Hi, a bunch of us are off to morzine in June for a lads weekend away. None of us are DHers, but I am planning on selling one of my bikes to get something a bit beefier. We will mostly be doing the xc trails, with a bit of baby downhill thrown in.

My current ride is a cannondale rz120-2 120mm FS er, but that’s what I’m planning on selling to fund this crazy plan!!

My heart is aching for a Yeti 575 frame to build up quite lightweight, and also use it on my local trails when I get home. There are also some good deals on Yeti ASR5’s around – would this be enough bike?

Any other ideas? Whatever, I want to be able to build it to about 28lb using my HopeP2/ Mavic 819 wheels, my X0 cranks and a mix of XT/SLX kit with carbon bars/post.

Ta. Dan

Heckler?

Hecklers coming with me in June when I head there…In the process of alpifying it just now, slackened the head angle, 160 forks on on their way, and just ordered some minions….

yes..its 3 months away, but I can’t wait to see the Heckler in his natural environment!

Heckler would be cheaper – is it as good a bike? Any age differences I need to know about for heckler frames?

Unless your ‘Dale is goosed i’d stick with that and put your money towards a pair of Pro2/Flow wheels,some 2.4 tubeless tyres, some 740mm bars and a dropper post. I guided out there on a 120mm full suss for a season then an Orange P7 with a pair of Pikes on the front and didn’t need anything bigger.

I understand if the lure of the shiny new bike proves too strong though 😀

I do love my ‘Dale. It already runs tubeless with MK2 protections on Hope pro2/mavic xm819 ust wheels, has carbon 710mm bars – so only a dropper to add!! It’s in great nick and is a 2011 with nice Fox forks, so certainly would do the job. I just already have another 120mm FS, but not worth as much as the RZ, so I thought I might be able to “Explore my envelope” a bit more in the alps on a 150 bike.

Great stuff so far chaps, sometimes you need other opinions to take the blinkers off.

575’s a great allrounder, and some good deals about too.

I have had a Heckler out in the Alps and it was a good ride. Money permitting I would upgrade the Pikes to Lyriks for next trip. It will be even more fun then. 🙂

Edit: Just to add that the Heckler is my ride every day bike.

I bought this for my trip to Morzine last year

http://paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b4s1p2817

Swapped the forks for a 2nd hand set of Lyriks and sold the Marzocchis for the same amount I paid for the Lyriks.

I would have liked a downhill bike and there were few times out there I wish I had something with a bit more travel/ slacker, but overall I get more use out of the Reign back home than I would with a DH bike.

For a weekend away I would go too crazy. Get something that’ll work here and it will work over there just fine. The trails aren’t particularly steep/gnarly/aggressive there’s just lots of them and lifts to get you to the top so you spend more time going down.

Heckler works on the UKs trail centres just fine, although I run it with a 150 front end day to day. Not sure what it’ll be like with the the Marzhoci 55s on it.

My one gripe is the ridiculously short toptube which means its a great ‘fun bike’ but not massively comfortable for any XC orientated stuff, IMO. Would be a blast in the alps however, and from what I can see fairly indestructable.

Don’t think the older models have changed massively either, so a tatty one a few years old might be perfect!

stick with what you got mate you will be fine , i went les gets/morzine last year and took my 100mm Cube HT with St high rollers Front and back with me and had a blast .. if anything there was more grins as it was on the edge had a swap with one of the challet guys for his FS and even he admited he enjoyed it ..

even The DH trails are pretty smooth and at that time of year they wont be minced by wannabe robo cops braking bumps .. Run what you have and you will have a great time , that said buy a new bike and you will also have a great time !

I’d happily rent my Socom to people who were coming out and could be on hand for tech support if any maintenance was needed on bikes.

