Had an itch for a new bike and thought I'd give DH a go, so I've been building this up over the past few weeks.
It's very heavy, but a first ride yesterday at a very slippery Aston Hill indicated that it handles really nicely.
Spec list and pricing under pics...
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Frame: 2007 Big Hit 3 with DHX 3 coil shock - £350 new in sale.
Fork: RS Domain 180mm coil - £180 secondhand.
Wheels: Almost new Specialized hubs, DT 559 rims and cassette - £105, Pinkbike.
Tyres: High Roller 2.5 3C - £60, classifieds.
Chainset: SLX with single 36t ring and bash - £100 new.
Shifter: Deore - parts bin.
Rear mech: LX - parts bin.
Brakes: Juicy three - parts bin (using an XT front brake until I get a longer hose on the Juicy)
Discs: 203mm F&R - £26, discobrakes
Seatpost: Giant - parts bin
Saddle: WTB Speed V - parts bin
Stem: Truvativ Holzfeller 40mm - £15
Bar: FSA Maximus - £10 ebay
Grips: WTB Weirwolf - £4 Wiggle
Pedals: Wellgo B25 - £33 Wiggle
DH tubes - £10 CRC.
Chain - parts bin.
Chain device not fitted yet, Truvativ Box Guide (£44) didn't work with crankset, need to investigate alternatives.
So that's a total cost of £937, which I think is pretty good. Hoping to take it for an uplift day at Cwmcarn sometime in the next month and attempting to ride it properly.
That does look like quite a good build for under £1000. When I saw the picture, I was thinking "Budget? Really??" - it looks really nice. You got some good deals there.
I like that a lot. Well done, good build on a good price.
I had one of those frames at that price for while.
Can't reallly go wrong, very nice bike and well done for keeping all that under a grand.
Really nice build for the price.
Let us know how you find the forks, I have a pair on my Faith and they're an excellent fork for the price they are.
I can see a lot of fun being had, just remember to disengage the common snese filter when riding 😆
oh before I forget, make sure the forks serial number doesn't fall under the recall that happened a while ago.
probably the dullest riding bike I've ever ridden - made me want to walk down the hill
like riding Vanessa Phelps on a waterbed round Ikea
probably
Nice bike, v. jealous - I really want a DH bike for the chairlift-only days out here, but I can't afford it! Need to stick with the Heckler as the one-bike-to-rule-them-all for now.
The irony is that if I'd stayed at my nice, safe desk job I'd have been able to afford it no bother but would have got to ride it properly about twice a year!
Just realized I forgot to add the headset, FSA Pig DH Pro for £18, taking total cost to £955.
Thanks for nice comments.
MTBcol - I really like the Domain so far, just seems to flow over the bumps. Interested to see if the damping can handle full-on Lakes-style rocky sections, but can't grumble for the price (and hopefully reliability).
stevo - That's the problem, four bikes and I only usually get time to ride twice a week max. I'm jealous of you! I'll still take my Reign rather than this to the Alps this year - though I bet I'll pine for it now and then.
Brakes - Surprised to hear you found it dull. Seems very nippy and lively to me so far. Thanks to you I'll be thinking of Vanessa next time I ride it though!
Just for you
cut it out and stick it to your top cap!
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It will give you something to aim at with your front wheel 🙂
Need to sort out the hose route through the forks, but otherwise, great!
Captain - Front brake is to be replaced with one with a longer hose soon, which will allow correct routing.
Vortex - Ouch, my eyes!
You wanna get a chain guide on that.
If it's ISCG-old, then I've an e13 SRS going spare I could do cheap...
IA - Yes, I do want a chain guide. Could be interested, my email is in my profile if you'd like to drop me a line?
the one I rode had 888s on, which would have made a difference and was a size too big, and I rode it at Chicksands and maybe the rebound was really slow :shrugs:
Did the shop have one of these in large in the sale?
Did the shop have one of these in large in the sale?
Only the one in small I'm afraid.
Boxguide wise; Take the screws off, so you take half the top guide away that enables you to run it with bash, or you may need to grind off the granny lugs, depends what your problem is. I've got some experience of fettling with these, if you need help drop me an email (message in profile).