiffness
DH - designed for rapid ceaseless compression, shrugs off direct bazoka attacks.
Shock:
XC - light and anitbob, super efficient, high mileage
DH - will not turn into a small grenade when landing a 9 foot drop
Nuts:
XC - few and far between, most XC riders get away with having no nuts at all.
DH - big and strong, made of steel.
Helmets:
XC - an engineering marvel of lightweight, cooling, aeordynamics and strength. Will save lives!
DH - More sticker room, cos stickers don't like hair. Common, Bender - it was a 60 foot cliff you tried to drop, did you really think you're helmet was doing anything other than satisfy your sponsors?

Go and try some DH courses, or even low level North Shore - it will improve your skill NO END and you will be a far better rider for it.

indysmith

Sorry guys I didn't mean to be trolling! I just thought it was odd for people to take the downhills without the uphills. I'd hate to spend the sort of money people do on Downhill bikes for something designed only to go one way. Not really an ATB is it?
Saying that I'm not saying it's not worth doing and I'm not saying it's a bad idea. I totally understand the adrenaline rush you get doing that kind of terrain at those kinds of speeds. I'd love to give it a go! It's just that afterwards I'd prefer to ride back up the hill. Dirtbiker100 you're probably right, but I have no idea who I'd borrow a downhill rig from.

P.S. When i said "what's the point :? " i meant whats the point of having gears when you're rolling down a hill, with gravity on your side. maybe gearless/pedalless downhill riding is an idea for the future? Hell, why not just go the whole hog and give gearless/pedalless/brakeless downhill riding a go?

P.S.S. Nicklouse what are you saying about Polytechnics? I don't get it, sorry.

ddw

i would argue that due to the speed alone experiienced in downhill riding, hen reaction times must be faster than other forms of the sport. or there would be no downhillers left!

dirtbiker100

indysmith wrote:

Sorry guys I didn't mean to be trolling! I just thought it was odd for people to take the downhills without the uphills. I'd hate to spend the sort of money people do on Downhill bikes for something designed only to go one way. Not really an ATB is it?

weren't the first clunkers more downhill than both up and down? it all depends on you really doesn't it. the downhill is more fun than the up for a lot of people so its natural that bikes suited only for going down would be developed.

Dirtbiker100 you're probably right, but I have no idea who I'd borrow a downhill rig from.

yeah that could be a bit of a problem there. if i ever heard over to aston hill on my bike - see sig - you might be able to have a blast down the hill on that.

P.S. When i said "what's the point :? " i meant whats the point of having gears when you're rolling down a hill, with gravity on your side. maybe gearless/pedalless downhill riding is an idea for the future? Hell, why not just go the whole hog and give gearless/pedalless/brakeless downhill riding a go?

you don't freewheel as soon as you get to a downslope do you? surely you've pedalled down a hill before? You can nearly always go faster pedalling than freewheeling. Gears/pedals are definitely needed when sprinting out of a corner or after a crash, or just generally sprinting to keep your speed up. yeah you do freewheel a fair amount but there is a load of pedalling needed in DH just watch any video clip on the internet.

On the front page there is videos on the right hand side. if you go into the menu for it and look through the videos theres one of the Ae DH race where you can see plenty of pedalling is needed also neil donaghue (?) doing practise runs and you can see plenty of pedalling in there too

thinking about it my comment needing more skills in DH is inaccurate especially when you consider all mountain xc where it is almost xc on the up and DH on the down if you see what i mean - you do more jumps rock gardens northshore etc along with the slow speed technical stuff too. For DH you do need confidence in your riding, big balls and the ability to spot a line at high speed. bascially a different skill set. everyone should try to ride more than one discipline just to expand their general riding skills which could be used at any time on any trail. you may also find something you prefer.

Torres

indysmith wrote:

Downhill bikes for something designed only to go one way. Not really an ATB is it?

Actualy, i'd say a downhill rig is more of an ATB than an XC bike. You can do XC on fully rigid cyclo cross bikes. Down hill bikes have to be build like tanks to absorb the huge drops, jumps, roots and rocks.
Check this vid out:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JBxqUQa7jUo
Downhiling at its very best [Whistler.]
(Please also observe all the peddling.)
For this you need balls of tripple butted steel, the skill involved is amazing, reaction, agility, power, controll, vision, balance and nerve all play huge parts. In that respect trails and xc are easy in comparison. It takes a complete [crazy] genius to do downhill well.

Surf-Matt

I've never quite "got" DHing either but that doesn't mean a lot.

I think, as with all sports, those at the top of the DHig game are very good to watch and aspite to - the reality is lots of people with 8" travel 45lb rigs that are just ridden a bit quicker downhill than usual - and very few going at total lunatic pace.

