[Closed] 11sp onto a DH GT Fury?

I can't imagine it'll be fun to pedal for a long time, or up any techy climbs, but if your lad is up for it, can't see any reason not to.

DH bikes have only fairly recently had specific group sets, you shouldn’t have any issues at all with it once you’ve got all the parts.

By any chance have you got a spare dropper that would fit? Putting one on the for trip would also have a massive effect, he will have to change the saddle angle (DH bike angle is horrendous when up) but otherwise it would make a massive difference too

By any chance have you got a spare dropper that would fit?

I don't yet, but it's not unthinkable, even if just an underseat lever type. Obviously there's no internal routing for one but could piggyback an external on.
I've not checked but if a 30.9 or 31.6 I could even steal a mates Vyron for the week.
Edit. Seems to be 31.6, I'll steal the Vyron off mate.

@malv173 you'd be amazed what the youngsters accept. He did a 12 mile XC ride on it recently, that was with the 36T front and 11-25 cassette, he enjoyed it. Lol. They're a bit crazy.

Check chain growth on full travel, the cassette chain length plus suspension chain growth might be too much for the mech?

even if just an underseat lever type. Obviously there’s no internal routing for one but could piggyback an external on.

Either a cheap under saddle lever or you could possibly route the cable up the interrupted seat tube? (If it’s the frame I’m picturing) Borrowing a wireless setup sounds even better though

RNP, I've gone for a 10sp, long cage. It means I've already got the chain, cassette and shifter in spares, I've arguably got a mech bit it's shifting is a bit rubbish, it's 10 years old though and been on 4-5 bikes, so the £45 for a new mech seems ok.

I'll chuck it all on, if it's no good, it'll be chucked on Zwift bike anyway. But I'm hopeful it'll be ok.

Also, he’s shorter and much lighter than the default adult male it’s designed for so it will pedal far better than under one of us - far less bobbing due to the increase in anti-squat for the system’s centre of mass.

I have to ask but what's the point? If he can do a 12 mile xc ride in the UK why does he need a wide range of gears when you'll be jumping on a lift at the bottom of every big hill?

I've been to the Alps about a dozen times with just a DH bike (old fashioned tiny frame with 26" wheels) and I've never wanted a massive cassette.

Well, the xc ride was pretty flat. I think we'll be having days where he'll need more than the 36T and a 25. We're not just hitting uplift day in and out, there's say the cross ridge ride to Lindarets and back. I don't recall how steep that was.

I was considering just throwing on say a 32T as it's a generic 108bcd so £15-20 for a chainring. That may give him the gears he needs.

The thing is, it's not just me and him going, if it was, I wouldn't care. I'd just walk with him if it was too steep. But I don't wanna screw up the others holiday by having him walking at 0.2mph up hills.

It sounds like I'm being a little harsh in my implications of him not being up for a pedal and that's a bit harsh, because he is. But there's limits and people have gears for a reason.

But also a 7 speed rear setup with an 11-25 only.

A wider range cassette with a 42 tooth large cog paired with say a 30 or 32 tooth front ring might change the antisquat ,antirise,pedal kickback etc of the frame quite significantly, you may get some really odd characteristics.

Only one way to find out though,give it a try.but as said above if he can do a 12 mile xc ride on it as it is now, why bother?

Any chance you can fit the Status in then he can have the choice on the pedally days.

Any chance you can fit the Status in then he can have the choice on the pedally days.

Well that's a question. Whether I'll be on his Status for the week ha ha. But yes we can take all 3 if we needed.

Method in the madness. Take all three, if you have the room, and you will be sorted for every eventuality.

It’ll be fine, and allow him to better pedal between areas. As said earlier in the past we all rode DH bikes with regular cassettes until DH specific ones came out.

But yes we can take all 3 if we needed.

End of thread, IMO.

There is a new green run which starts at the top of the super morzine lift and drops you down to TS Séraussaix, cuts out one of the climbs, then it’s pretty much flat or downhill to Lindarets.

Spent many a time pedalling dh bikes round with tiny cassettes and no dropper !

Look at Paul Aston and his Orange DH bike, it makes it more of an all rounder

I know it's a few days ago but you're severely overthinking this. As has been said above we ALL used to ride DH bikes over there on whatever gearing we had. I've been to Les Arcs on 38/11-23 (26") and not died and that's a lot more pedally than Morzine. If you can take 2 bikes for him there's absolutely no issue. No point spending money you don't need to.

Also the DH chain guide will only suit a limited range of ring sizes so you'd have to factor in a new backplate for that - if you can get one.

If only a friendly forumer had suggested selling both bikes and getting something like the new Enduro which would do both things better than what you have now...

How much pedalling do you plan to do? Barring the days where i've done big rides to some of the non lift accessed areas, I ride my DH everywhere. Plenty of people ride single speed DH bikes and can cope with getting to Champery and back.

If only a friendly forumer had suggested selling both bikes and getting something like the new Enduro which would do both things better than what you have now…

disagree 100%

disagree 100%

With which bit? Have you tried a high end modern enduro bike?

With most of your other recent purchases, you seem to be blown away by how much better the bike is than the one it replaced. I can say from experience of all three bikes, I cannot see a single area where the Enduro wouldn't surpass the other two.

Have you tried a high end modern enduro bike?

