Cheapest full sus bike for Swinley Forest red track?

Hi all,

Just been for a very harsh ride on my hard tail on the swinley forest red track! What do you think is the cheapest full sus bike that would handle this comfortably? (second hand is fine).

Tyre pressures were 45psi – is that ok?

Thanks,

Poiu

45!!!!

try 25-30 and try again!

Doh! Thanks 🙂

Same advice. I ride swinley on HT at 30-40psi. I am bit too big to go below 30, but lower pressure helps there IMO.

Jesus wept.

Lower pressures…

28-30psi here but that is tubeless.

Oh and stand up more.

GB

lower pressures – maybe fatter tyres.

Stand up more on the downs.

Try to push harder elsewhere as it unweights you from the saddle a bit.

better saddle/post. My old flite gel flow and a use titanium seatpost has about 1/2 inch of compliance in. Obviously you need a reasonable amount of post showing for this.

Suspension seatpost – like a USE XCR – surprisingly effective.

Demo or V10.

Santa Cruz Troll

How about a MTFU 😉

What hardtail do you have ?

As a general rule Cheap bikes are not always good and good bikes are not always cheap. 🙂

Cane creek thud buster

Ugly but works a treat

AndyRT – Member
Cane creek thud buster

Ugly but works a treat
+1

Technique?

What hardtail do you have ?

This.

very harsh ride

Sounds like aluminium to me.

Are you new to mountain biking?

I ask because Swinley is very very smooth.

If you are new, then stick with you’ll soon harden up and learn better technique.

Also are you using padded lycra shorts? and maybe a different saddle?

I’m sure this would get you round at least once.

A MTFU branded one with the tyres at ~30psi or less. I run mine tubeless and drop the pressure untill I can feel the tyre rolling over through corners.

Get fit and stand up more, if you’r lower back isn’t burning from the effort by the end of Stickler then you could have stood up more/ridden it faster.

There really isn’t anything at Swinely to justify a suspension fork let alone a full suss bike! For all the moaning on the Swinley facebook page about “new” riders holding up the trails, it’s the “probably ridden enough to know better” brigade sitting down through the corners (and almost coming to a standstill at each one as a result) that annoy me more. At least the unfit ones are by virtue of being there, doing something about it!

Great thanks all!

I’ll try again with lower psi and then may get me a USE Sumo XCR Shokpost – half the price of the Cane creek thud buster!

Cheers,

Poiu

p.s. Yes I’m new and crap but I do move over 🙂

Awesome – bloke asks for a recommendation on a FS bike and he has everything thrown at him from MTFU to assuming what his bike is made of…

Bit less air in the tyres and a bit more standing up!

I could never ride with 25psi, that’s like a flat tyre waiting to get a pinch flat. 60kg here and 40psi.

If you’re serious about FS, and Swinley and the areas around it are your usual terrain….

I’d look at something like a Giant Anthem X. Fantastic bikes for the money, with heavy discounts at pauls cycles, you could get an X4 or X3 for under £1000. Given £1200 is probably the threshold for a new FS nowadays that’s pretty good. You could probably also get a Boardman for a similar sort of price.

If your tyres stay on at 25psi you aren’t cornering properly.

scruff – Member
If your tyres stay on at 25psi you aren’t cornering properly.

The cornering ability of trolls is clearly far superior to us mere mortals 🙄 🙄 🙄

What do you run then scruff?

As mentioned already… Try lower pressures and higher volume tyres if lower pressure isn’t enough, I run 25psi in a 2.3 and 30psi in a 2.1 (with tubes) and i’m not that light (14stone with kit). Worth checking pressure if you have air forks, if they are too firm or rebound too high you will be fighting them on the return stroke. Have a play with riding positions as well, I find it’s a fine balance, you don’t want too much weight at either end, too upright and you will have less weight on the front so climbing and control on cornering wont be as good and most of the impacts are going through you backside\back and less through the forks.

If like you said you are new to it all you will find with time you will feel a bit more at one with the bike, as cheesy as that sounds. I find I hover a couple of inches above the saddle when it gets rough, just the brief moment of the impact whilst still turning over on the cranks, as mentioned you can always ride out the saddle if it’s that bad.

I could never ride with 25psi, that’s like a flat tyre waiting to get a pinch flat. 60kg here and 40psi.

