First downhill bike.

[TheHighlander]

As above,

Just recently in the past month got back into biking. Been in the Highlands there's plenty of trails/tracks to be ridden and a few very good ones behind my house.

Currently own a Carrera Vulcan which is decent for the trails but not tough enough for the more downhill orientated tracks.

Any suggestions on what to upgrade to? Not looking to spend too much and don't mind buying 2nd hand as it will get damaged at some point.

I did think about building my own full sus bike but don't know a great deal yet about downhill ect.

[anonymous-user]

Choose carefully before buying a proper "full on" downhill bike though. These days, a pukka down hill bike will have 200mm of travel at either end, a wheelbase about the same as a small car, and frankly, just the thought of actually pedalling it anywhere is enough to make you cough up your breakfast!

The more modern "all mountain" or "Enduro" or what ever stylee is still a very capable bike for descending but can at least be used away from pure gravity assisted downhill tracks etc. These sorts of bikes have single crown forks, probably around 170/160mm of travel, weigh around 30lbs, and come with a good enough riding position that you can actually pedal them places!

[TheHighlander]

Hi Buddy,

Maybe a proper downhill is not for me then.

Not going to be tackling full on competition style tracks yet if that makes sense.

Some with full sus that I can cycle to the trails so not a single crank.

[nammynake]

150-170mm should be adequate, although it really depends how hardcore the trails are.

Have a look at Canyon - the Spectral and Strive models would be good choices.

[eggchaser1987]

I have just sold my old dh bike. It was a 2000 odd coyote dh2 and had some marzoochi? Spelling may be wrong. Used to race it back in the day.

Anyway, sold that and got a Kona coilair. Not new think its a 2009 one and that probably has near the same travel as the old dh but the suspension on the Kona is air so alot newer, obviously, but a lot more tunable for day to day riding.

Think I would be happy to ride to a track, distance depending, pump up/let air out of the suspension to get it set up right and then ride home.

Think this would be the best way to go, best of both really.

Hope that made sence, hard to try and type on a phone and make it understandable

[Twistygit]

I've recently seen someone riding the verderers and free miners at the Forest of Dean on a demo 8 which is a down hill bike

[joema]

nammynake said:

150-170mm should be adequate, although it really depends how hardcore the trails are.

Have a look at Canyon - the Spectral and Strive models would be good choices.

This.

You wont be held back by having less travel at your exprience.

depends how much you want to spend

[Smartboy]

I say, if you want a DH bike, then try a few out and buy one if you like it. Nothing stopping you riding it on the flat road on the way to a trail, or just mooching along tow-paths. Clearly they are built to handle the speed, drops, turns and obstacles found on DH trails, so won't be the optimum choice for more relaxed XC riding... doesn't mean you can't use it for that though, just means you might find it harder.

After all, I have seem a pair of lads riding unicycles around the Bristol Leigh Woods trails (very beginner-friendly trails). Not sure a unicycle is the optimum bike choice but didn't stop them from having fun!

[Digga]

Firstly, you idea of 2nd hand is a good one. You can do far worse than to check out the classifieds on some of the main mtb sites, like Pinkbike or Dirt.

http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/listnew/?category=...

http://dirtmountainbike.com/classifieds#full-suspe...

It sounds like you aren't so much after a downhill bike, as something full-suspension XC (cross Country) or a slightly beefier AM (All Mountain), which makes the trails easier and faster to ride. At the moment, you should be aware that, for reasons best not delved into, a lot of people are ditching perfectly good 26" wheeled bikes to buy 27.5 (650b) or 29" wheeled bikes (both of which are also good, but not necessarily that much better) so you will have a lot of choice IMHO of decent 26" metal.

Edited by Digga on Thursday 17th April 13:46

[TheHighlander]

Thanks for all the information lads.

I forgot about pinkbike will check them websites out.