Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 53 total)
  • Anyone admitted that they're not that rad anymore and bought a sensible bike?
  • mindmap3
    Free Member

    Firstly, apologies for what may be a long post…

    I currently ride a 2005 SX Trail which is a great bike but is looking a bit knackered now so I want a new frame. I’ve cleared it with the boss, so started looking at Transition Coverts and Banshee Rune v2’s both of which are 160mm bikes that are designed to be ridden up and down things (although the Rune is a bit more aggro). I rode DH a lot when I lived in Sheffield and have always enjoyed getting down stuff as fast as I can. I’d say I’m an OK rider – I’m faster than some people whilst others are faster than me. As a result I’ve always been drawn to the more aggro bikes.

    I was pretty set on one of these frames, but I’m starting to wonder if either will be a bit OTT for what I actually ride on a regular basis, especially living in the midlands. I know that the purists on here will flame me, but I do spend a lot of time at Cannock Chase because locally there’s not much else that guarantees a bit of fun. I also ride in the Peaks a fair bit due to having family in Sheffield. My usual rides up there are Stanage, mucking about in Wyming Brook, Ladybower etc. I also occasionally head over to Wharncliffe to ride the DH tracks.

    Although I enjoy the descending part of riding, I’m not as fast as I was nor do I hit loads of big jumps any more. This got me thinking as to whether I would be better off with something like the Banshee Spitfire v2 which is a 140mm travel trail bike with slack angles and designed round a 160mm fork. It seems that these kind of bikes are pretty solid these days and will take a bit more abuse than you would think.

    I love the look of the Rune and the Covert, but I am starting to wonder whether I’d be lugging around a very capable bike that is not getting used to its fullest. But then I think if I start king a few more uplift days, would I be better off with he Rune or Covert?

    Has anyone else been in a similar position and done the same thing?

    Cheers

    samuri
    Free Member

    Yep, about twenty years ago. I’ve got two road bikes and three cross bikes now. 😉

    the_lecht_rocks
    Full Member

    Lol, I went from a 160mm Helius am 26r to a steep and more trail/xc orientated Helius AC 29r.

    Ideal for 99% of what iride and superb to boot. The am was a lump and just plain numb / dull to ride in comparison…..

    mindmap3
    Free Member

    Samuri; funny you should say that because I bought a road bike through the C2W scheme in January and I love it! Gets used the most out of all my bikes due to the lack of faffing involved.

    The_lecht; that’s what I was thinking too. The Rune or Covert would probably be ace on the two or three up lifts that I’ll do a year and the odd trip to Wharncliffe, but they’re pretty full on bikes to lug round the Chase or CYB.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    Pitch cost £2.5k, gets ridden 500 miles a year?

    SS cost £500, get’s ridden 500 miles in a month just on bridleways commuting to work! If my knee wasn’t swollen it’d be doing double that on proper trails too!

    I blame living down south, it’s the trails that aren’t gnarr, not me!

    Most of the Pitches miles are done on uplifts (or push ups), and big days out on stuff it does well. I’d have no qualms taking it down a DH track, I run out of bottle before it breaks!

    monkeyninja
    Free Member

    Mindmap how much do you weigh? I weigh 13 st and have been jumping my spitfire a lot and its a solid frame. If you are only doing 1 or 2 uplifts a year then it will easily handle it. I would happily take my spitfire down the Innerleithen dh trails there’s nothing there it couldn’t handle, it just won’t be as fast as my dh bike. You should defiantly get a demo you’ll be surprised at what it can handle.

    househusband
    Free Member

    Yeah.

    Now have a proper road bike; unlike the one I bought in a sale several years ago this one is the right size.

    mindmap3
    Free Member

    Hi Monkey, I’m about the same weight as you.

    There isn’t a demo available of it yet, but I’ll be testing the Rune on Saturday which will hopefully give me an idea of what the Spitfire will be like. It does look like a solid little frame…long, low and slack. I’m starting to think that it’ll be a bit slower on the really rough stuff but I don’t ride that all of the time so it’ll be much quicker on everything else.

    umop3pisdn
    Free Member

    Currently experimenting with a rigid 29er which could potentially replace my Ragley Blue Pig… just not fun enough on local trails and I so rarely go anywhere were I ‘need’ suspension or the geo.

    I_Ache
    Free Member

    Don’t be so bloody daft! I hope this isn’t off the back of last nights ride? In all seriousness I was thinking about a stumpy to replace my enduro but it would be trading on the toes of my BFe. Modern 160mm bikes climb much better than 05 SX’s they are also lighter while being as strong if not stronger.

