So after spending a day on a norco aurum I quite fancy a bike with a lot of travel

If I forget about the weight side of things, and mebbe leave the seriously heavy jumping (and subsequent bad landings) for another day, I want a bike with a decent amount of travel that can soak up some decent drop-offs and that I can learn to be comfortable in the air on (3-5ft landings)

I’ve got an enduro 06 with some 160mm 36 van rc2s but with a 140mm dhx air (with air volume reducer to stop the sag on the back)

Firstly – would a switch to a 160mm coil shock (eg basic van) help or do I just ride the one I have til it breaks? I’m more worried about the seat stays giving out, tbh.

My mate snapped that frame one drop off after building it. What year are your 36’s? can they be set at 180mm? If you can i would be looking for a 200mm freeride bike with a 135mm rear end and a head tube to match your steerer on your current forks (or bigger). Transfer the parts over and replace stuff you decide is not up to the job or that breaks. Or if 160 is all thats possible just look for a 170mm freeride frame. Thats just what i would do. Your bike will never be what you want it to be and you will always be worried about snapping it. If your not carefull you could end up with a pile of cash in a bike that you will never get back, and the bike might still not be able to do what you ask of it.

I got some tougher wheels and tyres for my Hemlock and went downhill racing, had a blast (and it went through 6 hours at fort william while all around it proper downhill bikes were falling to bits 😉 ) I had a coil shock on it for a while but tbh I just didn’t like it that much, went back to the RP23. I’m not fast mind so it had a fairly easy ride.

Is hire realistic? These days I have a dh bike and it does mean I get more out of the downhill days, not to mention it stops my nicer bikes from getting hammered (on the trail and in the trucks). The economics are still ropey though, I can hire a quality bike from Alpine for £70 a day and offsetting wear and tear that means it takes an awfully long time to pay off my bike…

Is the back end reduced travel? That frame should be running up at 160mm? Volume reduction only plays with the internals not the overall travel (afaik) Have a look at the stays for wear/signs of snappage at the welds. The bike itself is perfectly capable for what you want to do with it but I understand wanting something a bit more forgiving of a bad landing.

Wouldn’t bother putting the 36’s on a big travel frame as it will just be steep and wrong.

There are plenty of mini DH type bikes around ranging from the mega at the short end up to a few 170/180mm things, plenty from a few years back too that would make bargains. However these things will not pedal along nicely 🙂

Current entry level DH bikes are Spesh Status, Saracen Mist and NP Scalp (if there are any left) some good bargains at 1 yo to be had in there.

Edit – Following on from above I run my heckler with a bigger wheel set and 160mm 55’s for DH fun days (having promised I wouldn’t after I killed the old one doing the same) It doesn’t have the same margin for error as a DH bike and can get bogged down in the rough a little easier but it’s a good all rounder. I would also suggest some coaching on jumping rather than just getting a bigger bike 🙂

[/quote]Wouldn’t bother putting the 36’s on a big travel frame as it will just be steep and wrong.

The odds of these 36s being the 180mm variety are more or less 0/1.

are the 180’s the same as the 160’s A to C? Only reason is the 160’s (and especially the 150’s that came stock on the 06Enduro) I have seen come up short compared to similar 150/160 forks which would drop the front end a long way and mess up the HA on bikes. The Trek looks ok there though.

can soak up some decent drop-offs and that I can learn to be comfortable in the air on (3-5ft landings)

If you’re not going to be doing big stuff just yet I suggest you buy a Bottlerocket or similar medium travel bombproof frame and put the parts from your enduro on it.
Get your skills up on this and I promise you will reap the rewards when you want to go big with a longer travel bike in the future.
I rode most stuff at Whistler on a Bottlerocket and now ride a bike with 160mm rear travel for 30+ foot jumps.
For fun on jumps and drops this is a winner IMHO, so many people on uplifts are overbiked these days.
If you want to race downhill, completely different story though.

The odds of these 36s being the 180mm variety are more or less 0/1.

Im calculating it at more like 0.075/1 for this i have my reasons but i am not going into them. Thanks 😉

For fun on jumps and drops this is a winner IMHO, so many people on uplifts are overbiked these days.
If you want to race downhill, completely different story though.

Completely agree, but most people have something in the 140mm end of things, so getting a heavier short travel bike to lug around (no matter how much fun it is) doesn’t really compute.
The UK isn’t set up for bike park riding (could be coming soon) so a pedalling mid travel bike and a long travel DH rig makes sense. The middle ground is kind of a luxury space.

I dropped my retro DH bike when I left the UK but will be picking one up soon enough over here in Oz, self lifting works better here so beefing up the trail bike will end badly, as much as a short travel play bike appeals a DH bike is more what I will be going for to throw in the racing side too.

To the OP go raid pinkbike for something a kid has got bored of:)

140mm dhx air (with air volume reducer to stop the sag on the back)

Sorry for the long anal boringness of this response…

So it’s a 2.1875″ stroke shock? The Enduro frame will take an 8.75 x 2.75″ (standard longer travel frame had 8.75 x 2.5″ shock), which would give you 176mm travel; an increase of 26% over what you have now.

Sag is important; if the volume reduction is there to prevent the shock “wallowing” then the switch to a coil shock will be a good +ve difference. I switched to a CCDB (expensive, but v. good) & reckon any coil shock you’re likely to bother with will be a vast improvement over the air can.

