I've stumbled upon some pretty tasty jumps very local to me and so am thinking of buying a cheap DJ bike. I know literally nothing about them.
24 or 26" wheels? Suspention forks? Hydro brakes? Gears or SS?
If anyone can shed some light on it for me, I'd be very appreciative. At 6ft what size frame should I look for? If anyone has a nice cheap bike for sale in the bristol area, I may be interested.
Cheers.

Anyone? please?

Hope the jumps aren't the ones i stumbled across late last year that are now looking amazing….i want a Jump bike!!!

I find a jump bike with 24" wheels is much easier to control and learn for dirt jumps. But on here 26" seems to be more in vogue.

The less front suspension the better 80-100mm set up hard (you don't want to suck up the lips).

Frame size – it doesn't need to 'fit' you as your not going to be really pedaling or sitting down that much, just make sure its small so you have plenty of stand over, you want the saddle super low. I prefer a longer TT but that down to personal pref.

Oh and its got to be steel.

Well, I'm certainly no expert but I've done a bit.
If you're not used to cruisers then you might feel a little weird on one, I know I certainly did.

So I got a 26" wheeled Gimp which felt great. When I was looking at dirt jumping bikes they either came in one size or two sizes. The Gimp was one size IIRC. If there's more than one size I'd choose the biggest if I were you. I didn't bother with sus forks and I'm glad I didn't and you're really not going to do much braking so V's are fine. Most of the time you'll be up on the pedals either pedalling like mad or pulling some gnarly air.

Singlespeed worked for me, I would have hated having those gears clanking about every time I landed or crashed.

At the end of the day though, there are no hard and fast rules and people get by with lots of different configurations, whatever feels best for you.

Not got many pictures from those days but…
Here's me after landing some sick air.

And me getting some.

Clearly mine was broken though because I never did get the hang of doing lots of doubles in a row.

HTH

edit: One thing to note, dirt jumping bikes are absolutely brilliant for just knocking about on. Every ride down the shops is an assault course, every trip to the park with the kids is a trials event. Enjoy!

I would say 24inch wheels as they accelerate a bit quicker and easier to handle, short travel fork, or a rigid if your confident on landing smooth. just a rear v brake will be fine. there are usually good ones going second hand, i got my fully built dmr sidekick with rigis forks for £250

oh yeh, and single speed, i hate hearing the sound of the chain, and also less to break.

I've got a kona shred (yes it's a jump bike)! for sale – it isn't a premium price.
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"One thing to note, dirt jumping bikes are absolutely brilliant for just knocking about on. Every ride down the shops is an assault course, every trip to the park with the kids is a trials event. Enjoy! "

Hell yes, I'd like a 24, but I use it to commute and generally mess about on, so it's a 26. 80mm travel on cheap forks ,to me,longevity is more important than feel or coil or rebound rate or any of that xc guff, mechanical disk at the front, v at the rear. Indestructible but heavy rims, Maxxis hookworms. Bounces off pretty much anything it hits or hits it. Love it around town.

That's just the kind of info I was after, thanks very much guys.
Crotchrocket YHM.
Nick, they may be. Not far from a man made pond? Sorry to be cryptic but I'd hate for these to disappear just as I buy a DJ bike!

They are for children…

They are for children…

Perfect!

only skimmed the in between posts but in reply to the OP – my preference is 24", singlespeed, brakes (any old kind unless you start buckling wheels), suspension if you're worried but in theory rigid is fine as you're landing smoothly on the downslope. frame size – doesn't really matter, there are 6ft people who ride bmx…

you want a specialized p2, bargain bike second hand around 250-300, short chain stay, good stand over height, fairly solid build.

May I suggest the following?

26" wheels – pro's and con's to both sizes, but you'll probably already have 26s about, so very handy for spares/tyres/tubes.

Forks – I run 80mm forks as my local trails are fairly bumpy though I used rigid for years. If the local jumps are smoothish then rigid are spot on.

Brakes – Cables are easier to fix in a prang so get my vote. Brakes aren't that critical.

I run SS. No clattering and less to brake.

Size wise at 6' you'll be grand on anything. Some companies offer longer frames but i'm 6'5 and ride a standard sized DMR no problems.

Have you tried the jumps on your present bike yet? It's surprising how many bikes can be used as a jump bike. 😆

oh it's so not fair!!

I'm not allowed a jump bike – grumpy husband reckons there's too much potential for injuring myself [sigh]

Maybe your best bet is to go to the dirt jumps when the people who build them are there, then ask if its ok for you to ride them before you go buying a bike.

I imagine it would be incredibly annoying for them to turn up at the jumps one day and find someone (who knows literally nothing about dirt jump bikes, and jumps i presume) has cased all the landings and ruined the take offs with his phat mountain bike tires.

As for bike recommendations, it depends what style of jumps they are. BMX is probably best if its smooth trails, but if your shit unable to ride bmx then some sort of mtb with hard tires, single speed and short travel forks would do

I agree with David , you should talk to the people who built them, see If they are ok with it… It's very annoying if you build trails then find sone numpty has ridden then then left them damaged…

In terms of the bike, get a bmx. If not I'd go 24 inch rigid singlespeed with just a back brake.

DMR frames seem to be very popular amongst the dirt jumping fraternity.

I personally prefer 24" wheels as a bike with 24" wheels just feels more nicer in the air to me. But go with what feels best for you (if all you've ridden for a long time is 26" wheels, then that may be the best option for you.

If using suspension, 80-100mm will be ideal.

davidtaylforth, I was going to ask them and offer to chip in on dig days etc.
Hypothetically; what if they say no? they don't own the woods any more than I do regardless of what they've done to it. I can't imagine them doing so but it just raised a question as really, they couldn't stop me if they wanted to. Hypothetically.
In reality, I hope that they would be happy for the help.

How about this? Excuse the green tyres lol!

£250 and its yours – i'm in bristol next week too.
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Cheers,
Steve

I've never tried 24 but have tried 20 and 26. I prefer 26, more stable and in comparison it's effortless to jump with (it's like riding with cheat codes on). Longer top tube will be more stable at speed.

I'm one of the minority who prefers 140mm forks, but then again my head angle seems really steep with 110mm and I prefer a slacker feel. Rigid forks are good if you're smooth, you'll find pumping is a lot easier when you don't have bouncy forks sapping the energy! I'm just not good enough to use them all the time but the difference is huge so long as you land smoothly.

Definitely singlespeed, for 26" you'll want 34-16. Make sure you get a strong 1/8" bmx chain (kmc z510hx is a good choice) as you don't want it to snap when you're cranking toward a jump!

Rear disc brake, a cable one such as the BB7 should be sufficient – no chance of splitting the hose or leaking if you crash and wrap the cable round multiple times.

Personally I really like my DMR Trailstar for jumping, don't do it enough any more though 🙁 And to one-up samuri here's a little vid of me getting some "sick air" before I crashed hard and lost all my confidence 🙁