Now this is probably the wrong site for this, but am looking at building up a very budget DH bike, so interested to see what anyone else has managed and approximate cost, only really thinking of older budget stuff…

Hi

I am thinking of selling my 05' Kona Stinky (medium) if you are interested… £375

jedi's demo7 he was selling the other day 🙁

*shakes fist at jedi for being shorter than me*

thisisnotaspoon, i told you the medium fits you! only stem change

I've just built an Santacruz Driver 8, anodized orange, with Fox 40s, Saint groupset, Chris King Devo headset, Thompson post, Point One Direct mount stem, Hope V2s and Syncros rims on Pro IIs.

That was built very much on a budget, quite a big budget 😉

Wasnt really a WTD add wrongun, but feel free to mail me, my mail is in my profile, its a cheap bike… (was talking to a guy the other week about one off here, is your name Mitchel?)

There was 2 Raleigh DHO frames on here in the last few weeks, I kind of wondered if anyone still rode vintage iron like that?

unless you have a specific frame/spec in mind I wouldn't bother building anything – far too many bargain S/H complete bikes around and building something always costs more than you initially thought.

thisisnotaspoon – Member

*shakes fist at jedi for being shorter than me*

How tall are you? (I have something similar, but slightly bigger you might be interested in)

GW your right of course, but I have plenty of durable kit on my hardtail including some M4's and stuff so I was thinking of swapping the bits over when I needed too… That said you are still bang on, so:-

Wrongun, definately drop me a mail really interested in the Kona, and if I dont have it, another pal also going on the same Alps trip is interested.

I ride a medium Demo 8 and I'm over 5'11", I wouldn't want it any bigger.

even if you want to use your own parts, you'll still be cheaper buying a complete bike, switching parts and flogging the excess.

I've tried a 70mm stem on my hardtail, usualy run 90mm (575mm TT, same as the demo7) and it felt horrible and demo'd large DH/FR bikes which felt 'right' so 585-610mm top tubes is probably my range with short stems.

GW, what've you got?

a healthly mix of new and 2nd hand stuff…

it was definitely budget…can't remember the exact figure but "surprisingly cheap"

perks, nice…

Spoon – seems like you're missing the point big time! if your hardtail has a 90mm stem it's a completely different type of bike, I can't see anyone ever wanting a 90mm stem on a Demo 7 steering would be awful – DH bikes sizing is different to XC bikes.
How tall are you?

Got an Ironhorse SGS DH in medium (which is 19" with a 23" Top tube, too long for me these days – I'm 5'11") it's a DH race bike – similar design to an intense M1 but a lot stronger and stiffer with 8" travel (7" front).

Built this for around £1k last year, including new frame, brakes and crank.

Probably works out cheaper to buy a whole s/h bike though, if on a lower budget.

Around £800 with a mix of nice and less nice parts. Again, could have been cheaper complete S/H, but the chances are I would have had to change parts anyway

This is Ermintrude (she's big, fat and handles like a cow). Now, I honestly don't know if she's a Downhill bike, Freeride, Freeride-light or Cross-country Heavy, but I think of her as my 'big' bike and I love her.

She's a 2002/3 Orange Patriot frame with the original Manitou 4-way Swinger Air (still faultless), Marz Junior T fork, Sram X7 shifting and 1st gen Shimano Saint 203mm (dinner plate!) brakes. Value wise, she was built up for about a grand, and probably isn't worth more than a couple of hundred now, but hey, it's not about the money, it's the memories that count! 8)

I've got the full face helmet and the Raceface FR pads. The only thing lacking from the whole setup is my ability to let go of the brakes! 😆

B. 8)

Probably not what I'm looking for. I test rode a giant reign-x in large, one of the few bikes I've ever jumped on and ridden thinking "this fits perfectly". Never got to try the medium, and I was skeptical to say the leaast about the large, but after the first 'jump' (I imediately pointed it at the nearest tree stump and took off) and nailing some flat corners flat out, I was convinced.

I'm past the whole "short bikes are better" phase. I much prefer to ride a bike where my weight isn't being thrown arround over the front wheel, looking at the WC guys, few ride medium frames, and barely any at all on small ones, most 5'11"-6'guys are on large, peaty's bike is (or at least was before the new mk3 v10) a custom XXL, but then again he's huge!

People go faster nowadays so I think a bigger, more stable bike is becoming a better choice.

even if you want to use your own parts, you'll still be cheaper buying a complete bike, switching parts and flogging the excess.

True in general, there are a lot of second hand DH bikes knocking about cheap. Check the Pinkbike, Southern Downhill and Descent World and Gravity Slaves forums.

It does depend on the bike though. I was after something cheap and cheerful to do the Mega on the other year and Bought a mate's old Big Hit off him. Then I basically ended up swapping everything apart from the right hand shifter. 🙂

Fair enough mate, so are you 5'11"ish too?
most 5'11-6' guys are not on a large.
most WC guys are going v.fast and that's where the extra stability from a longer slacker bike comes in.