I’m more worried about the seat stays giving out, tbh

Stronger SX-Trail stays (part no.S101500001) still available from your friendly Spesh dealer, £90 rrp & only in black Spesh UK told me this week 🙂 Yep, found a cracked weld/sticker – God knows how long it’s been like that, but once you know it’d be foolish to continue riding it…

soak up some decent drop-offs

Your knees will do this with good technique, which leads to…

learn to be comfortable in the air

Standard answer: http://www.ukbikeskills.co.uk/private_coaching.html

Might seem expensive, but by the end of the day you realise the money isn’t such a major factor and after a few months just what a bargain/investment it is

Is the back end reduced travel? That frame should be running up at 160mm? Volume reduction only plays with the internals not the overall travel (afaik) Have a look at the stays for wear/signs of snappage at the welds. The bike itself is perfectly capable for what you want to do with it but I understand wanting something a bit more forgiving of a bad landing.

No – it was an enduro elite so only came with 140mm front & rear. The pro and comp had 160mm rear, which is why I’m happy putting 160mm on the back. Going to 180mm is an option but I’d need to change forks as well. I’ve heard of others going to 180mm on an 06 enduro with the black SX stays but for the cost of the stays, forks and shock it would be a similar price to get a s/h frame & forks off pink bike (or perhaps more sensible)

Biggest thing for me is lack of confidence at the minute – so a skills day will definitely help, but ill have a look at those bottle rockets too.

Cheers

You seem stuck on the idea that you need more travel, there’s a reason jump bikes don’t really have any; it makes jumping harder.

If you’re concerned about bad landings (3 to 5 foot isn’t wild on a hardtail) you’d be best learning to recognise a good landing and staying away from hucking to flat

I’d agree with Rob, travel isn’t the be all and end all. If you’re not comfortable jumping and stuff, I’d do a skills course before spanking a load of money away on a new fame etc.

When I lived in Sheffield and ride mostly DH type stuff I was able to justify a proper DH type bike, but elsewhere it was useless. A fair few guys I usd to ride with ended up getting rid of their big bikes for SX Trails and didn’t really lose out.

Not sure where you are, or what DH type stuff there is by you, but the Enduro is a very capable bike so should cope with 3 to 5 foot drops. It’s only got 10mm less travel than my original SX Trail (which still hasn’t broken and I haven’t died yet). I run my SX with 36 Vans and it seems to cope with what I can chuck at it.

My last foray into a gravity bike was a Solid Flair…170mm travel front and rear with 66’s and it worked fine at Stile Cop.

so less about travel (140mm enough?) but more about technique?

main reason I was asking about travel (and swapping to a coil, rather than air) was to try and get the suspension set up right to allow me to initially roll some of the drop-offs – e.g. where there’s almost a 5ft vertical drop into a very small transition

on the DH bike you could just feel the bike soak it up…I’d presumed that was to do with the extra suspension rather than anything else.

cheers

7″ of skill.

Slopestyle riders do 40′ drops on hardtails…

Tmb, definitely technique over travel. The extra travel may well inspire confidence, but it’ll also mask poor technique / bad riding.

I’m by no means a bike god, and understand where you’re coming from. Learning to use transitions properly will be of more use…your bike is pretty darn capable.

When we we to Morzine a few years ago, one of the guys who came with us was on an older Patriot with a pair of 32 Van R’son the front. If I’m honest he man shamed most of us on bigger travel bikes.

I would sat the Enduro is definitely fine for 3-5ft drops and a lot bigger given a decent transition and good technique. Mine certainly is.

I would also recommend a new rear shock as those DHX Airs are terrible on the Enduro. I have a Rock Shox Monarch+ on mine in 222 xx 66mm (8.75×2.6″), it adds a few mm of travel but thats not the best thing about it. The shock is great for DH riding and trail riding. Sure a coil shock would be better for pure DH but it would be a compromise in every other situation, especially if you just get a basic Van R.

The DHX air is what I’ve got at the minute – Loco had a fettle with it and put a volume reducer in, so it seems ok to me

i’ll see if I can pick one up cheap and cheers for the recommendation. it’ll give me a bit more travel / confidence as well!

My Pitch probably isn’t any tougher than your enduro, and get’s used for what you describe. With the added bonus it can be pedaled to the top so the loss of a few seconds on a rough track to a propper DH bike is outweighed by the ability to ride back to the top and do run after run after run. A coil shock might be better, but I doubt that the extra 0.8″ will make much difference to how much fun it is.

I’d either sell it and buy a similar vintage DH bike (but accept it might need a thorough service), or keep it as it is. Throwing money at it won’t make it something it isn’t. If you do, then I’d limit it to a coil shock, wide bars (if you haven’t got them already) and big rotors. Sticky tyres with tough sidewalls make a huge difference as well.

Wide bars – check (well 750mm)
Big rotors – check

Ill see how the rear sits on the dhx and if it needs a change then fine

Ill have a look at big tyres too – currently on chunky monkey and smorgasbord which I like a lot but might need thicker tubes (or go tubeless). Ill also have a look at the minions for something different. Wheels are ok too so its just get out and play

Cheers fer all the advice. Ta