I know there are always posts about which hardcore hardtail but what im after is a more dh/jump specific frame, ideally in steel.
currently have a genesis alpitude, which is great but just feels too long for airbourne duties.
what is anyone riding regularly for dh? chromag stylus, cotic bfe? what other oprions are there?

For DH long is good!

Are you after a mucking about dirtjump bike or a DH bike? Most DH specific hardtails are actualy quite long (.243 for example).

I’ve got a 456 with some 150mm z1’s arriving this week hopefully, gonna be ace 🙂

Only problem is as you say in the air, it jumps fine, but seems to prefer flying through the set at Swinley at full speed and overshooting the landings to actualy getting any significant height.

NS Bitch here … it’s the older one which was designed for 170mm forks, ’tis very nice.

yep im in agreement, im after a balance really, the alpitude is just too long and just doesnt feel right, fine for trail centre blasting but doesnt feel great on dh, it may feel better if i had the smaller frame. I get the need for some length on dh but the alpitude is just too much.

DH/ Jump specific doesn’t exist as they are 2 quite different things.

compare the DMR transition to dmr ex alt.

like i said, im after a bike that will give me a balance, i understand that dh and jump specific frames are different, im after a happy medium between the two

I’ve used my Sovereign with 140 Vanillas for DH and, whilst you might be able to get down the hill a bit quicker with something bigger and with more travel, there really isn’t much point. If you want to wrestle with your bike for fun, get a 140 hardtail, if you want to do DH, get a full suspension bike. DH hardtail = totally pointless.

*edit – Having said that… 😯

DH hardtail = totally pointless

id have to disagree hardtail dh is loads of fun, espeacially when you are worrying the rear tyre of someone on a £2k+ fs rig.
I dont do fs full stop so im not going to buy one espeacially at the price id need to spend for such a single minded bike. HT all the way!
*edit: whoah ^^ that is one fugly beast, love to have a go on it though

DH hardtail = totally pointless

Yep I think that there are a few people who would disagree with that statement, not least Lee Huskinson and Nathan Ball, both of whom were unofficial national hardtail champions. Huskinson in particular is noted to have beaten a large portion of the full suss field at Dragon race on Mynydd Du a few years back. Anyone who has ridden Mynydd Du will know that’s it’s a seriously hard course on a DH rig, let alone a hardtail.

For the record, I am pretty sure that both Lee and Nathan were riding DMRs of one variety or another. Exalts and Sidekicks are popular for DH racing on a HT.

Last time I checked Nathan Ball was using a DMR Trailstar with Marzocchi 66 forks.

Point243racing
http://www.balfa.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=6_43&products_id=40

Possibly worth speaking to Jamie to see if he has any Balfa Minuteman frames kicking about… I love my Minuteman

unofficial national hardtail champions

Is this a further example of the increasing fragmentation of our sport?

Gotta be a DMR of some kind…. Exalts are longer than Trailstars, but don’t fly as well cuz they’re heavier. Maybe consider a Dialled Alpine too…. will handle the dh punishment but jumps well too.

I used to love my .243 fr, it felt good to descend on and for jumping, but it was pig heavy.

I made the mistake of weighing my Minuteman… 6-1/2 lbs of steel… but it rides and flies nice.

Maybe consider a Dialled Alpine too…. will handle the dh punishment but jumps well too.

The only slight downside to the Alpine is that being designed for Alpine work, it’s got a fairly high BB. It’s brilliant for what it was designed for, but for UK DH racing/riding, I think a lower BB is better suited.

Another frame I had which was excellent for DH and jumping was a Nicolai BMXTB – it was aluminium and a little more twitchy than the Balfa

DMR are ace DH hardtails.
did 2 alps seasons guiding DH/AM on a trailstar
the number of “how do you do that?” comments is funny.
Identiti do a 853 hardtail for 4X which is a beast of a bike.
that + rohloff + 66 s = beast!
also a 24″ rear wheel can help for very steep technical DH as in the high alps.

http://www.chromagbikes.com/frames/samurai

Chromag Samurai would be my choice if I was going to get a hardtail for DH duty.

I believe it’s what this guys is riding.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv7TyakE8qw[/video]

Agreed geetee1972, the Alpine’s bb is a bit high for proper DH, DMRs are maybe a tad more stable at speed. And a darn sight cheaper to boot.

Huskinson in particular is noted to have beaten a large portion of the full suss field at Dragon race on Mynydd Du a few years back.

probably would have beaten them all on a proper DH bike then.

Currently riding a DMR Trailstar with 140mm Pikes for a bit of everything. It jumps amazingly, so stable and easy. Feels good on DH but can get twitchy at speed – then again not sure whether that’s me or the bike.. was considering the Alpine but maybe not after reading this as the high bb might make it shit compared to the low bb of the Trailstar (even though the HA is slacker). On paper the DMRs 71 degree head angle seems a bit steep, rides well enough on tracks like at FOD.

My current DH ahrdtail is an old Planet-X Jack Flash frame running RS Domain’s at 160mm. I have no idea how it compares to a DMR frame but I can confirm it is great fun to ride, really grin inducing.

I’m currently in the process of retiring my very DH build (Boxers, 729 rims,8″ front brake ~36lbs) Exalt, prior to that I had two different builds of trailstar. If you go down the DMR route the trailstar is the more versatile bike. The Exalt felt more like a DH bike than I really expected, that is to say great on fast stuff but still a bit slack and heavy on tight trails, it’s far easier I reckon to build up a 32~33lbs trailstar or blender maybe with a 1×9 drivetrain 721/521 wheelset and a 130-140mm fork than would still eat up DH blasts, but happily let you get airbourne. 4-5lbs less weight and circa 4-5″travel seems optimal to me now. For my own part the Exalt is being replaced by a bargain bin aluminium frame and 4″ marz fork as a lighter trail/DHish machine. Less is in some ways more

whoops double post.

The obvious choice or so I would have though would be the Subzero orange rate them to 180mm stick a pair of totems on the front and you can’t go wrong. I still got mine running lyriks. It can cope with anything you can think of.

I use an Evil Imperial like the one in the Pic above and use to run it with similar set up ie triple clamps and 24″ wheels 3″ tyres etc.

Have since changed to Totems and 26″ wheels and its great fun for DH. Although the frame can take any sized forks I do think 7″ on a HT is a bit much. I am going to lower my totems to 150mm or 160mm and see how it feels.

HT’s are great fun for DH.

prior to that I had two different builds of trailstar.

Did you ever find the “steep” head angle a problem? I’ve not ridden enough bikes to compare it with so I don’t know if a new frame is gonna be much of an upgrade for dh, considering nothing I can find has as low a bb as the Trailstar. Wondering whether I’d actually benefit or whether it’s a case of the grass being greener!