Ideally you do want a bit more travel upfront (140+) and yes the Yeti and Heckler would be a great all round bikes plus a long list of other AM types, if you’ve got the cash use the Alps trip as an excuse to upgrade 🙂 definitely get some alps tyres, high roller double skinned etc

Note the lifts open full time from mid June, check your dates and the info on les gets website which has been linked to I other threads here

IMO the DH type rigs are restrictive as they don’t pedal well and I enjoy riding a mix of trails – I’d highly recommend lunch at the small restaurant at Mont Caly as an antidote to the downhill stormtrooper frenzy. Accessed via Mont Chery lift in Les Gets then pleasant double track to tiny village. Return via blue/red or easy black “dans le gaz”

You have two 120mm bikes. Keep the Rize, sell the other one, buy that Reign above. Job done, Alps/DH trips sorted for the foreseebale.

“downhill stormstrooper frenzy”….like it. You forgot to add “Brits Abroad” to the start though.

Bigger forks mean you can run bigger rotors, which will help alot in stopping and arm pump

FYI I have a Reign with 160 forks and it’s an excellent bike for the alps for me (I’m certainly not a “big road gap” type rider). You do want decent brakes too eg 180/160 or 203/180

My other top tip would be extend the trip, you won’t regret it, 3 or 4 days not 2 !

I rode a Heckler last year and it was fine with 140 Rev’s up front. This year I am taking a Cotic Bfe with 150 Ti Bombers….. I can’t wait !

Although if you want a bike that you can ride here the other 51 weeks of the year then you need to base it more on what riding you do here I would say.

I just cane creek double barrel’ed and 160 forked my five for my alps trip lol

You can tell the differences in people riding shorter travel bikes compared to dh bikes out here (good vs good rider) it depends what you’d get more enjoyment out of- if its singletracks and covering terrain then a 160mm bike is ideal (or less) if its hitting a lot of stuff blind and your riding faster than your ability I’d say a dh bike is what you want.

I rode for 3 weeks on a dialled alpine and that did an ok job but it wasnt as fun… depends what you want out of your riding.

If anyone needs any suggestions on where to go or wants to ride just ask.

If you’re going to bomb wicked steeps and stick big drops, you better trust your ride. 😛

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the bike that gives you the most options in the Alps is probably a coil-equipped Patriot. Strong enough for any of the DH bits, light enough to pedal, reasonable geometry for climbing.

Probably pointless for the UK though – just too heavy at mid-30s.

Having said all of that, for a weekend I’d just stick with what you’ve got or hire a bike – €80 per day is a lot cheaper than what you’re planning, and you don’t have the hassle and cost of getting it out there, nor care what happens to it when you’re riding.

Been out twice to morzine / les gets and used my santa cruz super light all xc setup…. did all the runs and only the main morzine run it suffered…

I’d keep with your current rig unless your really unhappy with??

what does “did all the runs” even mean? jeesus lots of useless garbage on here

I had my DeVinci Dixon out there last year, it takes a bit of abuse but still builds up pretty light. Freeborn have the 2011s on offer at the minute.

Lots of good advice coming out!!! We are planning lift-assisted XC, with a little light downhill, and will have 4 days on the bikes :-)).

My second bike is a trek fuel ex I’ve built up – originally for someone else who ended up getting a very special- ized Xmas present – and I’ve decided that one is the keeper, due to liking both, and the higher resale value of the RZ. It seems silly to have 2 bikes so similar, hence the AM bike quest!!

I think my preferred options are either a Yeti 575 or ASR 5, or a Heckler. I think the Heckler frame is slightly heavier, but cheaper. Anybody tried either of the other 2, in the Alps in particular? Also, anybody happen to be selling a medium frame??????

We have enterned the passportes du soliel… one of our group is/was doing it on a 120mm trek fuel ex.

We finally got him in the peaks this weekend, it’s the first time he realised 120mm wasn’t going to be enough for 85km of pure ROCK in the Alps. So your making the right decision.

Buy a used Nomad though ;-)… then sell everything else and buy a hardtail for the lighter UK stuff. You will just end up riding the nomad all the time anyway.