I'm on a small, but just ride for fun these days (ie. don't race anymore!)

I'm 6' and I ride a large…mine's the turner 6pack, just scroll up..

short(ish) stem (50mm), non layback but set-back saddle, still feels very short compared with any of my xc/commute builds…

Or you could buy mine for £1295 with all the toys already on it. Cost me about £4.5k to build, used it for a year then went to play in Australia.

DH Bike For Sale

harmitans thats lovely, its got bigger forks than my MX bike (mind you it is a 1978)

Leggyblonde how on earth did that come in sub 1k good effort.

Ermintrude… lol

chapking, yeah thats the sort of thing, but looks expensive when you see harmitans, I guess thats the thing with buying a whole bike as everyone has suggested.

Rekon the Stinky is my 1st port of call.

chapking, yeah thats the sort of thing, but looks expensive when you see harmitans, I guess thats the thing with buying a whole bike as everyone has suggested.

That's what I thought afterwards. And the new Big Hit wouldn't have cost that much more either.

Maybe I'm just that fast………………….. :-p

Not saying im right and everyone on medium is wrong. I just like my hands to be a bit further away from me, I find it lets me move my weight arround between the wheels, whereas shorter bikes always feel like I'm over one or the other, my BMX is 21.75" although I'm tempted to get something a little shorter!

Besides, specialized's medium demo7 is the same size as a giant reign small, and a small specialized SX is the same size as a medium cannondale prophet, which is inbetween a medium and a large giant reign-x!

I know how that is, I built a bike for the wife last year using lots of nearly new stuff, was quite a looker (in my eyes) but didnt really save a load over getting a last years model off the shelf…

Nice building them up though isnt it. 🙂

Tinsy, it was a proper squirrel bike effort!

Frame, BB, S post, saddle, F mech £130
Wheels £100
Forks £220 (new)
Brakes and chainset £180
Bars and stem £15
R mech, cassette, chain, shifters and cables £125 (new)
Tyre £44 (new)
Free pedals and grips

I have just ordered a Van R longer stroke shock for more and smoother travel, but will seel the float for hopefully a similar price!

rapidly becoming my most posted picture.
i wanted a HT burly bike, for dicking about, local DHery, perhaps some miniDH racing (if i get around to it) and generaly being a bit of a hooligan

new 456 frame: 135 quid
3rd hand z150 fork: 40 quid
front wheel: 30 quid
brakes: 40 quid
drive chain pinched off trance, which got replaced with X9, so kind of 100 quid, but kind of not.
the rest is spares bin 🙂

150mm fork on the Summer season makes it uber slack, its fantastic going downhill, tolerable on the flat, and a bit of a chore climbing (except the fork can be pushed down to 85mm with the ETA)

I think this cost about 700 bucks:

The frame / shock / Ti spring were free, the fork was 200 bucks and was mint, the cranks were Race Face seconds with a slight anodizing imperfection and everything else was either lying around or super cheap from work.

This is my "big" bike:

I worked out that it cost about £800 to put together (including the original cost of bits I nicked off my other bikes).

It's probably as big as I'll ever need but the temptation to stick one of the 6" travel BETD links on the back and a burlier set of forks is strong.

6'2" on a medium Demo 7 here & I struggle to get enough weight over the front wheel, even with a super low bar & stem & the forks slammed as low as they'll go.

Remember that you won't be sitting down & pedalling on a bike like this.

started like this….

now looks like this

No point looking at top tube lengths on most long travel bikes, its the down tube length if anything. Suspension designs mean interrupted seatposts and artificially steep/slack seatpost angles. Go with what suits you best. I'm 6ft3 and used to ride a medium Cannondale Gemini DH. Brilliant bike and it flew down the tracks, having said that I borrowed a mates large frame bike and was immediately quicker and smoother. I now run a large SC VP-Free, that has a 24" top tube, I love it. Not going back to medium bikes now.
Just to add, recently swung a leg over a medium Demo7, felt very long, but don't know had that'd compare to a large one.

I have a transition Dirtbag that I'm looking to get rid of.. 17.5'' email's in the profile..

Oh and paid about £1800 for my VP, including a brand new frame, but everything was bought at a discount, lots of scanning the web (ebay particularly) for bargains. Frame was £720, inc shipping and taxes,etc, brand new from Canada, through ebay.

no pics but my budget build, mostly from classifieds here was/is:
aznic saber 6" with old fox van r shock £160.
05 Marzocchi 66 rc 170mm £150
old-ish truvativ gigapipe cranks off jump bike.
atomlab wheels about £80 as needed rebuild.
alivio/deore rear mech/cassette/shifter, well cheap.

from CRC/ebay:
new m800 saint brakes £100
new 38t chainring £15
new truvativ boxguide £30
new holzfeller stem £15
new dmr saddle £10
new pig dh pro headset £18

from lovely Dartmoor cycles:
supertacky wetscreams £40
… and a few other bits and bobs lying around.

Epicsteve, i have one of those betd links i could sell.