For all of those who who have done the Mega, is it possible on a 140mm long travel hard tail? I know anything is possble if you put your mind to it, but would the bike by hugely undergunned?

Depends on how big your balls are.

Several people have done it on a HT….

My input is totaly unqualified because I’ve never done it but one of my friends who has done it twice suggested a hardtail would be perfect for the race… but a struggle to get through the qualifier with.

Edit… but he is one hell of a rider and the LTHT in question was a Chemelion with old Marz 66’s on it so not your average 140mm travel LTHT.

Shouldn’t be a problem on 140mm, make sure it is in full working order, give it a service/oil change.

A few have run Pikes, most hardtailers tend to make do with what they have, don’t think any one has used triples yet, but seen all sorts of forks in photos.

I haven’t raced it, from chatting with those that have and watching the headcam footage the worst is at the start, that then becomes more like a rubble fireroad, then rolling meadows and woods.

I would be more concerned about getting a good start then getting T-boned by an out of control frenchman 🙂

Yes Possible
Enjoyable No
Quick Maybe

Quali would have been mostly OK last year

From the range of our group
1 guy on DH bike in Quali got the run on everyone and got main race
2nd guy on DH got caught up in pack so had no advantage on it

Most of us on AM bikes were similar

Guy on HT got wiped out top half so no real test.

Found it harsh on my Heckler with 160mm forks and that was from a lakes background….

lots of comments from folks that haven’t ridden it.

i have, and i wouldn’t want to do it on an HT.

ridden full on pig-heavy DH bikes every time i’ve done it.

and overtaken 100’s of ‘i’ve built the perfect mega bike’ fairies all the way down.

right up until it gets uphill/flat snowy or just generally uphill. at which point they come flying past me acknowledging that i am a tosser.

either way my point is… you are racing down a mountain, a proper mountain. it is rocky and huge in bits, and the lines you picked in practice become unavailable due to 1000 other people, and you end up riding off 10ft drops to snow, or 6ft steep ass walls into boulder fields.

BIG BIKE FTW.

also see A LOT of people riding DH bike for quali then busting out the ‘mega’ bike for the race.

i call this cheating.

😉

After doing a fair bit of hardtail DH I considered using my hardtail for the Mega. In the end I decided against it and was glad I did. What looks smooth in videos generally isn’t and it’s a long race! Any hardtails we came across in practice were generally slow and in the way
and I’m not fast!

I’ve ridden (not raced) the quali on my BFe with Lyrics on. Bits were sublime, other bits were brutal. My arms were utterly, utterly, f…ked by the bottom.

The main race is arguably less rough, but quite a lot longer. The glacier would be fun on a HT. The bottom woods bit down to Allemont is pretty brutal though.

I’d ride it all on a hardtail for the fun of doing it, but the idea of *racing* it, doesn’t appeal in the slightest, as it would simply turn into an excercise in pain management.

indeed. or fixing punctures.

What tracknicko says ^^. It’s doable on an LTHT but it won’t be ‘comfortable’. The year I did it was the year Billy from Dirt magazine did it on a Dialled Alpine prototype. You do end up riding silly stuff just to pass people dawdling on their super bling Mega machines.

indeedy… some of the things i have ridden down during that race have been scary enough mid maneuver for me to consider getting off and curling up in a ball and crying.

guess it depends how ‘racey’ you are gonna be.. but i tend to find myself going ‘off piste’ in the most hazardous of ways to get round folk.

Yep, I raced it on a Hardtail 2 years ago.

Evil Sovereign with 140 Vanillas, DH tyres and a full chain device. As others have said, perfectly doable and plenty of mincer – smashing opportunities, but it would be altogether quicker and more enjoyable on a FS bike, even a pretty tame trail bike.
I was pretty hooped at the bottom (arms and legs) but got a respectable finish and had a lot of fun. I’m off to Morzine in July and I’ll be taking the Evil again, but only because I can’t afford a FS bike that’s worth having…

I haven’t raced it, from chatting with those that have and watching the headcam footage the worst is at the start, that then becomes more like a rubble fireroad, then rolling meadows and woods.

😯 😆 😕 😥

words that stand out are
I haven’t raced it

Lol I remember the rubble fireroads… there were some roads and some BRUTAL sections.

If your going on the HT are you thinking of racing or taking part?

