new person here,

portermush118

Good evening chaps,

i am brand new too this forum. .

i am a mountain biker, have been doing it all my life. But i thought i'd try something new. i am trying to get into DH racing and think of getting a new bike, just the only one i like is a dirt jumpy type hard tail. can i ask, could i use this for DH? as i'm not made of money unfortunately. if this isn't i also have a full suspension that i am also looking into.

also quickly, i am around Salisbury area, and have a few tracks that i have been hitting, i just don't think these are a DH runs are like, so are clubs or races readily available across england or the south.

thank you for reading, MKE

Atz

You can DH on a hardtail if you want. It may not be as quick as a FS but there's no reason you can't go faster than a lot of people on a nice slack HT. When you say DH racing, what sort of thing and what bike are you lookin at exactly as a dirt jump bike isn't likely to be much cop as a hardcore hardtail sort of bike.

portermush118

thanks mate,

i was looking at the diamondback beta with gears, then upgrade parts over time.

i also want it to go dirt jump, but prefer DH even if most of my mates don't.

MKE

Anonymous

Howdy, stranger.

Atz

I dunno if I'd either DJ or DH on that to be honest. Looking at the spec the only thing I'd think you'll do is break it, yourself or both.

sophsoph

Howdy dude! 8)

portermush118

ahh bugger.

does this mean the only good bike for DH is an expensive one, as at the moment i don't have the most amount of money.

i have a full suspension bike, but it's not a very good one (in my eyes) for DH, should i be looking into another full sus' one? or does it not really matter.

i've also been looking at land rover's, any good do you reckon? i looked at the review of the sajama, and all seems bad.

thank you, and sorry if i'm being an idiot,

FunBus

This all again depends on how far you want to go with the whole DH thing. If you're just larking about with your mates going on some woodland trails that face downhill then fine, a half decent hardtail will do the trick.

But, if you're wanting to actually compete or ride some "proper" downhill tracks, i'd strongly recommend a full susser and a proper one at that, not a Land Rover or Halfords special! Granted, you see a lot of people over buying big DH rigs just for their local trail centre, so it depends where you're wanting to ride. But, hit anything on a real DH track on a hardtail and you wont be posting on here anymore!! Rock gardens, drop offs and big gap jumps can be very unforgiving!

To ride DH properly, i'd say you'd have to fork out at least £1000+ for a new bike, perhaps look through the classifieds and i'm sure you'll cut that in half....Kona Stinky's seem to be EVERYWHERE now and prices have come right down. They arent what they used to be and they are in no way an "exclusive" style bike now, but they ride alright and would be a good starter DH bike.

joec1

Ah a DH Racer you ought to check out the Mini DH Races up at the Forest of dean....

a group of us from Setting a Scene go up and watch (in awe and amazement) as were too chicken to give it a go

Turrican

Yeah dude welcome and you would for time being benefit from getting a freeride full sus to start with as be better to learn on like i did, i had a HT to start with then went out and got a full on DH bike but i didnt feel comfortable on it so i swapped it for a freeride bike and love it. It feels like im on a good learning curve with it and my riding has come along great too. Im finding my style and flow now so feel like want to get DH bike again soon but im keeping me freeride bike cause i love it.