Hi all. Moving to Bristol from the States in a few weeks and looking for events to get me excited about the move. Wondering wether doing these races on my Mojo HD W/ 34 160 is a bat idea without being insanely fast and capable or is it still possible to finish mid pack as a fast average joe.
Also tire suggestions?
Its entirely possible for you to finish last - i'm not a downhiller but suspect that skill plays at least a small part in the finishing position.
Little bikes (well, not proper DH bikes) are great for the FoD. I did the December one on my Spciy and will be doing the others on a 6" bike too.
And yes, it is easily possible to finish well if you're a good enough rider. For example, there's a guy I know who races Enduros and he came 3rd overall in the UKGE Series. He did the December Mini DH and came 2nd on his Nukeproof Mega.
When I did them last year, if I remember correctly, 2 of the winners were riding a DMR bolt and Orange 5 respectively.
And tires? Dual ply or just beefy trail ones. Running 2.4 Nobby Nic's now.
I don't really think it really matters that much as lnog as they're grippy. I'd be looking at Hans Dampfs, Minions or High Roller 2s. Personally, I run dual ply Minions tubeless for everything, so I just left my normal tyres on.
for most of the riding in the Bristol/south wales region a 160mm travel bike is more than enough, there are plenty of riders doing well in the DH races on orange alpines and the like.
tyres on the other hand are a lottery, depends what the weather is doing for the particular few minutes your run is in 😉