PMSL
I got 20-25kg on you and running 32 max. Very few issues and not getting bounced all over the spot.

Keva – Member
I could never ride with 25psi, that’s like a flat tyre waiting to get a pinch flat. 60kg here and 40psi.

POSTED 11 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

+1 mine are normally at 40-45 psi and I’m 17.5stn

I’m with keva.
If I ran <25psi on the rear tyre around swinley, i’d be all over the shop on those berms.

Or just grab a full sus frame from ebay and swap it out. I’m looking at some old spesh epics or stumpjumpers which probably suit XC style riding.

stand up and sort of hover and use your knees to soak up the bumps.

Or just grab a full sus frame from ebay and swap it out. I’m looking at some old spesh epics or stumpjumpers which probably suit XC style riding.

You would be very supprised how the cost can spiral doing this if you don’t buy a frame that suits the components you have on the donor.

For Swinley a short travel FS would be ideal. Something like a Scott Spark, but definitely try lower pressures first. Swinley Red is fine on a hardtail with the right pressure but if you’re after more speed & comfort then short travel FS is the way to go.

If your tyres stay on at 25psi you aren’t cornering properly.

if this was a car then rolling the tyres off is an issue , but on two wheels you are meant to lean in the corners…

I’m a lot faster round Swinley on my Spearfish than on my ti El Mariachi. The little bumps just get flattened and you can really go for it on the downs as the geometry is a little more suited.

GB

we used to race there on full rigid bikes with canti’s. also jumpers for goalposts.

Same for me. Slightly faster on a short travel full suss 29er, rather than a 29er carbon hard tail – I actually thought it would be the other way around. Still occasionally ride a fully rigid bike around, but mainly save that for the winter.

I am about 80kg and tyre pressures between 25 and 30psi depending on the volume of the tyre I am using. 2.2 tubeless Racing Ralphs are fine at around 25psi. 1.9 tubeless Renegades need about 30psi to prevent me hitting the rim, they also feel a bit squirmy at lower pressures.

I could never ride with 25psi, that’s like a flat tyre waiting to get a pinch flat. 60kg here and 40psi.

Mine start at 30psi and get dropped from there (either deliberately or through lack of topups) to about 22-25psi when they start to come off the rim through corners or regulalry ‘bottom out’. And I’m 15stone on a rigid bike!

I’m a lot faster round Swinley on my Spearfish than on my ti El Mariachi. The little bumps just get flattened and you can really go for it on the downs as the geometry is a little more suited.

GB

I’m not doubting you’re faster than me but I’m not convinced anything other than Tank Traps is (barely) rough enough to buy any time, especialy as you’d only really be gaining time through (the couple of) corners (that aren’t bermed/flat out anyway).

I’m not doubting you’re faster than me

Without wishing to be all stalker like, I can pretty much guarantee that he is….

Without wishing to be all stalker like, I can pretty much guarantee that he is….

I can gaurentee that too, but I didn’t want to look too stalkersih 😛

Rode it on the Pitch last night for a bit of fun/shakedown before a Lakes trip. Definatley much slower uphill and on the fire roads. But I was getting close to my rigid SS times* on sections without trying. So I take it back, a short travel FS is proabbaly quickest. Maybe something like a Spesh with a Brain (or the new La Periere system) as I felt there was a lot more I could have sprinted on the FS but the lack of response meant I was coasting sections I know I’d have been sprinting on the hardtail.

The other thing was the lack of ‘pop’ off jumps, on the hardtail it’s a job to squash them, on the FS they seemed to either take a monumental effort to get airborne, or I’d overshoot the landings. Although maybe that’s my prefrance for running the rear much less damped than the front.

For fun I’d still take a rigid SS though.

*on the rigid SS I ride sections at 99% (where 100% is vomiting)

You would be very supprised how the cost can spiral doing this if you don’t buy a frame that suits the components you have on the donor.

This ^^^ as an example the Spesh camber frames on Bikescene are a bargain at the mo, £660 for a 26er, £700 for a 29er, but when you factor in a new headset, front mech, bb30 bits and a seatpost it spirals pretty quick,
As above try lower tyre pressures first, and if you do decide on a full suss check what extra bits you’ll need before you buy…