I know, it’s the rider not the bike, but I want to learn to jump properly, with confidence, and my XC hardtail really does not inspire confidence.

It’ll be a second bike so i’ve got a budget of about 300 quid. I was thinking DMR Drone 24 (in the sales), Haro 124 BMX or Saracen Amplitude CR1

Any thoughts??

Commencal Maxmax?

I’ve got a 26″ wheeled version and it’s great fun to ride. Not much of a review as i’ve never ridden any others to compare it too 🙂 but for the money it seems fine. Most ridden/best value bike i’ve ever brought.

Second hand DMR rhythm or a DK General Lee?

Maxmax looks good, most ridden/best value is a pretty good recommendation. Cheers.

Would I benefit much from 24′ over 26′, or vice versa? Or does it make little difference to a jumping novice?

i’d go 2nd hand. either full build or build it yourself. steel frame, probably doesn’t matter much what you get as a beginner. DMR / Identiti / NS + loads more to choose from. Argyles or U-turn Pikes if you want a more versatile ride (SS jump bikes are good fun blatting around some trail centres so 100-140 Pikes come in useful!). easily done within your budget.

what XC frame you learning on BTW?? i have been learning this summer with my 140mm Rocky Ridge & it has handled the job ok!

to be honest i dont think there is a better bike for messing about on than the max max for the money out there.

manuals at will. great geometry. frames worth upgrading bits on.

i`d buy one if i didnt have a sunn BMIX already. infact i did nearly buy one anyway but then i realised an xc bike makes a better bike to commute 40mins up a very large hill on. necessity being the mother of all evil and all that.

Maxmax frame is the same as the more expensive Absoluts so worth upgrading as mentioned above.

I’ll assume (again from a position of ignorance never having ridden one) that a 24″ wheeled bike is slightly more manouverable. Having said that the 26″ version has a steep head angle so it’s pretty nippy. I’m happy with the 26″ version but then i am well over 6′ and even the 26″ version looks small under me 🙂

An excuse to post this picture again if ever there was one…

I’ve got a Revolution Triad 2 from Edinburgh Bicycle Coop. I got it early this year, not really knowing how much i’d use it. It turns out at least twice a week!

It’s been great fun but not really ideal for the type of riding I want to do. I’m going to treat myself to a trail bike (5 or stumpjumper evo I think) but I want a jump bike for the BMX track, pump tracks, that kind of thing.

Sound like the maxmax is a popular choice. Still not sure if 24 or 26 is the way to go though….

the Max max does not share the same frame as the Absolut.
IMO an STP is a far better bike for around the same price and unlike the Commie the cheapest STP does share the exact same frame as the STP frame (rrp £300ish) or the top line STP 0.
dunno if they’ve changed ther geometry recently but a few years back I found the short Max max silly short and IMO only suitable for kids/midgets (coming from someone who likes shorter top tubes than almost anyone)

nice bike.

Van Halen – Sunn BMIX? Now there’s a blast from the past, I wanted one of those in my younger days.

Cool as. 8)

the Max max does not share the same frame as the Absolut.

Quick flick in the Commencal online catalogue suggests they both use a Absolut AL frame. There is also a cro-mo version which may be where the confusion arises.

the cheapest max max is cromo. same geo different frame.

there seem to be a few other versions of hte max max (atherton included) with ali frames which are the same as the absolut frames. least i think this is where i got to when i looked into it a while back. there is also a posh cromo absolut i think?

i`d buy the cheapest one i could find in my size and go ride it.

yes a proper bmix from 1999. its class. i would say one owner from new but i sold the one i bought way back when i got a revell450 (now that was a great bike) and then realised once the revell was knicked i really like the bmix so had to buy another. its awesome on the back garden pump track 😀

summer woods razzing mode. now in fully rigid pump track mode. built from spares (if you cant tell – lol)

Got a Kona Stuff for sale if it’s the sort of thing you’re after.

Small, Short, and tough.
thats all you need.

12″ frame, with tiny chainstays, and parts that dont mind being crashed.
other than that, there isnt much to it IME

I’ve got a new (ie road to the shops and back) maxmax that I may be considering selling.

I also have some brand new cable disc on it and very good condition dirtjams (in fact excellent condition).

I’m thinking about £200 for the std bike or £280 with the brakes and dirtjams.Plus postage.

If your interested please email me on

eastham8 at aol dot com

DMR Trailstar is spot on for jumping imo. Only improvement to mine would be horizontal dropouts which I believe some of them had.

Gonna be rebuilt soon with rigids etc as the Pikes and good stuff is on my BFe now.

I also wanted a bmix until I bought one earlier this year. Been having a few problems with the rear wheel, even with a half link chain the tyre either rubs on the frame or the brakes. I’m determine to get it running properly though as its still the coolest bike ever

I had a MaxMax. Awesome bike; turned me into a half decent rider.

Miss it terribly…

In my experience (having ridden both) 24″ wheels are easier to learn to jump with.
It probably has alot to do with running a tiny frame and having loads of standover.
The more gate-like the bike the harder it gets.

Also great fun on a bmx track.

Olly – Member
Small, Short, and tough.
thats all you need.

Bumhands – Member
24″ wheels are easier to learn to jump with

IMO it depends what you want to jump, I agree 24″ can feel easier at dirtjumps, same with small, short and Tough.. But take a small, short, tough 24″ wheeled bike to a 4X track or try some big fast DH jumps without smooth run ins and they can be more of a handfull.

Oh.. and I’ve never understood why trailstars have such long seat tubes? do lots of large people ride XC on them?

trailstars are a 16″ frame, geometry is leftover form the late 90’s when people rode XC/DH/FR/DJ/trials on the same bike, they made a 18″ verion of the trailstar LT as well, still a dam good bike though!

New trailstars are the same as the old trailstar LT.

I knew that ^^ just never got why.