Downhill to XC in one easy step

[maix27]

I'm on a bit of a mission to make my bike suitable for the sort of riding i do now as it's stupidly impracticable at the moment and it is stopping me using it as much as i'd like to. I've currently got a very DH specific Norco (it's a 2007 Sasquatch, same as this one). Now, the components are all really good, i'd need to replace a few things but i'm thinking i can just buy an XC frame and rebuild around that.

I don't see why I'd have any issues but as they say, you don't know what you don't know! So if anyone's done anything like this before it would be good to hear the areas i've got to pay attention to.

Also, I'd really like to get some advice on frames.

Currently I'm looking at:
Orange P7 steal frame
Santa Cruz Heckler
Yeti 575

Anything else in this bracket, i'd love to hear about them! Budget is ~£400 for the frame.

Cheers folks.

[Mr E]

I had a "XC" (more "cocking about in the woods) bike built out of a steel Kinesis Decade Virsa frame (which should be well inside budget.

I like it.

[paulrockliffe]

On One 456 Carbon frame and you're sorted.

[Janosh]

I just sold my DH bike and bought a Nuke Proof Mega.... It truly is a 'go anywhere' bike.

Pic taken yesterday above Le Tour (in the Chamonix valley)

[Ennoch]

Given the basis of a £400 budget I can only assume you're thinking of second hand for a Heckler, in which case I'd say that it's not the best full sus out there, although given the budget it's not bad. Of the hardtails out there I'd recommend that serious consideration be given to the Cove Stiffee, I rate it as the best all round hardtail out there in its various guises over the years - my old one is an '04 and got abused for 7 years before I stripped it at the start of last year. Great frames, light, and capable of everything you throw at them. I did 100 mile epics, downhill and even the odd session at the trails on mine. A £400 full sus frame is probably going to require maintenance and eat into your budget unless you go for something unfashionable like a Cannondale Prophet etc (not that they're bad bikes).

[woots787]

Janosh said:

I just sold my DH bike and bought a Nuke Proof Mega.... It truly is a 'go anywhere' bike.

Pic taken yesterday above Le Tour (in the Chamonix valley)

Mega looks sweet.

I think this chap should sell his old bike and buy a whole new (second hand) bike. Something dull like my Specialized Stumpjumper Fsr, which is a stunning bike, obvious choice is often obvious for a reason. Unless you like building niche stuff up; In which case get a cotic bfe.

John

Edited by woots787 on Monday 22 October 18:09

[joema]

Janosh said:

I just sold my DH bike and bought a Nuke Proof Mega.... It truly is a 'go anywhere' bike.

Pic taken yesterday above Le Tour (in the Chamonix valley)

To say I'm not jealous is an understatement...!

OP, Dialled bikes prince albert? Do they make them still?

[Roman]

paulrockliffe said:

On One 456 Carbon frame and you're sorted.

+1 - or 456 Evo, both good for long travel forks and they have some great deals on tyres too.

[Pablo16v]

You can't beat a good steel framed hardtail (IMHO and all that...etc). Despite having had 6" full sussers for the past 9 years two of my favourite bikes were hardtail "2nd" bikes. A Dialled Prince Albert, and a Ragley Blue Pig X. Both bikes can do the XC stuff pretty well but are right hooligans when you want to get playful in the gnar. The Albert is a wee bit more XC orientated in its angles but the Pig's frame angles are pretty sorted so you get the bost of both worlds....slack enough for making the most of the descents but with a steep seat tube to make climbing easy too.

[maix27]

Thanks for the advice guys.

The Stiffie is a frame I know well, my best mate's ride is a custom Stiffie (still makes me laugh saying it).

It's still too DH for what i want i think, it's geometry isn't too much dissimilar to my Norco. Amazing how different they feel in reality though.

I was looking at a few specialized, I want one a lot but not sure i can afford a fully-built one (well, not the ones i want!) and there seems to be more interesting frames around.

I’ve read some pretty duff reviews about the 456 but I’ll be checking out the Blue Pig and Prince Albert, both look ace. The bfe looks even better. None look easy to source!

[P-Jay]

I was about the say the Stiffee is the same sort of thing you have now.

I don't know the exact spec of the stuff you have now, but I'm not sure you'll gain much with just a frame swap. You can get a lighter XC based frame of course, but I assume you have about a 140mm travel fork of the same sort of age? It's probably going to be too long for a proper XC build and will give you the slacker geo of the frame you have now.

What aspect of your bike is annoying you? The slackness or the weight?