Despite having five MTBs I feel the need for Another Bike.

Have spent a large portion of this year DHing (sort of) and I’ve convinced myself that I need a burly FR/DH rig to ‘take it to the next level’. Is this some sort of mid-life crisis aka sports car/Harley-Davidson/mistress or is it possible that a grown man at the wrong end of 40 could actually make use of a proppa big hit bike?

All comments/experiences welcome. mrs rocket says I need a slap 🙂

not enough info.

Are you enjoying yourself?
Will it but an excessive financial burden on you (& your family)?

If not, then why the hell not, get on with it!
If you feel the having 5 bikes is enough, get rid of one to justify the next. 😀

Consider yourself slapped.

This is completely rational behavior.
If you can buy one and still afford to eat, do it.

bikes are fun and if a dh bike makes that spectrum wider then its all good 🙂

What are your five bikes?

easy… a man utd season ticket is best part of £1000 (cheaper than I expected!), chuck in £10 for fuel per match, £20 for program, pint and pie x 15 (11 home games plus 4 cup matches) =£450. Chuck in a shirt and you’ve hit £1500 for a “normal hobby” per year.

If you get a bike that lasts 2 years you’re still under budget for a “normal hobby” having spent £3k on a new bike. Its your money, so long as you have food on the table, a roof over your head and a beer in the fridge, spend the rest however you like!

Do it.

I like the cut of your jib fellas

Bike #1 is a 140mm FS but the c-of-g is too high and the angles are too steep for DH
Bike #2 is a long-forked HT which is my ‘DH bike’ but it is a HT
Bike #3 is a DJ bike
Bike #4 is a short-travel FS XC bike
Bike #5 is a short-travel HT

I use them all. A sixth bike would not impose any financial burden it just seems like a massive self-indulgence.

I bought my first DH bike at the age of 44. Nothing, and I repeat nothing, gives the same sense of invincibility as a slack-angled, sticky-tyred DH bike when you’re nailing it down a muddy chute or a rooty, off-camber decent.

The bike’s waaaay better than me, but then I don’t care. It’s the best tool I’ve used for the Alps by a truly massive margin, and for all the people who yell “skills compensator”, I absolutely agree. I’m crap at DH, but I’m a lot better with a DH bike than without it.

So buy one. You’ll love it, so long as it’s pointed downhill. They’re not even that expensive for something half-way decent and barely-used.

Sounds to me like you have a couple of bikes that overlap. Flog one and buy the DH bike.

Plenty of original Demo 8’s, Iron horse Sundays, and the like on Pinkbike and SDH, buy one!

Buy it. as Nickf says above, even if you are over-biked (if there is such a thing) your riding will probably improve, and I have had so much fun being a mid-pack/slowish DH rider that my DH bike is the bike I miss most at the moment.

Unfortunately, trying to transfer the ‘skills’ from the DH bike to my XC 100mm hardtail has taken a while, but has eventually made me better on that too.

x = n + 1

Where:
‘x’ is the number of bikes needed
‘n’ is the number of bikes currently owned

Sell the hardtail and buy a dh bike. You won’t really need both surely?

You’ve got the room and can afford it, so

GET THEE TO A BIKESHOP……

you silly sod. 😀

Obviously it’s a complete waste of money, but there are far worse things to waste your money on.

<SLAP> “GROW THE **** UP!”

……well you did ask, happy trails 😀

Nothing wrong with a good old fashioned mid-life crisis bike!

I’ve dabbled with big bikes over the last few years and ended up with my first proper DH bike this year. I will probably never race DH or be very fast, but I bloody love it and it makes that kind of riding so much easier and more fun.

If you’re taking the FR route, I’m flogging my Lapierre Froggy frame and Totem for a bargain price – email in profile.

Another question perhaps where one of the answers is that you don’t have to restrict yourself to one bike. Having an AM Full Suss has made me better on the hardtail I ride most of the time again now. I love both, but the hardtail gets monday to friday use and the full suss is now just weekends.

Have at least two bikes I reckon. If I could afford six or seven I would.

I use them all. A sixth bike would not impose any financial burden it just seems like a massive self-indulgence opportunity.

corrected that for you 😉

(seriously, you have the cash, you have the space, you use your bikes, why the hell not buy one?)

Er did much the same in the build up to my 40th this year. Its ace, I actually find I’m riding it more.

I’m also pretty sure I’m doing it all wrong way round…

From

Triathlon
to
Ironman
to
Road Racing
To
24hour solo
to
Trans this and that
to
Megavalanche
to
BMX racing
to
Big Hit

and I’m crap at all of them

🙂 its ace this biking lark. Role on the next 30+ years of riding

So isn’t having 9 bikes normal??????????