[Closed] One for the people "in the trade"

I don't even know what XC is.

I know what "XC Race" is. I know what "Trail" is.

I know what "Endurance Race" is.

[url= http://www.ragleybikes.com/2009/07/how-strong-is-the-blue-pig-frame/ ]How strong is the Blue Pig?[/url]

Well not talking about race, just talking about riding the bike. More precise example, will you warranty one of your frame if you knew the rider was not pushing down steps or had the wheels off the grounds (no more than 1.5-2.00 m though).
Will you consider that being Free ride or will it be just normal riding?

Judging by the pics of you doing those drops I would say that you do general trail riding. Some people might say thats AM but its definitely not freeride and as more than one wheel is leaving the ground at a time I would say its not xc.

To me xc would be used to describe the kind of riding a beginner would do as they dont have the skills to manage the tougher stuff.XC Race is skinny whippets with no body hair banging elbows. XC is wheels on the ground distance riding. Trail is the same but with wheels off the ground (at times). God knows what AM really is but I guess its when you use the same bike for a trail ride and a DH track. Freeriding is crazy. DH is DH.

HTH 😀

I have to disagree I_Ache ( suprise suprise 🙂 ) - xc can and does involve both wheels off the ground - even for someone as unskilled as me. Bunnyhopping water bars for example or going odd small drops. I would say jumps less than 1m high

will you warranty one of your frame if you knew the rider was not pushing down steps or had the wheels off the grounds (no more than 1.5-2.00 m though).
Will you consider that being Free ride or will it be just normal riding?

Our frames are warrantied for manufacturing defects. It doesn't matter what the rider is doing on it.

To me xc would be used to describe the kind of riding a beginner would do as they dont have the skills to manage the tougher stuff.XC Race is skinny whippets with no body hair banging elbows. XC is wheels on the ground distance riding. Trail is the same but with wheels off the ground (at times).

For real???

Bikes aren't as fragile as you think Juan. Sure if you're 18st and ride like a 3-legged drunken donkey then you need stronger kit than a 10st skilled XCer but people get WAY too hung up on XC/AM/FR etc.

Chances are if you stuff any bike into a tree at speed, you'll bend it (the bike, not the tree...) and, as Brant said, it won't be warranty.

I know crazy legs 😉 Trajectory errors are not warrantied 😉
What i mean is if a XC frame was to bend/crack as the results of going down one of those steps, would I be right to ask for a warranty?
Or in other hands am I going to die if I keep doing all that?

I_hache thanks, i would say AM is trail riding just steeper 😉

tricky one, i think its down to the manafacturers discretion as to how or why a frame broke.

if its a shoddy weld (which can happen in any production line) then it SHOULD be fairly obvious.

ive only ridden factory welded allux frames, so they are as strong as a strong thing, and i would be suprised if i managed to break one in any way! but if the head tube has been ripped off a 21" whippet frame, clearly from landing heavily, then i think it would be pretty obvious from looking at it that it had been mistreated.

[i]or had the wheels off the grounds (no more than 1.5-2.00 m though).[/i]

If you're getting the bike 2 meters in the air, I'd suggest your riding is pretty far removed from what most people - especially manufacturers - would consider XC.

Have you seen the abuse bikes can take?!
Watch Paris Roubaix for example, a lot of people on here would struggle to ride their 5.75" adjustable travel/geometry all mountain bike over some of that stuff yet there are road bikes screaming over it at average speeds of nearly 30mph.

I've seen people ride cyclo cross bikes down stuff that some people wouldn't ride on a normal FS - watch the Three Peaks CX race and tell me that isn't "all mountain" yet it's done on skinny tyred drop barred bikes.

Just ride. Seriously. So long as you have some vague modicum of skill, the bike will survive anything you can ride it down. It may not like being dropped off a car roof rack onto a motorway at 70mph but that's totally different forces it's not designed to withstand.

[i]It may not like being dropped off a car roof rack onto a motorway at 70mph but that's totally different forces it's not designed to withstand.[/i]

If it helps, I can verify that the Dialled Bikes PA frames can handle this no problem!

Dance the I will not die happy dance.
[img] [/img]

TJ If thats the only thing you disagree with me on then I shall consider my post a success. 😀

I will conceed that point but say that 1m is a bit high for a normal XC ride I would say 50cm absolute tops.

i put 105mm forks on my XtC (designed around 80mm) which slackened it off a smidgen, shortneed the stem, and i considered it a trail bike.
muhah

Ive also run it into a van at 45mph, and flipped over the bonnet/bars, got money for a new frame and fork, and still ride the old one "like i stole it"
its fine 😀
mech that was on it has some epic tarmac scars though 😀

height isnt really a discerning factor on load on the bike, only on how scary it is!
a drop off a big kerb (up to a foot) will land a harder hit on the bike than a properly excecuted 5ft drop onto a steep smooth downslope of course.

a drop off a big kerb (up to a foot) will land a harder hit on the bike than a properly excecuted 5ft drop onto a steep smooth downslope of course.

common sense at all?

buy a frame built of a suitable material to a strength and weight bracket for your riding style and weight.. end of!

plenty elite level DHers race a bit of XC/enduro etc. too, do you think they mince down the descents? christ, I started DH racing on an XC race hardtail. if the landing transition is good and you're reasonably smooth even a lightweight XC race bike will cope with a 5' drop.

It's usually about now that Oli_y posts a pic of him coming down Caddon Bank on his plastic bike.