Never really looked at DH bikes before and thinking about getting one.
What second hand complete bikes are worth looking at?
Not bothered about year or colour but must ride well.

Iron horse Sunday.
Giant glory.
Mondraker Summum.

All brilliant bikes and can be had for that sort of wedge.

The iron horse is a great bike but are known for cracking. 2 firiends who had Sunday’s had theirs crack. One got his done on warrany but the other broke after iron horse went bust. Personally I would avoid it.

The iron horse is a great bike but are known for cracking. 2 firiends who had Sunday’s had theirs crack.

Along with everyone I have seen, they are also very very old now

Pink bike classifieds is your market place 🙂
http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/list/?location=193-*-*&page=2&category=1&price=..1000&year=2014,2013

The Status looks interesting with the shorter fork and so does the Cube Hanzz with the Boxxers.

Based on my experience of wanting a DH type bike that wasn’t battered or too much ££ I’d suggest adding to the list;

Kona Stinky – I bought a brand new warranty replacement female sand built it up for a sensible cost and it was great fun. Not a DH race bike but loads of skill compensation and never felt limiting.

Specialized Bighit – a mate had one of the last generation, same as the Stinky, great fun and worked well

Specialized Status – my current bike, replacement for the Bighit and cracking value

Others I’ve looked at in the past include the Scot Voltage and Kona Entourage.

All of these bikes have a 135mm qr back end and 73mm BB shell so this together with other things separate them from true downhill bikes but for the privateer rider you won’t find this limiting. £1,000 will get you a secondhand ex race bike that been well used but the above bikes will either come in a lot less for the same condition or great nick for your budget. If you can live with the basic single crown forks of the lower spec Status then these can sometime be found for around £1,200 brand new.

This looks decent value: http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1690466/

Specialized Status is a shout – http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1712467/

Sunday. Probably the best riding bike in that bracket.

Despite the above, and the huge volume of them when I was racing, there was very little chat of them cracking. No more so than any other bike.

A quick scout on Google doesn’t bring up much info either. Everyone I raced DH with had one at some point and none cracked. Sloppy back end due to the DW link design on the early ones but that’s it.

I’d have another.

How long since you rode one Hob Nob, everyone I’ve seen here in Tassie has been welded. Trying to think when they flogged the last one.

I got a Canyon Torque Dropzone for that sort of money least year for uplift stuff..

second hand of course.

As an owner of a Sunday since time began, it’s the 2008 model you want, and ideally a factory model as these were built in America not the far east. The Ridemonkey Ironhorse Sunday thread is full of useful info, specially about which Shocks do and dont fit the frame. With a minus 2 degree Headset Cup you are laughing.

Yes they are old and ive just replaced mine with a YT, but the heritage that bike owns makes me want to put my Sunday frame in a glass cabinet instead of selling it.

Absolutely classic bike.

I sold my year old YT Tues for £1250, I’d consider that cheap, you’re not going to break one of those so easily in the UK.

Sundays had a shock pivot mount or something that seized solid, Pearce Cycles may still carry the spares.

Dont buy anything thats been resprayed.

Put £50 or so aside for bearings, Katec on Ebay or BETD sell sets.

Cheap or poorly set up chainguides can ruin your day.

Do try and have a ride or at least a go up the street- top tube lengths on geometry charts don’t really work for these bikes as you’ll be standing up and leaning over the front more than a normal bike, enough length is your friend otherwise it’ll be cramped and you’ll be hitting your knees and balls on the stem.

I’d look at nukeproof scalp or pulse – there are some very cheap ones around. 1400 would have got you a 2014 pulse comp about 6 months old and mint condition. definitely worth a look.

when i went to bed last night i didnt need a £1000 occasional uplift bike but this morning i do! (this bastard forum) love the look of that status, esp if can get it with Boxxers for <£1K… hmmmmm

Kona Entourage.

All of these bikes have a 135mm qr back end and 73mm BB shell

Pretty sure the Entourage is DH standard hub & BB. It put me off getting one. Might still be OK for the OP if he doesn’t want to swap bits with his trail bike though.

OP – you could pick up a late model Orange Patriot for £1k, stick some offset bushings in and it’s an awesome uplift bike that can pedal a little bit too. And has 135mm rear, 73mm BB.

I like Sundays but I reckon you can get newer bikes with better kit on them for your budget.

Hob Nob – Member
Sunday. Probably the best riding bike in that bracket.

Despite the above, and the huge volume of them when I was racing, there was very little chat of them cracking. No more so than any other bike.

