Help a roadie get dirty

rozzer32

So I'm a pretty keen roadie and ridden road for about 6 years. I was looking at getting a new winter bike for the winter but now have toyed with the idea of going off road. I love riding on the road and it's great for my fitness but it kind of lacks that exciting, get your adrenline going riding and I just fancy mixing it up a bit. And I'd much prefer to get out on any type of bike then be stuck on the turbo but I'd prefer to fall off into mud than onto tarmac.

Now I have a couple of mates who are into downhill and it would be cool if I could go out riding with them but I have no idea really where to start to thought I'd ask the bikeradar family for help.

Now I know I need a bike and I'm looking to spend about £750 so I'd buy used but don't really know what I should be looking for or what is good/bad for that amount of money.

I also know that I'd need a helmet, googles etc but are there any good value for money recommendations to get me going?

As I said I'm completey new to the off road world so any help is great.

cooldad

Downhill as in pushing uphill and riding DH probably isn't going to happen for that sort of money.
But if you mean riding uphill, then riding downhills, repeat etc have a look at Halfords - Boardman, or older models on Pauls Cycles..

carbonkid

Get yourself on ebay and grab a bargain.if your just starting then no point spending loads on a top of the range bike that you dont need.a good rider is a good rider whatever bike there on. Dont listen to the all the gear no idea brigade.

rozzer32

Yes I did mean as in riding DH and pushing uphill. My friend recommended looking on pinkbike or ebay for a decent second hand bike and his first DH bike only cost him about £500 and from looking about it looks as if you can get a good starter DH bike for £600-700. Only problem is as I'm very road orientated I have no idea what to look for or what's good/bad in the mountain bike world.

Is there anything that I should certainly be looking to avoid or that I definitely need? Also I'm 5ft 10 and ride a 54 road bike so what sizing should I be looking at for a DH bike?

Cheers carbonkid, that was very much the plan, especially as I'll still be focusing on the road and this will be for fun and a laugh. I think we get a good discount on Alpinestars stuff where I work so I was going to look into that as I don't mind paying a little bit more for good quality stuff that will last.

Thewaylander

Cheap easily available starter DH bike on Ebay.

Kona Stinky, pretty nuetral bike its nothing spectacular nor bad, but its readily available machine and great for british trails.

rozzer32

Thewaylander wrote:

Cheap easily available starter DH bike on Ebay.

Kona Stinky, pretty nuetral bike its nothing spectacular nor bad, but its readily available machine and great for british trails.

Yea I've read that the stinky is a pretty good entry bike. From looking about it looks as if it's between a kona stinky, spesh big hit or a norco atomik.

zulu12

rozzer32 wrote:

Thewaylander wrote:

Cheap easily available starter DH bike on Ebay.

Kona Stinky, pretty nuetral bike its nothing spectacular nor bad, but its readily available machine and great for british trails.

Yea I've read that the stinky is a pretty good entry bike. From looking about it looks as if it's between a kona stinky, spesh big hit or a norco atomik.

Wont go wrong with a Kona, I've got an Aluminum HT which I have bastardised into a freeride set up and it has handled everything I can throw at it, so much so that I am riding an entry level DH event this weekend along with another nutter on a HT, so it can be done. You don't have to spend huge money to have fun. Good luck.

rockmonkeysc

rozzer32 wrote:

Thewaylander wrote:

Cheap easily available starter DH bike on Ebay.

Kona Stinky, pretty nuetral bike its nothing spectacular nor bad, but its readily available machine and great for british trails.

Yea I've read that the stinky is a pretty good entry bike. From looking about it looks as if it's between a kona stinky, spesh big hit or a norco atomik.

The Stinky and Atomik are aweful bikes. Both weigh a ton, have terrible geometry and poor suspension.
Big hits are good. Iron Horse Sunday's are extremely good and available for under a grand now. Santa Cruz Bullits are a great ride and very cheap now, I borrowed one for a race recently and was pleasantly surprised.

rozzer32

Thanks for all the info. I'll keep my eye out on the classifieds, ebay and pinkbike and I'm sure I'll get sorted. My mate said he would help me buy as well.

Just a question about sizing, what size frame should I be looking for? I'm 5ft 10 and ride a 54 road bike.

dhobiwallah

Unlike the fairly standard shape of road rigs, MTB geometry's vary hugely so it is unusual to find a measurement as such (and if it is it will be in inches and will mean very little when comparing one bike to another - even from the same manufacturer). So you a looking at 'med' or 'lrg' depending on the bike. Best bet is Internet forums search on the specific bike you are looking at to find if others have asked the same question. You will get lots of - I'm 5'10" and ride x, and then I'm 5'10" and ride y though... If you are on the border of frame size usually size down as the bike is more 'chuckable'.

And with MTB you buy the bike to fit in the first place unlike roadies who tune the fit with short/long stems and the like. In the MTB world the change in steering characteristics by doing that change the whole bike. The good news is that since you. Are stood up so often there is a lot more slack in what you can determine to fit you correctly...

And finally, before you sink cash into it - have you already tried DH (on a rental maybe)? Proper DH is pretty lairey and it seems a pretty big jump to go straight from road biking into DH without a bit of time under your belt on good old fashioned MTB skills. There is plenty of fun to be had on a good old trail bike - I bought a full face helmet a few years ago with expectations and have never used it. I have managed to reach the limits of my cojones with far less than 8inches of travel....

rockmonkeysc

Nothing wrong with going straight in to dh. It requires a completely different riding style to trail riding so you wont pick up bad habits.
You can always start on the red graded dh trails and build up speed and jumping.