    140mm will be great for most riding but when you hit a rock garden fast enough to clench just in case, you will wish you had just that little more travel and those slightly slacker angles.

    andyecc
    Free Member

    I’m certainly not rad but absolutely love my Covert.
    It’s not quick climbing but it will quite happily get me up anything I’m capable of climbing – it just gets there a little bit slower. Point it downhill and it’s just great fun, even though I’m riding it well short of its capabilities. The relatively relaxed angles are confidence inspiring on anything steep and it’s very good at getting me out of trouble if I get over enthusiastic.
    It may not be the quickest bike I’ve ever owned but it is, by miles, the most fun.

    monkeyninja
    Free Member

    The spitfire v2 is designed round a 160mm fork and combine that with a DBair it makes the 140mm rear travel feel bottomless, 66 degree head angle is pretty slack for a trail bike

    ahwiles
    Free Member

    yes.

    my Dh bike(s) used to have 200mm of travel, then i got sensible and bought one with 160.

    my xc bike used to be a 150mm all-mountain thing, now it’s a hardtail with sensible forks (100mm).

    the kit is cheaper, it’s less effort to ride, and i’m fairly sure i’m going a bit faster on ‘smaller’ bikes (by accident i found myself in the ‘Dh’ woods on my cyclo-cross bike, which proved surprisingly capable…)

    davosaurusrex
    Full Member

    I was never that rad in the first place but there’s no way I’m admitting it in pu…..awwww, crap.

    djglover
    Free Member

    6/7 years ago I was laying it flat over 20ft gap jumps and road gaps, getting top 5 in DH races

    Now I am riding a road bike

    In-between I had kids….

    mindmap3
    Free Member

    I_Ache; nowt to do with Tuesdays ride, just something I’ve been thinking about since looking at new bikes. I think most things will pedal better than my SX! The Spitfire is a fair bit slacker than my SX (66 degrees versus 68) plus a steeper seat tube which means it won’t want to wheelie up steep stuff.

    Monkey; I’ll be going CCDBa. There doesn’t seem to be much love for the Fox CTD shock and the upgrade is fairly minimal especially when compared to a Push tune or a new shock.

    Hmmmm. We’ll see after the weekend after I’ve lugged a Rune and a Covert around Long Mynd. It’ll either convince me that it’ll be fine and I’ll stay over biked (and proud) or go for he Spitfire.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    No but going to invest is lighter weight kit. Dropping 10mm but thats nothing really

    ddmonkey
    Full Member

    I no longer own a DH bike becuase I admitted to myself that I didn’t have the balls or ability to go fast enough to make it worthwhile. I just have a 160mm bike which at the speends I feel comfortable going is more fun and easier to move around. Its still capable of riding down any track I want to ride.

    ndg
    Free Member

    mindmap3 –

    I rode the rune and spitfire (not sure if it was a v2) at the leisure lakes demo day in March. Totally different bikes – riding the rune will tell you very little about the spitfire

    rOcKeTdOg
    Full Member

    i’ve never had a Rad bike, always been a mincer

    midlands based too, maybe there’s something in the water?

    I_Ache
    Free Member

    I just had a quick look at the Spitfire and it doesn’t look like an ordinary 140mm bike. It seems much more aggressive, possibly almost as much as the SX.

    grum
    Free Member

    Build up a cheap less hardcore hardtail and keep the SX trail, if finances allow? That Spitfire does sound good though.

    I sometimes think about getting a more sensible bike than my current Pitch with 160mm forks and coil shock, but then I ride something like I did in Grizedale last night and grin so much I decide against it.

    My normal riding is in the Lakes though (and around Hebden Bridge) where a reasonably big bike makes sense, and it goes on uplift days here and to the Alps/Pyrenees.

    mindmap3
    Free Member

    ndg; I guess they would have been the v2 models if it was this year. What were your thoughts on them?

    I_Ache; that’s why I was looking at it. Its far from your normal trail bike. It looks pretty burly too, which is why I was thinking that it may be better for the majority of my riding.

    Problem is that the Rune just looks ace. As does the Covert.

    AlexSimon
    Full Member

    djglover – Member

    6/7 years ago I was laying it flat over 20ft gap jumps and road gaps, getting top 5 in DH races

    Now I am riding a road bike

    In-between I had kids….
    I feel more at risk on the roads than on jumps (although admittedly not road gaps). At least I’m in control.

    konaboy2275
    Free Member

    I was trying to be sensible, sold most of my DH gear and bikes and bought a Titus X last year when they were cheap. It constantly suprises me how capable it is for what is supposed to be a 4″ xc frame.

    I’m about to sell my Ti456 as I’ve a bad back and it seems to affect it more than other frames (my initial plan of hanging on the wall in the lounge as a work of art was soon stopped by the other half!). I would have been happy with just the Titus X and my commuter bike but then the El Guapo’s came back in stock in super raw so I spent yesterday building my new ‘ardcore frame up 😳

    orangeboy
    Free Member

    I refuse to admit I don’t need a big bike and just got another enduro
    Just could not help it

    mindmap3
    Free Member

    Orangeboy…I’m sure that’s what will happen.