A quick scout on Google doesn’t bring up much info either. Everyone I raced DH with had one at some point and none cracked. Sloppy back end due to the DW link design on the early ones but that’s it.

I’d have another.

+1

Any of them that had a manafacturing fault should be well broken by now. Good bikes.

Perhaps a bit leftfield, but I always fancied the look of the last of the SX trails Spesh made – they must be in that sort of bracket now price wise?

Suppose it depends if you want to concentrate on going fast or having fun – I’ve had a few DH bikes over the years and they’re all a bit serious, not to mention hard bloody work to ride if you’re not pinned.

I’m tempted to get an SX for BPW and the Alps.

just follow SteveH around he will discard a DH bike sooner or later, probably inside a transporter or campervan…..

Kona Operator is a good solid bike with modern geometry too.

chakaping – Member
Kona Operator is a good solid bike with modern geometry too.

Could you please explain what modern geometry is?
Could this geometry be achieved with an angleset headset/offset bushes on an older bike?

Modern geometry is longer lower and slacker but that doesnt really help a beginner IME especially if just playing at most UK Bikeparks . You’ll see older freeride bikes like bullets / norcos that are really tall and upright, best to get something in between like most of the above.

Angleset headset/offset bushes can help but the shock placements are often close against the frame so big coils might not allow fitting the offset bushings and if the frame has 1 1/8 headtube you might only get a 1deg works headset in there.

Mike i resemble that allegation! New DH bike hopefully on the way soon if I can get it sorted. Camper for sale soon when the weather is a little better.

What about old Demos, V10s, Sundays, Glorys etc
Are these new or old geometry? I’ve had an 05 Demo 8, 07 V10 and now own a 11 Demo 8 (with 2 degree angleset). Which geometry are these?

Which geometry are these?

They are all old new geometry, not new new.

They are all old new geometry, not new new.

Thanks for clearing that up 😆
The “new geometry” really makes no sense at all to me and is constantly used on here by people who can’t explain to a fool like me what the hell they’re talking about.

Spesh Status looks good and there’s a few around for that money.
Anyone rode one?

To me people who were talking about new geometry with regard to DH bikes would be talking about longer front ends and slacker head angles – the same pretty much applies to trail bikes too.
There are of course exceptions.

with regard to DH bikes would be talking about longer front ends and slacker head angles

How would an 05 bike differ from a 2015 bike? I understand the newer bike will probably be significantly lighter. Has geometry changed so much over the last 10 years? Are the new bikes quicker because of the geometry change? Or is speed down to line choice and fitness?

I know a guy selling a right proper scalp for that money

£1000 doesn’t mean an old bike, example: http://m.pinkbike.com/buysell/1714253/

That Saracen is a bargain. And a great bike.

By modern geometry on a dh bike I just mean a head angle of around 64 or 63 deg and a sensible height bb.

Not forward geometry or anything like that.

I agree with those saying a dh bike is not for everyone. I sold mine! Try one out if you can OP.

Agreed that Saracen is a great deal.

So if you take a v10 as an example the head angle is probably 2 degrees slacker and the top tube 30mm longer for the same size over that time. Fast people are always fast but if I go back to an older bike now they don’t feel as quick.

If you ever wander around an uplift day looking at bikes, you’ll see a load of old Sundays and Orange 22s and you’ll see a lot more welds on those bikes than they left the factory with… Which isn’t all bad- they get ridden to bits and are worth fixing, and fixable. But still. As above, £1000 doesn’t have to mean an old scabber. (but just because there’s newer, cooler geo out there doesn’t mean that what was brilliant a few years ago now sucks)

I know not everyone agrees with this… But I had 3 goes at building a cheap dh/uplift bike and none of them worked out, because no matter what I did, I had a bike that wasn’t as good as my everyday bike and felt it. More suitable, sure, and not bad at all, but less good, and just less enjoyable when I rode it. So I ended up selling up and just put the wheels and tyres on my #enduro rig and used that for a long time, and was far happier. When I had the cash, I built a kickass dh bike which didn’t feel like second best and loved that. YMMV of course

Oh but also, £1000 will do a lot of uplift day hires. I’d rather have my own bike but it’s an option.

I picked up a 2nd hand 2012 Kona Entourage for 600 and its a great bike,Definetly not Qr,150mm 12mm bolt through,changed BB and serviced the Domains forks and it was great at Inners uplift.

I got this for same kind of cash as your budget. It’s roughly 100x more fun than an Enduro bike on proper downhill