The Northern Monkey

Don't forget you'll need to invest in some decent protection too, a full face helmet and knee pads are a minimum recommendation imo.

Body armour is advised, as is the use of terminology such as "rad", "gnar" and "shred" (this video may help: http://dirt.mpora.com/video-clips/how-to-be.html)

Problem I see with going straight to DH is that it can get a bit boring.
I'm glad my canyon has a granny ring so I can ride it back up or go exploring for new trails fairly easily. Pushing back up the same trails week in week out is farking tedious at the best of times, even worse when the bike weighs 40lb+
It could easily take 20 mins to push up a steep trail and then 3mins to ride back to the bottom.

Biggest problem with the Stinky is the brake jack... every time you use the rear brake its like playing buckaroo, just just never know when its going to chuck you over the bars.
A Big Hit would be good, but avoid the older versions with 24" asymmetrical rear wheel.

rockmonkeysc

If you're getting bored riding dh its time to get the shovel out and dig, find some faster mates or hit some bigger or harder stuff.
DH can be just as varied as any other riding style.
The people who use words like rad and gnar are usually the talantless posers who spend more time talking than riding.

cooldad

I feel quite insulted. My favourite phrase is rad to the power of gnar.

ednino

Your going to jump straight down a DH track after being on the road?

Maybe ride some XC and trail centres first to build your offroad ability? Or is there beginner DH tracks?

rockmonkeysc

ednino wrote:

Your going to jump straight down a DH track after being on the road?

Maybe ride some XC and trail centres first to build your offroad ability? Or is there beginner DH tracks?

Loads of people go straight in to DH and are better for it because they haven't picked up bad habits. Stay off the black graded trails and take it steady and it will all be good. All of the trails at Forest Of Dean are beginner friendly. Even Gawton has a couple beginner friendly trails.

ednino

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Loads of people go straight in to DH and are better for it because they haven't picked up bad habits.

I'd say you'd be better off learning on a hardtail before you spoil yourself with inches of suspension. If anything that's where people pick up bad habits

rockmonkeysc

I learnt on a hardtail (still got the scars and metal plates). The riding technique on a full sus dh bike is completely different.
If you want to ride downhill then learn on a downhill bike. A hardtail doesn't teach you how to ride a bike with 8" of travel.

TheCornishMong

I was in much the same situation as the OP. Posted out to Vegas for a couple months and some colleagues had MTBs. found myself an ex-demo Cannondale Rize 3 for $850, so about £700 for round figures. It has obviously had a fair amount of usage but as a demo it had constant servicing so there shouldn't be any underlying issues. found some great singletrack and its been a revelation; I'm questioning why i ever sold my last MTB all those years ago. The Rize is an 'all-mountain' bike so it can give you all the DH thrills (without being silly) and can still be ridden back up the other side. I cannot recommend it enough for the sort of riding I'm doing.

rockmonkeysc

The Rize is a long way off a DH bike, more of an XC bike. The speed difference between bikes like the rize and a dh bike is huge.
Something like a Specialized Enduro, Giant Reign or Nukeproof Mega is a good compromise if you want to ride up hills as well.

Cqc

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Nothing wrong with going straight in to dh. It requires a completely different riding style to trail riding so you wont pick up bad habits.
You can always start on the red graded dh trails and build up speed and jumping.

A) what bAd habits? COMPLETELY different riding style? What are you on about?
everybody seems to be disagreeing with you so stop trying to flog a dead horse
C) you can do DH on a trail bike but not the other way round, so why shouldn't he enter the world of mtb the easy way?

rockmonkeysc

Cqc wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Nothing wrong with going straight in to dh. It requires a completely different riding style to trail riding so you wont pick up bad habits.
You can always start on the red graded dh trails and build up speed and jumping.

A) what bAd habits? COMPLETELY different riding style? What are you on about?
everybody seems to be disagreeing with you so stop trying to flog a dead horse
C) you can do DH on a trail bike but not the other way round, so why shouldn't he enter the world of mtb the easy way?

They are different riding styles so its easier to go straight for downhill if thats what you want to do. If you learn to ride xc trails first then you almost start again when you get on a dh bike.

You can ride DH tracks on a trail bike, I do regularly but I can't ride them with even close to the same speed and commitment as on my dh bike. I need to ride different lines and ride with a different style.
If someone wants to go straight in to downhill there's nothing wrong with that at all, it's no more difficult to learn to ride well on a dh bike than learn to ride well on an xc bike.

cooldad

Cqc wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Random stuff

A) what bAd habits? COMPLETELY different riding style? What are you on about?
everybody seems to be disagreeing with you so stop trying to flog a dead horse
C) you can do DH on a trail bike but not the other way round, so why shouldn't he enter the world of mtb the easy way?

Took you how long to realise this is totally normal?

Cheesemanpaul

Get an all mountain 18" frame, learn some off skills first

Chunkers1980

Doesn't tha advice contradict what you say in the one bit of advice thread?

mmacavity

Go somewhere warm and dry.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m8FbxlFX1U


or...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAiA-nbRtBI