XC isn't really that fun to watch (but is fun to do) so doesn't have the same clout as DHing, hence so many jumping on the DH bandwagon, despite our biggest hills not exactly being the Alps.

Same with surfing - it's easy to be wowed by deep barrels/big airs so everyone gets a full on performance shortboard - that they can't actually use properly.

indysmith

Torres wrote:

indysmith wrote:

Downhill bikes for something designed only to go one way. Not really an ATB is it?

Actualy, i'd say a downhill rig is more of an ATB than an XC bike. You can do XC on fully rigid cyclo cross bikes. Down hill bikes have to be build like tanks to absorb the huge drops, jumps, roots and rocks.
Check this vid out:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JBxqUQa7jUo
Downhiling at its very best [Whistler.]
(Please also observe all the peddling.)
For this you need balls of tripple butted steel, the skill involved is amazing, reaction, agility, power, controll, vision, balance and nerve all play huge parts. In that respect trails and xc are easy in comparison. It takes a complete [crazy] genius to do downhill well.

See that run looks like a lot of fun - but that's what I'd call freeride? I may be wrong as im very new to biking and the only experience i have of a downhill track is the downhill track at Aston that is incorporated into the XC run (the downhillers only do that bit and then walk back up again, whereas the XC riders ride the rest of the course). It's the easiest part of the XC track by far, you only really pedal coming out of corners, and it's pretty much downhill singletrack through the woods - the riding at Whistler looks COMPLETELY different - that looks like a genre of riding I'd be well up for trying! great vid

fcumok

My wife asked me the same question the other day. To be honest i've never really been interested in it. Nothing like a steady xc day out to me but each to their own. I known dh's that think i'm crazy.

cee

as always, though, you can usually always pedal in your lowest gear to add more speed, unless you are already going ~40mph

Im sure that would make the downhill section of Aston a lot more exciting!

Anonymous

you mean pedal in highest gear?

schmako

What a silly thread.

indysmith

Schmako wrote:

What a silly thread.

What a silly person :?

shisaa

Ive always thought downhill and xc are very different. Downhill is about attitude, skills and reactions, essentially an extreme sport, whereas xc has always seemed as much about fitness as anything. Hence the difference in downhill and xc racers.
As for downhill bikes, i guess the reason all downhill bikes have gears and pedals is because they need them, or the riders think it gives them an advantage.

indysmith

Finally Went and rode all the downhills at Aston yesterday (on my XC bike, lol) and I definitely understand the appeal of it now (especially after doing the XC course beforehand). Those runs were TERRIFYING. 4ft drops, massive jumps and step downs, huge masses of exposed roots on sheer slopes, real tight massive berms... Loads of fun. I want a downhill bike so i can try and ride them properly :P I hope my bike isn't damaged

In regards to the XC run at Aston Hill, does anyone else find it a bit odd? It's only 5 miles, and should be pretty easy in theory, except for the fact that what it comprises is an easy downhill track (the red run) and then what is essentially (but not actually) another easy downhill track in reverse, meaning a ridiculously steep uphill section. Although I do enjoy the descent, I spent half the time coming back up just getting wheelspin on the clay and chalk, not moving anywhere and having no fun. There's just no flow to it at all - an interesting challenge, but I wouldn't want to do it too often.

cee

yeehaamcgee wrote:

you mean pedal in highest gear?

:oops: erm yes. highest gear.

ride_whenever

As for skills, I reckon trials has a higher skill requirement than DH, although DH has the speed element, the speed is also your friend, helping you avoid rough terrain, launch gaps etc, trials is sloooooooooooooow

dirtbiker100

glad you had a bit of a go to see what a DH course is like . was planning on going to aston sometime soon to do both the XC and the DH. XC sounds like a nice technical fitness route.

Anonymous

THIS is downhill mountain biking.

xtreem

Downhill is madness. When I watched World Champs Italy I was shocked. :shock:
I think the comentator on Eurosport said on half course that average speed now is 64km/h or 40mph. AVERAGE, on large rocks. :shock: Not mentioning the top speed 50+mph.

And protection :shock: I could only spot some helmet and gloves. :shock:

delcol

take a trip to whistler and you will get it...

will even show you a different class of xc trails....

shin0r

Downhill is pretty neat but you don't get much riding time. Even with an uplift service you might only get 45 minutes of riding in a whole day. Saying that, it will be 45 minutes of pure adrenaline (more likely terror). The rest of the time you hang about in the car park proving how big your genitals are.

You should give DH a go; it's not everyone's idea of fun (me included) but it's certainly worth trying it.

With the excellent trail centres we have in the UK we can all have a go at decent descents while getting in a whole day's worth of riding. This is more my cup of tea.