right im wanting to upgrade my bike.

i am needing/wanting a fr/dh bike with 180mm+ fork options.

im looking at the spesh demo 8 or commercial dh 2010 but the prob is im 6ft5 and struggling obviously to find a bike big enough. i ride a 21" frame fully now and its fit is perfect but im struggling to find something close to this size.

😉

any ideas of other bikes or ways to hsve a look?

I'm 6'4" and ride a large socom, but that's a DH race bike.

Do you want a DH bike, or a FR bike? Different things really…

Or if the distinction's unclear, to you intend to ride it up hills? (and if so why?! Where do you ride?)

i ride only the alps… im in austria so bike parks and only uplifts no riding up hills 😉

also where did you buy your socom from?

get a DH bike then. large Commy should be good, Gee atherton is pretty tall I think.

you might find a smaller frame suits you better – I'm 6'3 and my playbike is a 17" frame (cannondale Gemini) – its a little short in the top tube but that's more the nature of the bike than anything else. Its not great for xc, but it's nice and tight for dh.

I'd take a look at renting\borrowing\test riding a bike in a 19" for a day or 2 and see how you get on.

what about an XL VP Free – I have a frame to sell btw!

Got my socom from CRC for various reasons.

Short TTs are annoying for DH if you're tall, no room to move about the bike. Nicolais come in "big" too, as do Glorys, and Sundays (but that'd be s/h). 17" oranges are also a reasonable size, though not massive.

There's not a lot of choice for the taller DH gent basically and it's a hassle getting a go on stuff.

http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/specs.html?b=1770

wow me likey likey that alot!!!!! i never even looked at canyon

Thats what I am saving up for at the moment, I don't think it can be beaten for value in that class of bike.

Unfortunatly I don't think I will be able to afford it before this years morzine trip 🙁

so what would most people go for the demo8 or the canyon

I've just come back from doing the passport and while in Chatel I had a look on the Commencal stand and they a rail of these;

http://www.commencal.com/newsletter_2010/140610/newsletter_140610.htm

They look amazing and its base around the DH. Was told they would be in the country in the next few months.

if you want something cheap, kona do all manner of gate-sized bikes – the stinky-6 comes in a 20", and the stab has a 620mm toptube in it's longest size (seems pretty long)

In retrospect, my Large GT DHI was the perfect size and I wish I never sold it (6'3") My medium big hit is ok, but a large frame is definatelly more comfortable after a few runs.

anyone heard much of these bikes??

any opinions about it? its in the sale at the mo

http://www.jehlebikes.de/bergamont-straitline-79-2009.html

Been over to Whistler and Vancouver a few times. Tried a number of different bikes but always come back to the Kona Stinky. It has it's detractors on here but I think it's a fantastic bike and good value for money too.

Santacruz Bullit – in a large… with a set of Totems up front. Luuuuurvely.

I'm still loving my older bullit with Lyriks. Great bike. Really simple, bomb proof, pedal up to the top OK with a platform shock. Mine is all coil (DHX on the back) with mid weight wheels and tyres. Bike weighs 36Lb. Can ride it all day, any where.

Commencal Supreme DH 2010

Bit of a shameless plug really 😳

But I've got a couple of 2010 Supreme DH left going at 30% off (£2239.99)or on finance can do 20% off (£2559.99) over 18 months.

I'm 6'2-ish and ride a Yeti 303RDH in large, and TBH, it's a touch too long for me. Brilliant, and I love it, but when Yeti say large, they really mean it.

There's a few guys here in Sweden saying good things about yt-industries. Have a look at their 'Tues' models, available in FR or DH guises. There was a lot of speculation as to whether it was real at first because of the prices (they do an 8kg, full SRAM XX carbon XC-bike for 2000 euros 😯 ), but the first ones arrived last week and look good.

singletrackbikes.co.uk – Member
Commencal Supreme DH 2010

Bit of a shameless plug really

But I've got a couple of 2010 Supreme DH left going at 30% off (£2239.99)or on finance can do 20% off (£2559.99) over 18 months.

how big is the L/XL frame size??

thanks;) can you ship to austria?

Yeah no problem to ship to Austria. Give me a call to discuss shipping price.

Here are a few comparisons between the SM / LXL:
SM – Seatpost 420mm
LXL – Seatpost 440mm

SM – Wheelbase Adjustable from 1157mm-1172mm
LXL – Wheelbase Adjustable from 1184mm-1200mm

SM – Toptube 584mm
LXL – Toptube 602mm

I'd say SM up to around 5`11" and LXL for 6 foot and over.

as im sure your aware, im wary to buy something for 2k without sitting on one. i will have a think. im 6ft5 also not sure if it will be a little on the smaller side too…

might have to see if there is one kicking about here and buy it from you if your the cheaper price…

nick

is a 180mm freeride bike better than 200mm boxxer dh bike, for fast flow riding and alps riding in woods etc ??

which would you all go for?

trails only on lifts and places compared to les arcs and dh or freeride resorts.. leogang etc

just becuse i found 2 bikes i really like for the same price.

ones with boxxer dh type
ones with 180mm freeride type.. just thinking what would be a better buy

Are you racing competitively at DH?