2 different types of “DH” riding IMO.

1. Groomed pistes – fast, technically straightword in most ways, can be steep, man made features, braking bumps, relatively short, all downhill. A proper DH bike has to be ‘best’ for these if best mean riding comfortably and quickly

2. Off-piste DH – often slow, nadgery, technical, occassionally might get off or have a look, rocky steps, proper switchbacks, some pedalling needed – sort of thing you get riding au natural in Chamonix or Spain. Might get an uplit or might pedal up. You really dont see many riding on DH bikes on these. But defintely more folk on 160mm bikes than a few years ago when Pikes seemed to be as big as it got.

Alex – you obviously know your stuff, but it’s a bit of a leap from a Dialled Alpine HT to full on DH 😉

Back to the OP – if you’re going for such a short time, you want to maximise your fun, but do you really want a bike for 2 out of 365 days a year? I’m going for a long trip this year and decided to stick with my Blur LT and whack on some coil Lyriks and big rotors. Already running 2 x 9 + bash and a dropper post. Gone for wide bars and short stem too. Reckon that will do it. I wont be able to keep up with an equal rider on a V10, but I’ll have more options. Back to air Revs when I get home and some lighter tyres.

But, if you want a bigger bike, for £2k you can get a Cube Fritzz – that was my other option.

I had both! – My mate took a cube fritzz out last year and loved it – he wasn’t much slower than he was on his sunday – when it comes to the bigger stuff though if your not pushing it then you’ll be fine but if you would like to hit it – I don’t think the cube would be massively confidence inspiring within a holiday period.

I’d say more importantly than travel is geometry out here.

I was hoping the 3 options I had selected would be fine for regular uk riding too, especially as I will still have a really nice 120mm bike too.

a guy off here used his heckler dont think he liked it too much – he’s on a mega now and so is the guy who had the fritz.

If the yeti is the one with carbon stays then steer clear as my mate got one brand spanking- the stay snapt 3 months later and they wiped their hands of it even though it was clearly manufacturing and no impact marks.

my vote for a good all rounder? a mega or a 5″ trek / giant

dantsw13
I was hoping the 3 options I had selected would be fine for regular uk riding too, especially as I will still have a really nice 120mm bike too.

You have good options there – nice bikes, just make sure you’ve got budget for tyres, possible brake/rotor upgrade (running out of travel is one thing, out of braking power is another!), some body armour/pads.

I took this last year to Morzine: –

It was really good on everything I rode, but the blues are full of braking bumps which in turn destroyed my back wheel 🙁

My biggest tip would be…. get a coil rear shock on what ever bike / frame you buy. Air is just not upto the job if you want to put the hammer down.

Air is fine on larger volume shocks but on short travel bikes I would tend to agree – nice ride mate

Do those front neoprene things work… after being blinded by stuff getting flicked up at speed on my last few rides I’m getting tempted even if they do look a bit dodgy

Hi.

Sorry to Hijack the thread a little but tpbiker can you PM me please regarding the headset you have for sale, you’ve no email address in your profile or I would have emailed you direct.

Hijack over, again my apologies.

Cheers

Michael

GSP1984 – don’t bother buying one. Get an old inner tube, open it up, cut about 12 inches of it, and attach it between the crown and the bottom of your head tube – voila for free!!!!

gsp yes they do – i havent bought one yet – but innertubes usually rip – I bought a sheet of 30cm by 30cm neoprene off ebay for about £3 and cut them up for my bikes – I’d recommend doing that or just buying one if you dont have the time

I wouldn’t think the Yeti ASR 5 would be much different to the Rize or the Fuel Ex?

Get some big volume dual ply tyres and run them at low pressures – it’ll be like having more suspension, only much cheaper than buying a new bike. As others have said it only feels harder than the UK because the trails tend to be longer and you do more of them because you’re not having to spend most of your time riding uphill.