You forget, this isn't about me... this is about him. It's not the same mindset, it's not even the same riding or the same skillset. He's a young lad who thinks like a young lad.

The simple fact is, he's gone way quicker just by swapping from the Specialized Enduro onto the GT.... would he have done the same on the Enduro, maybe... but who knows. It's impossible to say what may or may not have happened.

But what i do know is, he absolutely loves riding the GT Fury and is absolutely blown away by the grip, riding, control and ability of it. Sure, some of the courses he races arguably suits a less DH bike.... but that doesn't matter... it matters to people reading the threads it seems, but not to the person who has to ride and jump on the bike.

At the time of swapping, the GT seemed like the sensible idea as we were not planning a 'bike2' and we certainly were not planning an expensive bike2.... but hey that's where we ended up.

At the current time of writing this, the GT is the bike for this year and would likely be replaced by something newer early next year for the 2023 DH National series and a full on attempt at the series. But as we've seen, things change, things move, ideas change and move.

The difficulty comes with jumping on bikes and hating them, which we may think "oh i can tweak XYZ to make it better" but that's not a realtiy for me and him with racing, you want to be straight out the box fast and one thing the last 12 months has shown me is that he is fussier than i thought in terms of what he can or cannot 'let go' riding... the GT he feels he can pin out of the gate and ride fast, obviously i'm biased but i think he results show that he's certainly getting there on it and whether he may or may not have done that on 'something' i can't say.

But to say the Enduro would do things better than both the Status and the GT, well as i said, i disagree... maybe it would, for you... but you're not him.

I'm not trying to dismiss your advice or friendliness.... but sometimes we ask questions and follow the advice, sometimes we plough our own path, sometimes we do a bit of both.

e.g Everyone said to me, dump the G170 and buy a fast rolling 29er... So i bought the Trek Fuel EX9.8... i was set on 27.5 but i listened... (and went faster)

I’m not trying to dismiss your advice or friendliness…. but sometimes we ask questions and follow the advice, sometimes we plough our own path, sometimes we do a bit of both.

It was a tongue in cheek comment, but it is what I'd have done when you bought the Status. You're trying to turn a DH bike into an enduro bike, when you could have just got an enduro bike that does what you need.

But to say the Enduro would do things better than both the Status and the GT, well as i said, i disagree… maybe it would, for you… but you’re not him.

It really doesn't matter - he's happy on what he's on which is great. My point is that if he has loved both bikes and his previous Enduro, I'm sure he would love a new Enduro even more and it would be better suited to his riding.

How much pedalling do you plan to do?

Coming back to this - are you trying to solve for a problem that doesn't exist?

Coming back to this – are you trying to solve for a problem that doesn’t exist?

It's a question i don't really in truth know the answer to. But i'd rather be prepared for it than not. At the end of the day, there's £0 expense being laid out here as apart from the Mech (which i need for the Zwift bike anyway) i have all the parts in the spares boxes.
But as for how much, i can't recall and wouldn't like to say, but there'll be days when we head over to Montriond for the day, or pick a route and end up half way down some valley....

As earlier, if it was just me and him, it's irrelevant, we just walk/whatever and get there... but with others on the trip too, i don't want to spoil someone elses trip, especially as it's their first time in the Alps.

The discussion has changed a little anyway now as person3 who was potentially coming and taking up a space on the rack, is no longer coming on the trip, so we will have space for both the Status and the GT as well as my Trek (Status/Slash/whoknows)

@weeksy oh, the energy of youth! Great that he enjoys riding so much.

And sorry for the rather slow response!

Will an 11 speed cassette when fit onto a test 7 speed dh hub? I thought the spacing was different.

Will an 11 speed cassette when fit onto a test 7 speed dh hub? I thought the spacing was different.

NOt actually checked yet... but i'm going 10sp anyhow mate if we try it. Still waiting for the rear mech to arrive.

I've been through all this before. Fit the cassette and chainring as it makes pedalling through town slightly easier. Don't fit a dropper post though. We all did to do the Mega on DH bikes years ago thinking it would aid pedalling. It just ruined post as you're not actually sitting with your weight directly down the post due to seat tube angle.

BUT....everyone used to push the fire road between Super Morzine and Avoriaz years ago. So I wouldn't worry about that too much. There is defo some overthinking going on here. Its a lift assisted area for riding down hills, get on the lift and then ride down. I don't go there to ride XC, I get enough of that for the rest of the year living in the south east.

Now.... on a enduro bike I can pedal around easily and ride Champery world cup track. 😉

Now…. on a enduro bike I can pedal around easily and ride Champery world cup track.

HE's got one 😉 a Specialized Status.... but you try telling a 13 year old he's doing a day at the Alps on something other than his DH bike, let me know how that goes for you 😀

I have no doubt he'll go well on the Status, he's flying on that at the moment and getting used to it... but he wants to ride what he wants to ride.

Anyway.. i think this topic is done to death now... 🙂

I wouldn't bother changing to 11sp TBH, in the lower gears on big DH rigs you just spend energy making the bike go up an down in it's travel rather than along! I spent a week pedalling a V10 around Whistler, and while it's not ideal, it's not as hard as some on here would have you believe. He's young, he'll manage it

if you go this route try to get a rear shock that you can effectively lock out pretty easily as well. Plenty of options even with longer strokes, I think being able to firm up the back at the press will make as much of a difference as gearing will