For those that said there were overtaking the mincers on Perfect Mega Machines you were probably starting too far back the rest of us had finished…

ha ha ha. just looked for results online and indeed, assuming you are rene wildhaber (and thus indeed on the perfect mega machine)

you had a whole 26 mins on me. so fair play.

With a background in BMX I ride fairly light for a heifer. I’ve done the Mega 3 times now and on each occasion I’ve thought about a hardtail – particularly after watching Billy Trailstar from Dirt mag with his proto’ DB Alpine. However, on each occasion I’ve done it I’ve put about 5 years of wear and tear on both me and the bike; and that’s just in the qualifying race. Unless you’re something quite special bike handling wise, I think it’s just too hard work to be enjoyable.

If you did it on a LTHT I’d say priority 1 is some massive volume DH casing tyres and a spare wheel set.

aside from anything else. you will puncture. and that will wreck your race.

if you’re not racing, then sure, you can use any old bike to ride down given enough time!

If you have plenty of spare cash, then obviously a 160mm ish travel full sus is probably the most fun bike. But if you don’t, it’s a great race, such a laugh on any bike – I’d rather do it on a hardtail than not at all. Just make sure it’s built strong enough to take it (main change would be big DH tyres). There are SOME uphill/flat bits but they’re not that frequent or long, so it’s definitely better to err on the side of a DH bike.

That said, when I did it I was a poor student and I raced on an old 6″ travel Kona Stinky frame I’d bought especially for the holiday. I paid £140 (inc shock) and it’s not that far off being perfect for the event. I sold it again when I got back to the UK for £130, so total cost = £10. If fact I’m sure I could have sold it on without losing any money at all but I felt bad doing that. Plus there’s the added advantage of riding a shed – you’ll feel like a hero when you overtake someone riding a full-bling carbon Nomad 😆

I reckon the perfect mega machine was in front of me in qualifying, it was sat on top of a blue commencal and absalon on his back. At least he left me a gap…..

Sage words would be don’t get obsessed with it…

Broke toe first year

2nd year was top condition then got cold week before then dislocated finger in practice – will come back in a few years….

Top marks to the hope stand for making my brakes work spot on for a f*cked finger to operate it…

Depends what you normally ride. If it’s a LTHT then stick with that.

Yes there are sections where a DH bike will be quicker. There are also sections where an XC race bike will be quicker.

I can’t remember anywhere on the qualifier where I thought I needed my DH bike. Even less so in the main race.

There may have been a couple of 50m sections I could have gone a fraction quicker with it, but the time I would have lost elsewhere would be many more multiples. I didn’t bother taking it out all week.

It’s perfectly doable on an HT. One guy we rode with last year did it on one, and qualified in the last place (35th!) for the main race. He was pretty beaten up each day though, and spent a good 30 minutes every night retrueing his rear wheel.

It’s not hard, its just long and rough.

Ive ridden it on a hardtail. Its a great track for a hardtail since theres nowt on it (i.e. big jumps/drops) that requires a full sus.

However, racing it on a hardtail – you’ll be shagged by the end. Its long and bumpy and you’ll get pummeled.

I reckon Jesse Wigman from Alpine bikes should have a crack at it, best he has done with the Fort William Downhill Enduro is 4th overall on an old spesh P3 with manitou forks.
🙂

Google for Cotic and unofficially hard for Robbie Rickman’s account of doing it on a BFe, he took it to about 150th IIRC.

TBH, how many people are really racing for the prize? I’m hoping to make it next year and I’ll be finishing nowhere, whether I do it on my full suss or my hardtail or my commuter. I reckon I’ll enjoy it most on the full suss but that’s the only thing that’ll come into the decision, for me.

My plan this year was to do it on my BFe, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it wasn’t such a good idea.

I decided that although I COULD ride it on my ht, I wouldn’t necessarily have fun. I’d love to ride the track on my BFe, but race?! Maybe not. I ride my hardtail for everything, but a techy run over at wharncliffe is only a minute or 2, this is a little more full on.

Anyway, I bought a Turner Highline last week for the occasion. It’s a bit more bike than I was originally after, but I want to have fun, not beat myself up.

