XC to DH begginer

Muttly1981

jonniorrell wrote:

Farmer Johns is a good place to step up from trail centers to DH the top section is all pedally and not really technical but is good fun when you push it as quick as you can, the bottom section over the shed jump into the woods is where i tend to stick around and session thesedays. Word of warning though you will crash and sometimes crash hard but the sense of achievement you'll get at the end of a full run far outweighs the injurys you will suffer, once you move onto the big tracks is where the real fun starts though be it hitting 40mph on the treeless Moelfre or locking the back wheel and just sliding/skidding down the stupidly steep Lllangollen it all leaves you with a massive smile on your face

Ye fair play to the lad at least he was giving it a go .. got me really wanting to get started now hopefully go soon as snow lets up and meet a few people down there to ride with cheers [/quote]

Give us a shout when you get over and i'll see if i can get over for a mess about, gonna have a pretty busy schedule from next week though as it's coming up to the race season so need to hit as many tracks as possible.

next 7 weeks consist of
Longridge (mates race)
Llangollen (uplift)
Foel (push up)
Moelfre (uplift)
Innerleithen (race)

It's gonna get expensive

jonniorrell

Yeah love to be nice to find some people to ride with as finding it hard to get my mates out of bed let alone ride a bike defo give you a shout . Muttly cheers

DodgeT

Muttley, you doing the chatburn fundraiser at moelfre 17th feb? Few of us on it.

Muttly1981

DodgeT wrote:

Muttley, you doing the chatburn fundraiser at moelfre 17th feb? Few of us on it.

Yeah i'm on it, always a good laugh with the Chatburn lads on the banter lift

rockmonkeysc

I wouldn't try learning to ride on your XC bike. You will break it & yourself, XC bikes are twitchy and give you no warning before throwing you off on gnarly stuff. You won't enjoy it half as much as you would on a better suited bike which gives you the confidence to ride hard and lets you get away with mistakes.
I started out riding DH on a very slack, long travel hardtail and in the first year I broke 3 ribs, a collar bone, a wrist, dislocated a shoulder and broke lots of bike parts. Since getting a DH bike I crash a lot less, ride much faster, hit bigger features and have much more fun.
Look out for an old Specialized Big Hit to give it a try, if you don't like it you can sell it and get your money back.
Downhill does get extremely addictive, especially if you start racing

jonniorrell

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I wouldn't try learning to ride on your XC bike. You will break it & yourself, XC bikes are twitchy and give you no warning before throwing you off on gnarly stuff. You won't enjoy it half as much as you would on a better suited bike which gives you the confidence to ride hard and lets you get away with mistakes.
I started out riding DH on a very slack, long travel hardtail and in the first year I broke 3 ribs, a collar bone, a wrist, dislocated a shoulder and broke lots of bike parts. Since getting a DH bike I crash a lot less, ride much faster, hit bigger features and have much more fun.
Look out for an old Specialized Big Hit to give it a try, if you don't like it you can sell it and get your money back.
Downhill does get extremely addictive, especially if you start racing

Yeah ive bin looking at a kona operator or the canyon torque as an entry bike woried about getting second hand as i hear alot have hidden cracks and have taken alot of hammer. im going to walk FJsin stockport next week if snow holds off then buy 1 i think .

rockmonkeysc

Some used DH bikes are a safer buy than others. Old Giant Glory's and Specialized Big Hits are absolutely bomb proof.
I have tried a Canyon Torque, lots of shiny components on a not so good frame. Kona Operator or Entourage. The Rose Beefcake rides extremely well and is great value and Nukeproof are doing a budget version of the Scalp this year which has an amazingly good frame which is well worth upgrading.

jonniorrell

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Some used DH bikes are a safer buy than others. Old Giant Glory's and Specialized Big Hits are absolutely bomb proof.
I have tried a Canyon Torque, lots of shiny components on a not so good frame. Kona Operator or Entourage. The Rose Beefcake rides extremely well and is great value and Nukeproof are doing a budget version of the Scalp this year which has an amazingly good frame which is well worth upgrading.

Im loving the scalp had a look for a 2012 model could only find the pro but will defo use your advice cant believe how cheap the beefcake is never even thought to look at rose bikes cheers

rockmonkeysc

Terrible name but great bike. The new budget Scalp isn't available yet but they are doing a version for under £2k. Same frame as the pro but with Rockshox Domain forks & Kage shock and I think a SRAM X7 transmission.

jonniorrell

looks like early march for that 1 . 2700 is not a bad price for the 2012 pro tho just dont think my ability match the bike

rockmonkeysc

Your ability will improve and you won't need to upgrade the bike. It's so easy to ride very fast and the way it builds speed on really rough trails is shocking.

Muttly1981

jonniorrell wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Some used DH bikes are a safer buy than others. Old Giant Glory's and Specialized Big Hits are absolutely bomb proof.
I have tried a Canyon Torque, lots of shiny components on a not so good frame. Kona Operator or Entourage. The Rose Beefcake rides extremely well and is great value and Nukeproof are doing a budget version of the Scalp this year which has an amazingly good frame which is well worth upgrading.

Im loving the scalp had a look for a 2012 model could only find the pro but will defo use your advice cant believe how cheap the beefcake is never even thought to look at rose bikes cheers

I have the 2011 Scott Voltage FR20 it's an amazing bike although i may upgrade after this season, tried a few bikes before going for the Scott and imo nothing in the same price bracket came close as far as handling and spec. If i upgrade i'll probably look at getting the Scott Gambler or if i come into money my dream Santa Cruz V10

jonniorrell

Muttly1981 wrote:

jonniorrell wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Some used DH bikes are a safer buy than others. Old Giant Glory's and Specialized Big Hits are absolutely bomb proof.
I have tried a Canyon Torque, lots of shiny components on a not so good frame. Kona Operator or Entourage. The Rose Beefcake rides extremely well and is great value and Nukeproof are doing a budget version of the Scalp this year which has an amazingly good frame which is well worth upgrading.

Im loving the scalp had a look for a 2012 model could only find the pro but will defo use your advice cant believe how cheap the beefcake is never even thought to look at rose bikes cheers

I have the 2011 Scott Voltage FR20 it's an amazing bike although i may upgrade after this season, tried a few bikes before going for the Scott and imo nothing in the same price bracket came close as far as handling and spec. If i upgrade i'll probably look at getting the Scott Gambler or if i come into money my dream Santa Cruz V10

Just ;ooked at the scott voltage looks good and a nice price especially the 2012 mode

jonniorrell

going to farmer johns tommorow round lunch to get a feel for it anybody welcome to join me

rockmonkeysc

The Voltage is far too expensive for the spec and weighs a ton. For the same money ther are several bikes which come far better specced and have equally good (if not better) frames. A good fork & shock makes a huge difference to the handling.