I want a new DH bike. As always I am between sizes. SO should my new purchase be shorter, the same or longer than my trail bike. By this I mean TT (reach) length.

I get on well with my medium Trek Remedy which has a TT of 585mm. So I figure a DH bike of a similar TT and reach would be suitable. Is this a relatively good assumption? Or do I need to go shorter for pulling off sweet moves* or longer for ultimate stability?

*There will be no sweet moves being pulled.

The reason I ask really is that I want a Scott Voltage FR. The short is very short and the long is on par with my trek. I appreciate that only I can really answer this question but opinions or insight on the issue would be much appreciated.

Do you wish your Trek was shorter when riding downhill or jumping but can’t run a shorter stem due to climbing issues?

First things first, ignore top tube measurements for downhill bikes – they’re pointless unless you’re plannjng on riding the thing sitting down!

Reach is where its at. Going longer or shorter is personal preference, but short Voltages are tiny!

I don’t really wish that the trek was shorter. I could go for a shorter stem as I am running a 55mm one at the moment. Climbing is fine as it its. Its a good compromise really, I have been running it like that for 3 years without any real issues.

I think the reach on the Voltage is a few mm shorter than that of the Trek plus I could always run a shorter stem on it. To be honest I think the same or shorter is the right answer for me, not longer.

Yeah the short Voltages are tiny! The Longs are in line with many manufacturers smalls and mediums!

iirc the Voltage has always been pitched as a play bike. So you’ve got the tiny one for park rats and the bigger one for everyone else.

Any particular reason for limiting yourself to a not quite DH bike?

Bear in mind that stack has a direct effect on reach, the higher the stack the less reach is needed to get a similar feel. This is because as the front end height increases the reach naturally decreases as the head angle brings the top of the head tube further back.

A general rule is that 10mm extra stack is effectely +3mm reach compared to a similar bike with lower stack, assuming handlebar height is kept the same using spacers below the stem (more spacers on the low stack bike). As DH bikes have high stacks due to dual crown forks this can fudge the reach figures when comparing to smaller bikes.

Hope some of that makes sense!

Ok that’s a good general rule to look at. The Voltage still seems to be a little shorter then my tek so it could work well.

No real reason behind a Voltage. I can get one 2nd hand for decent money and there are a few local to me. I don’t really want to race DH so don’t feel I have to have a full on race bike. All the other options in my budget seem to be older Glorys and demos and while there is nothing wrong with that it seems the voltages are better value.

All the things I have read about them show them as very capable DH bikes. I had a 224 Evo before and that was good but again don’t feel the need to get another one of those. I think for what I want it for it will do the job well. I live in Snowdonia so have a fair few tracks locally and figure it would be fine on them. Plus hoping to go to Andorra next year and last time I was out in the Alps they were the local ripper kids bike of choice. Yes, I know Andorra isn’t in the alps!!

Oh well after all my deliberation I just picked up a bargain specialized Status on Pinkbike…in small….

It’ll be fine.

Haha, it’ll probably be nice and “chuckable”, eh?

They look like good bikes, hope it fits.

🙂

Well it wont be too big anyways!

legend – Member
First things first, ignore top tube measurements for downhill bikes – they’re pointless unless you’re plannjng on riding the thing sitting down!

Reach is where its at. Going longer or shorter is personal preference, but short Voltages are tiny!

This +10000000000