2nd visit here, first time was on an orange five – this time it was on a Whyte G150 works, it felt better ish on the Whyte but I came away yesterday having fingers cramped up and rattled to pieces thinking i need a downhill bike for some places or do i?

I never mess with my suspension or adapt it to a situation, i leave it as it is for everything so im thinking is it down to alterations in pressures to get thw smoother ride or is it nope..you need to gwt a downhill. I did every route yesterday double black everything but it was hard going, especially at speed over the rocks. I ran with high pressures in my tyres and my forks stayed within 1.5 inches of the top so i was not even close to bottoming out.

So i suppose the question im asking is, at a place like Antur Stiniog do you need a downhill bike or will tuning my own do the trick?

No, you don’t need one*.

One some of the tracks a 6″ travel bike can be faster, like the blue, top of the red and some of the smooth bottom bits (I rode both, mate rode both, we were matched speed on similar bikes but he pulled away on his ‘am’ and me on my dh).

1.5″ on a 6″ travel bike is 25%. I’d start there.

*owning one is fun though, if you can justify it and ride it often enough to make the most of it. I still have one but don’t get anywhere close to pushing it any more as I spend 90% of my time on my 6″ bike, which is nearly as capable.

Having pain in your fingers is perfectly normal after a full day of DH runs. There’s no excuse for not using all of your suspension travel though. If you’re using dual ply tyres like a High Roller you can comfortably run them in the mid 20 psi’s.

Thanks, il have to alter my shocks just to get a bit more out the front suspension,, i over heard someone say run at 20psi in the later part of the day. At that point id been running at 50psi eek!! And i lost some nobbles clean off my tyres (hans damfs) so maybe a more suitable tyre. Any recommendations for tyres? Im going to bike park wales next

Bloody hell 50psi would have me grabbing the bars a bit too tight as well! Schwalbes aren’t known for their build quality either.

I think some dual ply Maxxis at sub 30psi and a bit more sag on your shocks would have a transformative effect on ride quality.

No offence, but if you actually had 50psi in your tyres, and weren’t even close to using all of the travel in your fork, then you’ve set your bike up completely wrong.

First of all, get those tyre pressures down to ~25psi at least, maybe higher if you have tubes in and don’t want pinches, or if you’ve got tubeless you could go a little lower.

Then start by setting the sag on your bike properly, try 30% on the rear shock, and 25% on your fork as a starting point. You want it feel controlled, and ideally to come within a few mm of bottoming out on the biggest hits.

If you get a downhill bike, and set it up in the same way as you have with your current bike, it’ll still feel horrible.

I rode a 6″ Enduro there and didn’t die. Much.

Was also on standard black chilli tyres. Again, limited death.

I could have done with some additional testicular fortitude, though.

No offence taken, to me its all good,, im just over thw moon the bike i have is sufficent and its just my toolishness thats made it harder. I have never set sag on anything i just ride it however,, but can see its something i must do,, will have to find a youtube video and follow that

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pikQ0vOiDoA[/video]

Booked to go there on the 17th of this month, I’ll be taking the Ragley HT as per usual…i’ll definitely be filming it on helmet cam as this has the potential to go spectacularly tits up!…haha….anyway, dual ply tyres are a necessity I presume?

If you’ve got them, definitely use them yeah.

Will help protect your wheels as well as puncture protection.

I wouldn’t say dual ply is a necessirty, but everyone in our group of `12 who didn’t have dual ply/Super Gravity/WYB Tough suffered with punctures.

Definitely worth playing with the suspension settings but make sure you keep a record of the normal settings (air pressure, rebound-compression clicks etc)
Recent trip to BPW on the new Liteville 601 had me making a few little adjustments to pressure and compression/rebound and it made a massive difference to how the bike worked.
It depends a bit on what your local riding is like too. My local stuff has very few jumps, berms etc so the suspension needs to work very differently at the 2 places.