Will i die and my bike disintegrate if I take it to stile cop?

I would like to start riding stile cop, I have been there a few times recently and just ridden the courses and flopped off the jumps or gone around them, but as I’m getting more used to it and going bigger and further will I need to get a new bike? Guessing that some sort of miniDH bike will do the trick while I learn, or is it worth just getting a full on DH rig? I have a couple of grand to spend.

like the idea of bottle rocket, blindside, TR250 is a bit out of budget, nukeproof mega with coil. or even the scalp seems reasonably priced, commie supreme 8? or should I just keep riding them on my Meta 5? it seems to handle the actual down hill bits fine no matter how steep, just don’t wanna kill it off jumps, I’d rather get a bike suited to being chucked about.

Thanks in advance.

A good friend of mine has ridden in Morzine on his Meta for a week in the last two summers. I’ve not been to Stile Cop yet (though I may be visiting a week on Sat!) but I reckon if it can handle black runs in the Alps it SHOULD be ok!

On the other hand, if you want an excuse to buy a new bike then heavens no, it’s amazing you’ve survived this far, run out and buy a DH bike immediately 😀

It / some part of it will expode at some point if you keep progressing, I rode my Heckler there for a while and I got a bit better trying bigger stuff then sold the Heckler & bought a Bighit (still had a HT), bigger bike geometrys are much more confidence inspiring and I dont worry about it breaking. Full on DH fine over there but not needed, but you may soon want to start doing Pearce rounds / uplifts etc where a proper bigbike can make more sense.

Based upon most peoples experiences of ownging Commencals.. Yup it will

Ha Ha, Yeah like I said I can ride black graded singletrack on it, but thats not leaving the floor that often, stile cop is More DH orientated than singletrack and has some fairly big hucks… It is insured though and under warranty still so if it breaks I get a new one I guess…

what DH/MINIDH/FREERIDE bike would you suggest i run out and buy? 😉

It’ll be fine, nowt there big.

My pitch falls into almost the same category as the meta, didn’t grimmice at all on any of the bigger bits there.

A big DH rig is too big for there, too big for most places in the UK unless you’re serious about racing. Plus your meta does have good, nippy geometry on it to throw about, it’ll aid in the bike control learning process, the meta is generally quite good.

A DH bike or TR250 will be a lot of bike to handle if you’re just getting into this riding, you’ll become a passenger rather than learning to control your bike. The worlds finest Dhers use their trail bikes for training purposes to get better skills.

My vote would be a bottlerocket or scott voltage in shorter travel guises. They will be stronger and tougher than your meta and better suited. But not so much bike you become a passenger and don’t actually learn to control the bike properly.

Your Meta will not hold you back there, the only thing will be yourself. You won’t be able to “buy” skills on that terrain as it were, you pay for the skill, not with money, but with time and practise.

I started riding Stile Cop on my Rize last year but like you I was just rolling down on the brakes.

Something more appropriate makes it a lot more fun and you will pick up the completely different techniques that DH (as opposed to descending) requires. You are wasting your time on a trail bike.

Stile Cop doesn’t need a full-on DH bike – a stiff burly FR bike is fine and will also allow you destroy Upper/Lower Cliff 🙂

weeksy – Member
Based upon most peoples experiences of ownging Commencals.. Yup it will

what i thought… 🙁

If it’s a pre-2010 frame then you will probably die, 2010 onwards seem to be made of better stuff.

Seriously though, before riding it give it a really good inspection for any signs or cracking around the head tube, top tube to seat tube interface and pivot mounting. I have a friend with a 2009 Meta and the quality of welds are notably better than the 2009 one I had.

Canyons & Scotts look great VFM. Concentrate on frame, forks, tyres & shock (can get this tuned by Loco for less than you think). I slowly upgraded stuff on my Bighit when I spotted a 2nd hand / sale bargain.

thats more like it Deanfbm and rocketman! I’ll just ride it and when it does break I can be justified in spending on a new bike.

would a burly freeride bike be enough for Glencoe and Nevis range?

