My first downhill bike £200-£300

richlong28

Hey all, first post so bare with me if its not in the right place e.t.c

but basically i have a Boardman Mountain Comp that for about 7 months now and its a good bike for dashing around Dartmoor on, but i took it to Cann Woods in plymouth once and i was hesitant and the slightest bump in road, it really didn't cut it.

therefore, i'm looking for a downhill bike for about £200-£300, doesn't matter whether its new or 2nd hand, just something that will do me to learn and have a good time on, something 2nd hand would be preferable as it would most likely be of better spec and i'd be less worried about damaging it.

Any input is helpful

Thanks, Rich

ride_whenever

is that the one with recons, if so then it is fine for moderate DH and will be far better than anything you could get for 200-300 pounds. Have you set up the forks properly?

daintonj

Looks like a nice bike but I'm not sure that I'd be happy taking that or my cross bike down moderate dh, unless of course moderate downhill just means fast rooty singletrack.

In my mind moderate down hill would have at least 75cm drop offs, large rocks and other assorted techincal obstacles. Of course my definition of moderate DH will be laughed at by any serious downhiller so these definitions are very subjective.

I don't think £300 is going to get you anything that most people would class as a DH bike. However, it could get you reasonable second had hard tail which is what I'd be looking for.

richlong28

yeh its the one with the recons, its nice for some rough downhill stuff but its not really suitable for what i'm looking for

i probably need to rephrase myself a bit, i'm looking for something i can take downhill and do some jumps e.t.c

can be anything like a hardtail/downhill/freeride

supersonic

At that budget, no chance! Unless you are willing to put up with some serious drawbacks.

AdamBM

better off looking at a Free ride bike, for your price range your better off building your self and spreading the cost and getting the parts you want.

richlong28

alright guys, cheers for the advice i'll see where i go from here

xtreem

I would change the frame for some second hand fullsus or hardtail freeride frame
that supports from 130 to 160mm of travel and maybe later I'll change the fork
to Domain, 55, Lyric, Fox 36...

Anonymous

daintonj wrote:

Looks like a nice bike but I'm not sure that I'd be happy taking that or my cross bike down moderate dh, unless of course moderate downhill just means fast rooty singletrack.

Bullcrap. My ancient rig survived a week on France's DH runs jut fine, apart from my fork, who's air spring needed repairing.

You'll not find much DH riding in the UK that is 'too gnarly for most bikes'

papasmurf.

no idea on the boardman frame strenght..but an alternative might be to spend the money on a strong wheel build as an option..

passout

Saracen Zen (used) might be an option but again it's not a downhill bike.

daintonj

yeehaamcgee wrote:

daintonj wrote:

Looks like a nice bike but I'm not sure that I'd be happy taking that or my cross bike down moderate dh, unless of course moderate downhill just means fast rooty singletrack.

Bullcrap. My ancient rig survived a week on France's DH runs jut fine, apart from my fork, who's air spring needed repairing.

You'll not find much DH riding in the UK that is 'too gnarly for most bikes'

Your suspension fork needed repairing - I don't have suspension, just this little carbon fibre thing that holds the front wheel on. I wouldn't be happy taking reasonable sized drops on it

Anonymous

well, to be fair, it needed repairing because there's something of a design flaw in it, unfortunately.

daintonj

yeehaamcgee wrote:

well, to be fair, it needed repairing because there's something of a design flaw in it, unfortunately.

Please compare your trusty steed with mine
http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/i/b/wall/ ... vapour.jpg

Do you notice the ever so slight difference in type of bike and the general resiliance to dh courses?

HT-2008

Here's how i'd do it:

Step 1) Sell current fork (they retain damn high capital return)
Step 2) With money from sale + £300 you want to spend... scope new full sprung long travel fork
Step 3) Return to previous rocky strewn cliff face
Step 4) Ride

I might just end up with a large selection of spare parts though, so don't take my opinion

Trick is to find out what range of forks your current ride will allow, and if none are going to suit then 'frame up'.

As for can your current frame "take it", what with it being only 7005 Aluminium, fully double butted? Well it's hard to tell... what drop off in the mountains are you looking at? I've got some right old steep granite munro's round about me that i'd take your current ride down...

supersonic

frame geometry suits an 85 to 130mm fork, but works best for most in the middle of that range. It is a light xc trail bike, not for dh or jumping!

xtreem

Like supersonic said (it's a Trail-XC frame), and like i said on the previous post, first frame, later in the future
fork (probably Domain £320-350 new, wich is very strong and cheapes FR fork)
and then, you'll change the rest of the components wheels, tires, crank...

schmako

Save more money. You'd want to have at least £600 - £800 before you go looking for any dh/fr machine if you're lucky. Personally i'd keep the xc bike and get a new bike for dh duties too.

Anonymous

daintonj wrote:

yeehaamcgee wrote:

well, to be fair, it needed repairing because there's something of a design flaw in it, unfortunately.

Please compare your trusty steed with mine
http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/i/b/wall/ ... vapour.jpg

Do you notice the ever so slight difference in type of bike and the general resiliance to dh courses?

That's your 'cross' bike? I see. :shock: I thought you meant cross as in "cross-country"

But, honestly, it kind of goes without saying that a road bike wouldn't survive anyn serious off-road excursion.
Come to think of it, why are you in the MTB buying advice section, if your advice basically boils down to "don't buy a road bike"