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I'm thinking of getting one of these second-hand so seeking any user feedback that's out there.
I'm currently riding a 2011 Five, with a fairly hefty build, for Calderdale/Peak/Lakes big mountain stuff that involves pedalling up... and I'll be keeping that.
The SX Trail would be for uplift/Alps through to playing at places like Wharncliffe etc. so doesn't need to be a fantastic climber.
With 170rear and 160front, on-paper the SX Trail doesn't seem that much of a step-up in capability though. Am I being over-simplistic?
Anyone fitted a 180mm 'Zocchi 66 or similar?
Any general feedback about the 09 SX Trail would be much appreciated.
Thanks.
I have a 2010 SX Trail (same thing) with 170 Lyriks that I use as I mini-DH bike and I absolutely love it.
The thing is that it does actually feel like a DH bike, rather than a long-travel trail bike, and therefore is so much better on DH tracks than my 6 inch Banshee trail bike I had before, even though my Banshee was fitted with a angle reducing headset
I haven't tried, but I wouldn't like to climb far on it, but that doesn't seem to bother you much; it doesn't bother me, as I have a hardtail for trail duties.
Thanks Mikey, that's the sort of input that I was looking for.
I have a 2008 Demo 7, which is the same ballpark as the SX - on a long fireroad grind, it's murder, but I've actually ridden it around xc-ish courses, and was dead surprised by it on technical climbs, if you stood and mashed the pedals, it would go up pretty much anything.
Lot of fun to be had with the SX as a mini DH bike, that's it's exact niche, it's very capable.
Thanks honourablegeorge. Sounds promising.
Has anyone tried a 180mm fork on the 09/10 SX Trail?
I had one, in that horrible sandy color with distressed paint. Ran it as standard with 170mm and 160mm fox 36's
It is an absolutly fantastic bike and really quite climb-able. very stable in the air, as you would expect and really good fun at DH courses and the like. Took it out to the alps a couple of times and it was brilliant, you can do some proper scary speeds.
Running at 160mm you can easly do XC loops IE jacobs ladder loop in the peaks and 1.5 hour fire road climbs in the alps. In my opinion running at 180mm is likely to ruin the versatility it actually does have and make it purely a DH machine.
In the end i split it and sold because i couldnt justify having one as well as a 140mm trail bike (but i held onto the forks for swapping onto my ibis when i previously would have taken the SX)
I did have a hell of a lot of fun on it though 🙂
"Fun" that pretty much sums up the SX Trail.
I would get a downhill bike if i were you. A five can take a lot of abuse and having it plus a dh bike would cover more ground.
Mine was the older model but they're fairly comparable. TBH I didn't rate it at all-other than outright strength I didn't think it did anything noticably better than a big trail bike can, and a lot of things much worse. (My Hemlock with coils in, big tyres and a slackener headset feels more like a DH bike)
But ymmv of course. I replaced it with a proper dh bike, and that was definately the right choice for me, it doesn't go up hills much less well and it goes back down much better...
The only thing I'd change about the one I had would be to have a slacker HA, felt a bit steep for me, but then I'd come the other way, down from a dh bike rather than up from a trail bike. Other than that though, ace bike, and kinda wish I'd kept it.
I had the 08 and put totems on it, it was a fun bike for playing on jumps/freeride stuff and was ok as a mini DH bike, but I never really fell in love with it.
My current bike is an alpine 160 which is mostly set up for the same type of riding, but will also happily blast around my local woods or go up hills with lighter wheels and tyres. I'm finding it every bit as capable as the sx, but more versatile and lower maintainance.
..so to conclude I would echo stevelol and suggest a full on DH bike, you already have a five for everything else, why not pick up a nice second hand 224? Awesome fun in the alps or any uplift day, a no compromise descender. After years of four bar etc I'm loving the simplicity of single pivot.
Thanks all, some balanced feedback there.
Like Northwind, my worry/niggle is that it might not be that much more capable than the Five (which has 'zocchi ti coils on and hopefully a CCDB too soon).
I might hang-fire a while and wait for a Patriot instead. Think a 224 might be a step too far. Only drawback with that option is that the 18" frame is a bit small for me. I guess that's not such a major issue if pedalability isn't going to be high on the requirements list.
Thanks again.