I hear the bottlerocket for example pedals quite well too… could i dipose of trail bike and just get a bottlerocket for all duties?

Its a 2011 frameset.

oh, and *ahem*

January’s trail building session will be on saturday 21st Jan starting at around 10am and finishing sometime in the afternoon probably around 3pm ish.

We’ll have all the tools plus free drinks and snacks.

We need as much help as we can get for this year’s workload so bring yourselves, your mates and your mate’s mates. We’ve got a long list of jobs for the year ahead and the main push for this session will be Walleater and the end of Wonderland (plus some ofther bits if we get enough volunteers.

Meet us at the bottom of the hill near the Black course ending to get involved.

I’ve ridden hamsterley on mine a couple of times and also done a fortnight in the alps on it riding competition downhill tracks and it’s still in one piece.

I hear the bottlerocket for example pedals quite well too

I understand they are pedallable but it’s hard work – probably a step too far if you are looking for something ‘trailable’.

I have a long wheelbase Voltage and it is very much the same. Everything that makes it good at DH makes it worse for trail riding. I can ride it 9 miles across the Chase to Stile Cop and back but I stick mostly to the fireroads and Follow The Dog (!). It destroys the descents but I get about 10m up the fireroad climb before I have to get off and push. It’s possible to ride it up easy climbs but otherwise it’s a pointless, cartlidge-popping exercise.

thanks for the nudge scruff…Would be great to meet some more people to ride with, I may well come and lend a hand but I have a mammoth tattoo session booked for the 21st.

Cheers rocketman may see about a second hand Voltage/bottlerocket what other options are there? there seems to be so much to choose from.!!!

Based upon most peoples experiences of ownging Commencals.. You’ll be just fine

FTFY

More to the OP. Will it cope with the odd reasonnable jump. Yes providing you can actually ride the jump and not the ball it over. Then if you ask me is it the most sensible bike to do several shuttle day along a severe DH track the answer is obviously not.
If you like the meta i can’t recommend you the mini DH enough. It will be just fine and you’ll feel at home, just a more comfy one 😉

HTH

My Enduro and previously my pitch have been fine at stile cop so far. I think it is good to start DH on this sort of bike however I would quite like something bigger to help with my confidence on the bigger jumps and drops. However more skill would probably be better than a new bike.

Thanks Juan,

I had considered the Supreme 6 or 8 think the 6 is the mniDH of old? and you can pick them up at very reasonable prices too!

And yeah juan it would be more the odd jump here and there rather than all out DH days..

The meta 5 will be jsut fine then, if you’re worried, you could get a meta 6 or better a meta SX 😛

A big DH rig is too big for there, too big for most places in the UK unless you’re serious about racing. Plus your meta does have good, nippy geometry on it to throw about, it’ll aid in the bike control learning process, the meta is generally quite good.

A DH bike or TR250 will be a lot of bike to handle if you’re just getting into this riding, you’ll become a passenger rather than learning to control your bike. The worlds finest Dhers use their trail bikes for training purposes to get better skills.

My vote would be a bottlerocket or scott voltage in shorter travel guises. They will be stronger and tougher than your meta and better suited. But not so much bike you become a passenger and don’t actually learn to control the bike properly.

Your Meta will not hold you back there, the only thing will be yourself. You won’t be able to “buy” skills on that terrain as it were, you pay for the skill, not with money, but with time and practise.

Sound advice. Learn your trade on a smaller, shorter travel and lighter bike and when you eventually jump on a full on DH Rig (if you ever really need one in the UK) you will be able to push harder and faster than you would have if you’d been mastering your craft on the DH bike in the first place.

I personally have found myself going the other way – turning my back on beastly DH bikes and thrashing around on my new Bottlerocket. It’s reminded me why I started mountain biking in the first place.

Ooh, I might be at Cannock next Sat… Could possibly lend a hand for an hour