Hello,
I trust you are all well.
I would really welcome some advice as to what bike to look out for if I wished to compete in the Megavalanche.
I am quite new to mountain bikes and I ride a Specialized Rock Hopper hard tail but since moving to France 4 months ago and riding and falling down some Pyrenees I fancy having a go at some proper alpine stuff. I very much like the Orange range of bikes but I am not dead set on one if there are better options.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers Rick

I did the Mega 2 yrs ago on an Orange Alpine 160 which seemed to fit the bill. Mind you, i didnt win the race but maybe next year. 😀

On-one rigid single speed. Be a man.

Cheers for that.

Winning is not part of my plan either, getting to the finish with limbs intact and the same amount of blood as I started with is my, probably, ambitious goal!

I did a week around the Welsh trail centres on a rigid on-one and it wasn’t a pleasant experience to say the least. I dread to think what an Alpine decent would do to ones wrists.!

I did it on a Pitch (didn’t qualify for the main race though) and it seemed about right to me. Would have preferred to have the 36 Vans I have now on it though.

I gather they made it a bit more downhill oriented this time so a bigger bike might be better.

Depends on your budget really.

If you’re talking sky’s the limit, something nice like a Carbon Nomad, some nice carbon wheels, BOS front & rear, carbon everywhere to save weight, 1×10 a dropper post.

In reality, it probably wouldn’t make you much (if at all) faster, but it would be lovely 🙂

Back in the real world, I did it this year on my Orange 5. Comfortably qualified top 15. Anything around the 140/150/160mm mark, reasonably slack & pedals ok would be fine 🙂

From what I heard of this years race the cheapest, strongest, most robust full suspension bike you can find. That way when you trash it you won’t care!

A friend smashed up a new build in the race… makes it an expensive couple of hours…

That said I do like the Orange bikes for burly all mountain machines.

+1 Chris-H

Then you won’t cry when your bike falls off the hooks in the bike lift trailer and gets mashed together with all the others! Anything you take will get a beating.

Many thanks for all the advice.

I shall start saving for a nice new Orange.

most 140-170mm all mountain/ freeride bikes will get you down

you dont need to spend a fortune on a top of the range bike, but good forks, tough wheels, dual ply tyres and reliable brakes are essential
gravity dropper type seatpost is useful
but get fit and be prepared for arm pump is just as important
this years was a bit more dh than previous ones but they tend to change the route

have a look at canyon for value

My friend did his on a Mondraker dune. He was on target for the main race until someone ploughed into him on a DH bike and broke his mech, hanger and, more painfully, arm.

I’m too much of a big tart to do it. I’ve got a bike for it, but I’d cry if it got spoilt!

Classifieds for an old Stinky on Bombers with Hayes HFXs ought to do it then…

I would really welcome some advice as to what bike to look out for if I wished to compete in the Megavalanche

specialized pitch, or similar.

I would really welcome some advice as to what bike to look out for if I wished to compete in enjoy the Megavalanche

a dirty great big bouncy downhill bike.

DH Bike has Pro’s and Cons
Pros
For qualifying if your top 20 by the time you clear the moonscape you can let rip
Cons
you have to get to the end of the moonscape in the top 20

For the trial bike (160 forked Heckler for me) held my own after the moonscape just fine.

For the race in 2010 I did it on a giant DH as I missed the cut for the main races. Was fun but very hard work on the ups

this year did Mega challenger (2nd) race and was going well on the Heckler bit hard going on some of the steeper sections but handled it all well. Was impressed how well the RP23 did.

Overall
150/160mm bike
sturdy wheelset (+ Spare spokes)
Good Fork
Adjustable seat post
Wide Bars

In it to win it
In front of me on my qualifier was some french dude called Remme Something or other. He was way underbiked on a light weight 140mm commencal thingy with tiny brakes. Never saw what happened to him as he went off like a rocket ship as the tapes went up and set the fastest qualifying time.

this is what I plan to use next year
2006 Enduro with ultra reliable 66 bombers

never done it myself, but would love to.
picked up a 160mm travel orange patriot 66 for a grand, and have been using it on DH tracks for fun at the weekends. a real giggle.
the idea is to take it to france some time, it was going to be this year, but house buying is getting in the way

the only thing i would change is make it not an orange! while not always, it can be SO noisey, especially on the rocky stuff.
would change it for a Heckler or similar, but really cant warrent it.

Again I have to thank everyone for the tips and advice.

I must admit that I am not up with the jargon and have had to Google a lot of stuff. At least I now know what a Heckler and 66 Bombers are.

I found a place locally that will sell me a new Specialized Pitch Pro for €1900.

Thanks again everyone.

That’s not a great deal bud unless it has been heavily upgraded?
I’m guessing it’s a 2011 pitch you mean as they aren’t doing them in 2012. You should be able to pick one up in the coming months for far cheaper than that.

Check out canyon bikes = null

We did it this year and would definitely recommend a 5-6″ bike

Lapierre Spicy designed for the Alps by a French Branded company makes sense! 😀