freeride? and what 7" travel frame

bluechair84

Yoyo,
I'm enjoying our local DH run so much that I'm finding the limits of my current bike. I think I'm ready to grow my potential with something a little bigger. However, I'm still enough of a weight weenie to want to avoid a DH bike. Between the trees my Moment aces the triple clamp boys in acceleration but loses ground over the jumps.
So, I'm led to believe that bikes under the freeride moniker actually make great UK DH bikes because of their short twisty nature. Whaydyasay? And as for bikes with 7" travel that I can pick up second hand, is there anything I should look out for? The Trek Scratch caught my attention but they're rare at the moment and out of my price range. The SX trail strikes me as a potential, so does the Demo7 but I'm not sure of the difference.

1mancity2

What limits have you reached with your current bike?

bluechair84

geometry mainly, the bike feels a bit insecure over hip jumps and the likes. There is a 15 foot high wall ride that is bloody terrifying to get down on it. Fortunatley the terrain is smooth enough that I'm only going through the travel on big jumps but I'll likely be out in the Alps again next year so I'd like something that will handle there too.

I can move components over as the Moment is built tough so frame and forks is all I need to give me some freeride options.
[appologies - posted this thread in the wrong forum, should be in buyers advice]

bluechair84

plus - the angleset just occured to me, I heard a rumour they had one for a 1/8th headset so I'll have a quick peek for that. But that will lengthen wheelbase and lower BB height marginally - not sure if it would be noticeable.


edit - yes they do, but for £180. Cheaper than frame and forks I suppose!

Northwind

I wasn't very impressed with my SX Trail, it's not any more capable on the descents than my trailbike and it climbs worse than my Dare. Just a sort of weird failed experiment, unless you're jumping your way down A-line or something I guess.

But ymmv Lots of people do like them. Mine is an older (07), they might have improved but looking at them on paper the latest one seems very similiar.

I think this "UK downhill bike" is a wee bit of a myth... The day you can turn up at an SDA or the nationals and find everyone on shorter travel bikes is the day I'll believe it but right now, they're a rarity.

So, er, SX Trail for sale?

bluechair84

ha, maybe I've got some funds kicking about and I've already broken the news to the girlfriend that she may have to make room for a new toy in the house. I said I'd get her a bunny so she wasn't missing out.
So SX trail bottom of the list then? Apart from the Demo 7, not really sure what else to look up!








reflects on the above and recognises the obvious 'missing out on a good ride' and 'rampant' connection.

Northwind

Voltage maybe? But they're expensive. I fancied a Slayer SS but they're pretty rare.

Oh, angleset- forget that, check out Works Components, £75 for something that works better.

If you're trying to make do with 5 inches then maybe the rabbit is a good idea

1mancity2

What about a Nukeproof Mega AM frame with a 170 fork?

1mancity2

Northwind wrote:

Oh, angleset- forget that, check out Works Components, £75 for something that works better.
:

This got 10/10 rating in one of this months Mags.

bluechair84

Northwind wrote:

If you're trying to make do with 5 inches then maybe the rabbit is a good idea

Seriously, changing the angle of attack helps when struggling to be satisfied by 5 inches

I'll check out that Works Components - hadn't heard of that.

bluechair84

1mancity2 wrote:

What about a Nukeproof Mega AM frame with a 170 fork?

too new, too expensive, but thanks for the idea.

1mancity2

Giant Glory frameset? or is that too DH?

bluechair84

Yeah - but mainly because I plan on moving my 135 rear wheel across to the frame. If I keep accepting components that I could pick up second hand such as a rear wheel, I'll end up with a third complete bike which isn't the way I want to go A few hours moving parts over onto something more chuckable I'm happy to do. But the faith is a little shorter travel isn't it?
I know sod all about DH bikes so I'll keep an eye out for recommendations.

1mancity2

Im pretty much heading the same way as you, got a giant reign atm which I keep punishing, got 140 revs on it going upto 160mm and I hope that keeps me happy.

It a hard category to look into as most people have xc based bikes.

bluechair84

Yeah, that'll knock the angles back and make it a different beast

Anonymous

bluechair84 wrote:

Fortunatley the terrain is smooth enough that I'm only going through the travel on big jumps

That will be the case, no matter how much travel you have - if it's set up properly. You should only use full travel on the big hits, and only a few times a run, but you SHOULD use it.

bluechair84

Then my suspension is set up correctly . I'm leaning toward an adjustable headset now, the seventh inch is less important the adjusting the geo.
Council restrictions won't let me search for the works Components, I'll dig it out online tonight.

1mancity2

Here you go,

http://www.workscomponents.co.uk/

bluechair84

cheers,
looks like the Works isn't adjustable - so if you wanted to revert to the standard angle you'd need to get the cups out. Might be a pain for me as I imagine I'd move the headangle about depending on riding the DH track or trails... So the Cane Creek would be worth the extra money if the above is right...

Northwind

bluechair84 wrote:

cheers,
looks like the Works isn't adjustable - so if you wanted to revert to the standard angle you'd need to get the cups out. Might be a pain for me as I imagine I'd move the headangle about depending on riding the DH track or trails... So the Cane Creek would be worth the extra money if the above is right...

Cane creek is the same- it's the cups that do the angle changing. I think there's a genuine adjustable one in the pipes, saw photos of it from a show but I've not seen it in the shops yet.

Hear what you're saying about 135mm wheels, that was my deciding factor too. Turner DHR was what I'd fixed on, since the old square one still looks fab and if you drill the swingarm you get fairly modern geometry (64 degree HA I think and about 14 inch BB). And they're generally cheap because every one out there's already cracked and been welded back up. But I ended up with the Dare because it was cheaper- though it's the ugliest bike that's ever been made.

Voltage takes 135mm wheels as well. Some SXs, Bighits and Demos have the Specialized custom wheel offset thing but I found my standard wheels seemed to work fine in it. 224 Evo I think, though they're a bit spendy. Patriot is a bit trailbikey really. Morewood Shova LT...

bluechair84

Cane Creek wrote:

With AngleSet the head angle of a mountain bike can be transformed with ease, as the low-stack-height AngleSet offers up to six offset angle adjustments. With steeper or slacker adjustments from 0.5 to 1.5 degrees

But the Works says nothing of the sort. I'll check out the mags, though MTB mags aren't a sellers priority here. So is the headset adjustable or do you change cups - making the CC jargon a bit misleading and the Works as equally sextastic?
Looked up the DHR and dare, nothing going atm. Also remembered the Joker, but that might be a 6incher as well - can't remember without researching.

Northwind

CC were very vague about it and some of the mag coverage picked it up as if it was easily adjustable, but I was looking at one the other day and it's definately the cup that does the adjusting. All the other stuff with the gimbal is so that it's not sensitive to head tube length (Works' design means they need to make loads of different cups to deal with different tube lengths- but makes it simpler and less finicky)

bluechair84

aah, I'd just watched the tech video and I was getting the impression it wasn't as adjustable as they were making it out to be. I can remap my car, I wouldn't sell it as having an 'adjustable power band'.
OK, it's the Works headset vs a frame and forks! Still thinking the Demo7 is my best option but the headset is the most likely purchase.

bluechair84

Northwind wrote:

Oh, angleset- forget that, check out Works Components, £75 for something that works better.

Bought!