……as a gift to my self.

it has to be cheap, and tough.
it will no be used to ride long rides or all day stuff.

oh, and if anyone has such a bike in a xl, please let me know. 😀

I`ve found that riding a size smaller bike makes it more “chuckaboutable”.
Maybe you should try an “L” instead….

pretty much any bike will do what you want?

Bouncy or hardtail? How cheap is cheap?

budget?

£1k tops

Start with something like an old Cove G-Spot / SC Bullit / Spesh BigHit / Kona Stinky / Giant Faith / Glory / whatever frame and build it up?

Spesh Big Hit or SX Trail maybe?

The recent curvy ones I mean. Spesh must make XL bikes, eh?

2nd hand Stinky?

Looks like second hand then. Stinky, Big Hit something like that, like they said ^

PITCH!

Nice to see you back into buying bikes again Ton! 🙂

Pitch’s are certainly not bombproof!

Couple of fleabay candidates
Santa Cruz
Norco Team DH

Seen the honzo on the front page?

Also DMR bolt.

the hectik frame on classifieds (not sure of its size)?

fancied a pitch since they 1st came out….worth a look.

cheers PP…… 😀

stoner, saw the honzo the other day, looks ace dont it?
got some dh tough 29r wheels and some 120mm forks that would slot straight on that.

Patriot 66

ton, I have my 20mm/120mm rebas that are crying out for a frame like that.

Also as I only ever ride SS (or very occasionally rohloff) the short chainstays and no front mech suit me to a tee.

Im sorely tempted to replace the Ti29er with one 😯

stoner, just been on to two former kona shops. neither dealing with them now, saying that kona will be selling themselves, and also saying they have no idea of when the 2012 stuff is due.

how do you buy a kona?

how do you buy a kona?

Id normally just wait for you or hora to get one first and then call dibs 😉

bastid…….. 😆

everything breaks at some point 🙂

Have you checked for Kona dealers here:
http://www.konaworld.com/dealers.cfm

Ton, I mightnjust be selling my large spesh Enduro SL which is now fitted with a van Rc coil shock and UTurn lyriks. Frame and forks only though? Not thought of a price yet…..

Although you normally go for x large, the SL is a biggish frame.

Ton don’t get a Pitch the back end is way too flexy. I’m about 7 stone lighter than you and when I had mine the back end was twisting all over the place. I could get the tyre buzzing the stays by cornering hard, definitely not a bomb proof bike.

An SX will do well for you tho, nice and tough.

Never felt much flex on mine. I’m nearly 17st kitted up. Ridden the alps and Pyrenees as well as uplift stuff with no discernible flex

Edit: fitting the coil did appear to make it stiffer than the standard shock though

Mine used to twist loads especially if I ever got the back end out over a jump, its not like I had massive tyres on it either just 2.35 Larsons normally. I kept meaning to get a bolt up kit for the rear wheel but didn’t because I had to transport the bike in the car a lot.

Another vote for Kona stinky or colier or a spesh Big hit, from my casual observations of ebay Kona’s tend to be better value, maybe because they’re unfashionable these days.

Iache, could easily have been flexy wheels, or soft tyres?

Definately wasnt the wheels they are bomb proof and I run the same tyres and wheels (with the same sort of pressure) on my Enduro and have never managed to buzz the stays on the Enduro.

I cracked my pitch multiple times (several chain/seat stays and 2 front ends), and could feel it twisting around too.

Sold the warranty one as soon as it arrived in the post.

Ton don’t get a Pitch the back end is way too flexy.

I cracked my pitch multiple times (several chain/seat stays and 2 front ends), and could feel it twisting around too.

Wow you guys must be super hardcore – what are you doing with them exactly? 😛

I did the Megavalanche on mine and it was absolutely fine, and I weigh 16 odd stone. Never noticed the rear end flex either.

Pic from first day riding it… went off to Chicksands for a play about. Mostly sessioning the dual track, and launching the large triple on the 4X.

Only bike I had, so it was also pedalled uphill and used for commuting..

google “airborne taka” excellent value and had some really good reviews, basically an iron horse copy i have seen one in flesh looks good, would of bought one myself but i got a iron horse yakuza for $500 and its bombproof cheap and even i do 4ft plus drops and survive

As I said before, Bullits are fun gravity assisted bikes. The top tube does come up a bit short and from what I can tell you like bigger bikes, so not sure if it would be ideal. However for going downhill you don’t need a long TT! Seems pretty bombproof though, mine has taken a lot of abuse this summer (riding whistler bike park pretty much every day and doing a lot of things previously out of my comfort zone!) and still going strong. I’m smoother and lighter than I used to be though.

I also had good luck with my DMR Trailstar – when I was riding that I was probably about 18 stone and landing jumps quite badly. Hardtail though and the biggest size is 18″