    I’ll be thinking something sensible but see something that I just love the look of / idea of and convince myself that I’ll make more of an effort to do uplift days etc.

    roverpig
    Full Member

    I’ve often had the debate with myself about whether I should buy a bike for the rider I am or the rider I’d like to become, but this is the first time I’ve heard of anybody buying a bike for the rider they used to be 🙂

    AlexSimon
    Full Member

    If it pedals well and doesn’t feel too heavy for you, then I don’t really see what the problem with 160mm is.

    Of course the opposite argument is that a 140mm with good geometry will do just about everything anyway. I’d still buy one that pedalled well without having to turn to a special ‘climb’ mode on the shock though.

    In fact there are quite burly 140mm bikes around with slack angles. I find my 140mm bike feels fairly transformed by putting on super tacky downhill tyres and tubes on for uplift days.

    Stevelol
    Free Member

    Haven’t you made a thread on this already? 😛

    My 2p: I had a Covert for over a year, it’s the only frame I’ve ever bought new. I bought it after watching the (very very good) videos of the Transition guys riding their local trails.

    I aspire to be able to ride technical trail features well and get my wheels in the air, but the fact of the matter is that most of the trails I actually ride don’t have any of these features apart from the occasional trip to Wharncliffe, Storthes Hall and Scotland. So I sold it (making a substantial loss…grrr) and bought a lighter bike (Blur TRc) although I could have got a hardtail (and probably should have done) and had 90% as much fun.

    I have loads more fun now, it’s extremely easy to pedal this thing around for hours, it rewards you if you can carry speed, but at the same time it has geometry that makes it really fun to ride, it’s slack enough to feel confident going downhill fast over rocks, it’s got a seriously low BB so the slightest of berm is easy to turn into a speed booster ( 😀 ). On the occasions I do go to somewhere with some decent jumps and drops I’m also fairly comfortable that it will handle anything I’d want to do without a downhill bike between my legs.

    I think you should test ride a Bandit and get one of those, in my opinion the Spitfire and Rune are too similar and both pretty heavy bikes to be pedalling around.

    rusty90
    Free Member

    @roverpig
    The rider I used to be

    The rider I’d like to be

    The rider I am

    tops5
    Free Member

    In exactly this position – love the way my Covert goes downhill but don’t think I really do it justice. As I said on a previous thread it shows its weight when riding flat/non techy climbs with others on more “sensible” bikes. Pro-pedal definitley doesnt make a difference and I can see that it bobs a lot more than a zesty for instance.

    My quandry now is whether to put it on a diet (swap 36s for 34s and see what else I can shave off) and sort the rear shock tune. Or go for a smaller travel bike like a Bandit/maybe back to a Turner. Leaning towards the latter as the Covert frame feels a little large for me.

    Also like the look of the Yeti ASR5 as it seems to have fun angles with shorter travel/lighter weight – there should be more bikes like this as oppossed to short travel = XC

    Doug
    Free Member

    Downsized a little to a Canyon AL+, then saw a big bike frame and fork bargain I couldnt pass up on eBay and finished it with all the kit off my old porky AM bike.

    chakaping
    Free Member

    Cotic Rocket? Perhaps with a 160mm burly fork and a 150mm Rev?

    mindmap3
    Free Member

    Steve; I did indeed start a thread about the Covert with the odd comment about the Rune being on the list too but ad you cab tell, I’m very much in the fence. Partly because I’m being a Doris and partly because this will be the most I’ve ever spent on a frame.

    Roverpig; that’s actually in interesting point. I do seem to like / look at bikes that suit the rider and riding that u used to do. I guess that’s my comfort zone somewhat.

    roverpig
    Full Member

    @Rusty90: Very good. At least you wont get thirsty now 🙂

    @mindmap3: I doubt you are alone. Most of us probably lust after bikes that we can’t really do justice to. It’s what keeps the economy going.

    ahwiles
    Free Member

    Most of us probably lust after bikes that we can’t really do justice to.

    i don’t know, i’m quite happy lusting after a 100mm mince-core pootler…

    oh…

    mindmap3
    Free Member

    Well, just as I thought, I’m going to be staying over biked!

    I liked both the Rune and the Covert, but I’m going with the Rune. It seemed to get up the hills around Long Mynd ok and was a total hoot on the way back down. I’ve decided that I don’t really care, the only important thing is that I have fun and if that involves lugging something like the Rune around then so be it.

    nowthen
    Free Member

    This cuts both ways… for years I had an obsession with light weight bikes and spent far too much of my riding time mincing around on bikes barely suitable for even light offroading… gradually I have realised burlier bikes suit me much better and my riding has improved dramatically… never been happier than now with my Carbon Nomad with 180mm forks… embrace the Gnar!

    dantsw13
    Full Member

    I reckon you need an El Guapo 29’er – we saw what those beasts can do!! A lot more than we can, thats for sure!!

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 53 total)

The topic ‘Anyone admitted that they're not that rad anymore and bought a sensible bike?’ is closed to new replies.