I’ll see you guys there 🙂 say hello!

racing for the prize is indeed tricky. but i was deffo racing in quali to get in main event, and then racing again to get the best place i could…

[Quote]BH, how many people are really racing for the prize? I’m hoping to make it next year and I’ll be finishing nowhere, whether I do it on my full suss or my hardtail or my commuter. I reckon I’ll enjoy it most on the full suss but that’s the only thing that’ll come into the decision, for me.[/quote]

More than you think I would suggest. If you arnt interested in racing then it seems odd to put yourself through it when you can ride it anytime. Me personally, I want to do as well as I can, whilst taking in the whole experience. I’ve qualified for the main race comfortably before, and would expect to again, I want to experience it properly, maybe its the racer in me.

I find it hard to believe that people can stand on a starting grid line-up of 400 people and not race. I’m sure people may think they’re relaxed and just going to bimble down, but when the adrenaline starts pumping and the Europop beat drops I think most people will get their race head on.

There’s a difference between racing for first, and racing yourself/the people immediately around you though (I’ve never raced for the win in my life, doesn’t mean I’m not going as fast as I can, but it does mean it doesn’t matter as much if my bike choice holds me back.

Racing is better than in most events.

Qualifier is about trying to get the bast weekend race you can, the difference of 1 place can make people happy or cry. One guy missed out on mega and was pissed off. Another made front row of 3rd race and was over the moon (until he realised how many were chasing him off the line)

3 of us started 1/3 of the way down the 2nd race last year. Like any race we were all trying for the highest finish possible. Riding it quiet is nothing like the race

My brother did it on a 150mm Norco hardtail in 07, and said it was brutal and horrible. The following year he did it on a 160mm full sus and enjoyed it much better and in a lot faster time.

It’s brutal enough on a full suss – why would you want to punish yourself?

Interested to hear how you get on with this. Keep us updated.

I did the Mega a few years back on a Prophet MX.

Normally, I ride hardtails everywhere (the Prophet broke, sniffle). I ride a lot at Wharncliffe and race stuff like Gravity Enduros happily enough on one. And riding a hardtail around Alpe d’Huez would be amazing fun – but I don’t know if I’d race one at the Mega.

On the one hand, if I could accept that I’d handicapped myself before the start and just be happy with whereever I finished, I’d be pretty happy. The course is brutal, and racing would hurt, but you’d get down fine (and wouldn’t be last).

On the other hand, I made the main race last time, so I would be pissed not to do so again. Would I just get annoyed with finishing as high up the field as I thought I could?

I guess it depends on how well you think you’d deal with knowing you could have finished higher? (ie my ego’s probably too big to let me race on a hardtail!)

I ride HT in the uk and boost some serious gaps and drop offs on it. Its fine for the odd 1 – 2min blasts of taking a beating . However mega is mega dude. Its an hour down hill. Your arms are literraly screaming at you to stop after 5 mins of gunning it at speeds you cant even dream about. The arm pump is bonkers. Ive done 2 years on a 165mm travel bike with 170 up front .Ive just bought an sx with 180mm upfront, 180 rear and Im still expecting a battering.

Also if you are going for a week before mega to get used to the mountain, it will just be pure pain after day 2 in your arms and legs.

Yes its doable on a ht. But you could also ride a cx bike down a world cup dh

Fully rigid would be more interesting!

After my previous comments, it now looks like I may be doing the Mega on my hardtail…

I have a chance to ride and don’t have a bigger bike (or the cash to get one). I’ll never make the main race but am crossing everything I have for a place in the second final. Or the third. (Anything but the Affinity really!).

Reckon a 120mm Soul is enough? I’ll probably bump the forks up to 140 and get the biggest tyres I can find, with the thickest sidewalls I can find and run them tubeless and a nice squishy pressure. I may be able to borrow a mate’s Bfe frame for some extra stiffness too.

Is the OP racing hardtail? Anyone else?

Sounds like you will die then 🙂

Good luck.

I know anything is possble if you put your mind to it

Don’t believe everything you hear in Back to the Future

Did the mega in 2009…

As someone else said.

Do-able on HT: Yes
Fun on HT: NO WAY!

I was on my old venerable spesh enduro running a twin/bash set up 36s/DHX5, Dual ply Maxxis etc.

If I were to go back … would look to have something similar again maybe a little bit lighter.

With my (lack of)skillz I would die if I tried to take the PA down the course on race day and attempt to vaguely keep up!!!