cant really afford a new all mountain machine and I do alot of xc hence the soul but would like to change my riding alittle and have some fun ! I was thinking of starting to go to aston hill on my soul , it has a dropper seatpost and 130mm forks and I could put some flow rims on for bigger volume tyres ! what do you think guys ? is the soul man another? i’m not a down hill demon either but would like to improve 🙂

cheers

rich

rode the Mont Chery black and the off piste stuff in Les Gets yesterday on my Handjob without issue so I say give it a go.

sounds good what size forks did you run and tyres on the hand job ?

I ride a dialled alpine with 150mm revs at Aston and im still here, only thing you may want to consider is a chain guard of some sorts as a dropped chain and spiky outer ring would scare the inside of my leg especially on some of the steeper bumpier / rooty sections.

Play on the red too build up your confidence then have a go at some of the steeper stuff, just watch out in the rain, the roots can be murder.

2nd the chainguide or a bash ring. Had Maxxis 2.35 Minion and High Roller combo but looks like the Wet Screams are coming out for the next week.

Was chatting to a guy on the Chavannes lift yesterday who had spent his first (3-week) holiday in Les Gets riding his XC HT inthe bike park and down the Chavennes DH.

Sorry, the HJ has 120mm Dual Air Rebas. Plus 700mm flat bars. Low saddle though 😉

I do have a clutch rear mech if that’s going to be any good ? Don’t have isg tabs on the soul but I’m sure a bottom bracket roller would work 🙂 good to hear about the guy on his hardtail at morzine 🙂

I was riding the DH tracks at FoD yesterday on my Soul. The bike did great – was better (relative to everyone else’s FS bikes) on lumpy rooty fairly natural DH runs than on the more all-weather rocky surfaced blue and red XC. Running a thick/thin ring with top guide, 1×10, bash and clutch mech. Rubber Queen 2.2 BC UST on Flows for a good balance of grip in all conditions, toughness and rolling speed. From what I’ve heard about Aston Hill I’d avoid it in the wet or take proper DH mud spikes and wear a lot of armour!

I run a soul with Magura Thors, Bontrager Big Earl 2.5″ front, Bonty XR4 on the rear, 3×9 drivetrain.

It does anything and everything.

I love the internet, years ago some people rode it rigid, just after that they had a whole inch of travel, then things progressed, funny thing is the hill has been there for a while longer, enjoy! 😉

ok cheers guys will give it a go i’m sure I will be fine 🙂

I used to ride my DMR Trailstar with 125mm forks at Aston Hill a few years back and it was alright on most of the runs, think i skipped round some of the drops though.

I love the internet, years ago some people rode it rigid, just after that they had a whole inch of travel, then things progressed, funny thing is the hill has been there for a while longer, enjoy!

The hills have been there a very long time but the trails and features on them have changed. Compare the World Cup DH tracks from the mid ’90s to now – vast difference!

I could ride my rigid round the trails I’ve been riding in the Alps. Just in a different way and speed.

I used to ride at Aston Hill on my Curtis SuperX running it singlespeed, I took it to Les Gets as well, great fun. You can ride anything on a hardtail that you can on a full sus.