Heckler Freeride

nevets84

Does anyone know how a Santa Cruz Heckler will hold up to light freeride? i'm talking north shore, jups and drops (Nothing too major 10ft max). Oh i would be matching the heckler with a Pike fork.

toasty

Well unless you're landing very smooth every time I don't think I'd like to do 10ft drops on a Heckler personally, certainly not to anything resembling even vaguely flat. It's more of a long travel trail bike.

I wouldn't really class 10ft drops as overly light freeride anyway personally. North Shore is fairly generic, half the red routes I've ridden have had it. It can vary between road bike easy and vague wooden scaffolding stuck to the side of a tree. Same goes for jumps.

PS - Unless of course you're talking "10 man foot" which equates to about 3 foot in the real world :P

nicklouse

also the Pike is not really the right fork for FR.

But the Heckler with Pike would be a great All Mountain build.

nevets84

would you say it is unrealistic to have one bike for day-to-day trails which can also take larger drops. Im relatively new to mountain biking and want to make sure i pick the right frame for my style of riding.

Steve_b77

Not wishing to deny your abilities but are you fully aware of just how high 10ft from the ground is?

Taking into account the average house door frame is 6ft 7'ish, add another 3 1/2 ft to that and you're dropping off the landing at the top of your stairs to the drive way, now that's one helluva drop with 150mm of travel to soak it all up :shock:

nicklouse

well a bike for larger drops will be heavier and will not pedal quite as well.

But a Heckler with pikes will be fine for most UK based trail centers. (as long as you miss some of the larger drops).

nevets84

I know how big 10ft is thanks.

As i said i am relatively new to mountain biking. i snowboard where a 10ft cliff drop is nothing (so long as your landing into a tranny). Any how i take your point that 10ft on a bike may be a relaively massive drop.

I am really trying to future proof my bike. At the moment I'm not up to 10ft drops, but if i can help it i dont want to have to buy a whole nw bike in 12 months (or however long) time. -does this make sence?

It sounds like the heckler will be good for where i am at the moment, coming from a hardtale, but if i want to get serious about FR then it looks like i will need a dedicated bike. Does this sum it up???

toasty

Agreed, you could always get a cheap jump/freeride hardtail later for cheap that could get thrown off some brutal drops.

The Heckler is fairly future proof, it'll do what it's meant for a long while. You see some old Heckler frames floating around still.