If not then you're not going to notice any difference between a 180mm Single Crown Totem and any other 200mm dual crown fork. Which is best is probably down to what you can get for the money you have (I have a set of Totem's on eBay right now that I would happily ship to Austria).

In terms of what bike, for trail riding in the Alps using purely uplifts, it's a matter of choice really. You could ride a big trail bike that weighs around 35lbs with dual ply tyres and tubes (I think the idea of a 'freeride' bike is dead these days; very little point in a non-DH bike that weighs 40lbs+ as you never going to pedal it anywhere meaningful) or a DH bike that weighs 40lbs.

The former is going to feel more manageable and give you more feedback and feel of the trail underneath you; the latter is going to feel more planted, stable and will allow you to 'get away' with more. You will ride faster on the DH bike but you might not ride 'better'.

The problem is that until you've got the DH bike thing out of your system, you're always going to want to have one. Spend a few years on the bigger bike, ride faster, make some mistakes, pay the price and then either get good enough to warrant riding a DH bike or trade back down for a shorter travel bike and possibly a more engaging experience.

DH bikes really do only come alive at much higher speeds and until that point, you're trading a lot of 'feel' and control for more travel and the ability to get away with more. It's a bit like an F1 car; doesn't really work at lower speeds.

Size is crucial and you should either spend a very long time thinking about sizes, comparing numbers to what you know already or you should test ride something.

The Nicolai Ion I have owned and it doesn't come up big, quite the opposite, they're quite small. The large is about the same size as most other manufacturers' mediums.

Glories used to also be quite small; Sundays are middle of the road. Socoms also, but the Socom is quite a highly strung beast with a relatively high BB that can make it feel a little bit of a handful.

Personally I think modern DH bikes these days are moving away from 90% of people can really ride. 63degree headangles are great when you're doing 40kph at Schladming, but how many riders outside the top 10% are doing that? It just makes the bike very difficult to handle at the more moderate speeds we ride.

Just one other point on the forks; a single crown will give you a lot more steering lock than a dual crown, which might make a difference if you're riding technical alpine single track rather than racing. You need to use a slightly different method of getting around a very tight corner with dual crown forks where you can't simply rely on a lot of steering lock.

wow thanks for all that, its great..

heres the 2 in question…

http://www.yt-industries.com/shop/index.php?page=product&info=13

http://www.yt-industries.com/shop/index.php?page=product&info=2

just thought for 100 euro i could get boxxers 😉

Nick_Christy – Member

wow thanks for all that, its great..

heres the 2 in question…

http://www.yt-industries.com/shop/index.php?page=product&info=13

http://www.yt-industries.com/shop/index.php?page=product&info=2

just thought for 100 euro i could get boxxers

they seem good value, especially the Boxxer DH version. XE reckons 2000euro=£1650, is that frame only price?

I've just been in Andorra riding a Commencal Supreme DH 2010 as it happens. It's a lovely bike. I disagree (quite a lot!) about not noticing the difference between triple clamp forks and a set of Totems. I rode it back to back with my Cove STD set up with (lovely smooth) coil totems and noticed a big difference. I can ride a bike (and do… a lot) but I'm no DH racer, however the difference between the 2 bikes was huge, in terms of increased control and speed on the DH bike.

I ride my STD here on a mix of DH trails and natural trails where I think that the triple clamp forks would be a total hinderance and the STD is perfect for that. The DH bike was much better for (surprise surprise) the man made DH tracks that didn't have really tight corners etc!

The new Commencal range will feature a Supreme 8 as Pugwash has pointed out above. I only saw it in it's (beautiful yellow) build on the stand and they wouldn't let me ride it but I bet it will be a blast. Quite basic spec so shouldn't be too pricey (I guess!).

What about that new pivot cycles DH bike must be good value.

na thats a complete bike 😉 im no dh racer by any means. but i also dont hang about pootling neither.

i like fast flowing with berms from 1700m to 500m 😉

how much is that pivot cycles DH bike? i cant find a price?

[/quote]I rode it back to back with my Cove STD set up with (lovely smooth) coil totems and noticed a big difference.

So you're not comparing the forks on the same bike then? Is it possible that the Cove STD with dual crowns would still feel very different to the Commencal with Totems? One's a DH bike and the other is 'freeride' bike – STD = skinnies, trannies, drops, so you'd want very different geometry for that kind of riding; more stability and accuracy at low speed verus stability at high speed on the Commencal.

Steve Peat isn't really short and he rode an Orange.
Rob Warner isn't really short and he rode a Giant.
Try as many as you can and buy a red one.

hmm but i think for these riders the big companys can adjust the bikes for them, ie make them a little longer if needed or do they have to use standard bikes??

Chumba F5, proper bit of over engineering 🙂 Got a few frames at £1200 as well 😉

£1200 even if that doesn't include the damper is still an amazing price.

I live and and ride in the French Alps (Chatel) and have a Santa Cruz Bullit 180mm Vans up front. Its perfect from ripping up the bike park on the black runs through to big days out in Switzerland with some climbing.

I'm 6ft 3 and have no probs with the size!