Ive been twice and on both occasions i have left wandering if a dh bike was too much bike, considering the capabilities of so called Enduro bikes now. I rode my Evil Uprising in the Solvenian Alps and it was faultless.

I dont take my dh bike to anywhere near its limits and i sometimes felt the weight was hindering, not helping.

Has anyone else thought the same and even taken a less burly bike to Whistler bike park?

You can ride it on anything. Last time I was there even the Charge Blender got treated to a few laps.

EDIT: But, yes I did have a full on DH bike and rode that most of the time. It’s not overkill if you like the more natural stuff.

not really

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/dirt-merchant-a-line-with-a-cross-bike-video-2015.html

Nope, went a few years ago, most of us had DH bikes, two of the lads had Spesh Pitches – some of the time the lighter bikes made the tighter trails easier, but even on the very fast open ones they didn’t get left behind – we did of course, the day they went trail riding out of the park.

Sold my DH bike when I got home, for my kind of pace my Cove G-Spot is just as good as my Shocker was.

The park is very smooth.

I think it depends what you’re riding and at what pace. I ride my HD3 and Sweamrs rides her Nomad in the park. It’s fine for the flow trails and even black tech but I’m not setting any records. For double black and even black tech at fast speeds I’d say a DH bike would be better but there are an awful lot of single crown forked bikes in the lift line. I’ve no doubt though that me on a DH bike would be considerably slower than a good rider on an Enduro bike.

I prefer a 150 – 160mm AM bike, but then I’m not taking the runs at Gee Atherton speeds. I prefer the feel of a slightly lighter, more maneuverable bike than a 40lb monster. If you were really pinning it and getting really big airs, then I think the full on DH bike would be better.

It is also about the longevity of the bike. IME Whistler BP is hard on bikes, and a DH bike will take the pounding for longer.

^^^ – A lot of Canadians would agree with TroutWrestler on that as well. For the odd day anything but if you’re doing it a lot the things wear out fast.

What others have said.

A DH bike will take the abuse far better, but a lighter bike can be more fun. I certainly wouldn’t say a DH bike is mandatory, but I probably wouldn’t recommend hammering a AM/Enduro bike down the park regularly.

Riding at warp 9? Doing the biggest trails/drops/jumps? Immortal? DH bike

Every one else, a trail bike is more than capable. Rent a dh bike for a day at the end of your trip if you really feel the urge.

I’ve used a Newmad the the last 2 years, riding most days (I guess 10-12 of 14 each time I go) in the park and it’s been prefect. Rented dh bikes but found them to be crap unless I was going fast enough to terrify myself. Though I’m far to scared cool to do all most some of the double black stuff

When we went (twice) a few years back, I was on an old 2002 Turner RFX. 150mm travel, coil shock, Bombers, DH wheels, dual ply tyres and DH tubes. It was fine. Rode all the black and double black trails in the park other than the Boneyard. I was faster than some guys on DH bikes, slower than others. Only mechanical issue was that my King headset kept working loose. A modern enduro/AM bike would cope with so problems, so long as you’re not trying to run superlight parts.

And anyway – who even needs full sus?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv7TyakE8qw

Has anyone else thought the same and even taken a less burly bike to Whistler bike park?

I took my only bike, with is 160 travel, because I wanted to ride out of the park too.

I”d like to have ridden a DH bike there, just to feel the difference. Some of the bigger gaps are harsh, and scary on a smaller bike.

Some of the harder blacks are wild on an AM bike, it can be survival, rather than outright pace.

And things tend to break a bit quicker.

If I lived there, I’d have a DH bike again.

So I went with someone on an enduro bike, he is general far faster than me. He rode pretty much everything, far more than me.

Except towards the end of the week I was starting to keep up on the rough black stuff and he was complaining about running out of travel.

I did it on a Chameleon 😀
Although it was much better on a Cannondale Perp that I borrowed from the Demo booth

It is also about the longevity of the bike. IME Whistler BP is hard on bikes, and a DH bike will take the pounding for longer.

Yep.

We rented a Stumpy Evo for a bimble round the Lost Lake trails a few weeks back and the shop mentioned they’d charge a fine if you took it into the bike park. I don’t think a trail bike would appreciate a sustained park hammering.

It depends if you want an excuse not to hit something big. An enduro bike gives you the opportunity to mince out 😆

We rented a Stumpy Evo for a bimble round the Lost Lake trails a few weeks back and the shop mentioned they’d charge a fine if you took it into the bike park.

Not sure how they’d know unless you told them or returned the bikes wearing full armour and a full face.

Either way, Hob Nob et al are right, a DH bike is nice as they can take the abuse better, but a modern 150-160mm bike will be fine. The Whistler Blackcomb rental fleet is half and half Reigns and Glorys.

For me the DH bike comes into it’s own if your a) hammering down the rougher trails flat out or b) riding the park all day, the extra travel and slacker angles are nice to have when you’re getting tired.

I’ve taken my trail bike (140mm Norce Sight) into the park a few times and it’s fine, just as quick on the blues (if not quicker), but braking bumps are nasty on it and the short travel fork doesn’t give much of a bail out if things go wrong.

Orange Patriot with 170mm 55s was fine for me, tho I don’t jump. Everything else was great though – all the famously steep, rooty and rough Garbanzo stuff higher up the hill, plus the stuff outside the park – Khybers etc.