So after some umm’ing and aah’ing about getting a “bigger” bike for Alpine / Bike Park shenanigans, I’ve finally pulled the trigger on a YT Tues. Well, not exactly; a YT Tues frame with an X2 shock and cranks.

So – I need more bits to make it into a bike. I want a DH bike but don’t really want a steamroller. I’m a bit of a fat knacker (95kg in riding gear). I have some thoughts on what I’d like to get to build it up, but I’d welcome input from anyone else. Main areas :

– Shock : I might keep the X2 but think I’d rather sell it on and fit a coil (I have a coil on my Jeffsy and love it). If so, what? Cane Creek (it’s a coil IL I have on the Jeffsy)? Fox DHX2? RockShox (Vivid?)
– Fork : Some flavour of Boxxer or perhaps a Fox 40 but that seems beefy (and spendy). Formula Nero I have seen with some money off.
– Wheels : I have Sixth Element Race wheels on my Jeffsy and love them. The also do a slightly stronger “Classic” type wheel but for DH (not on their website, but they do one). It’s not asymmetric though, I don’t think (do I care?). Cheaper option would be some Hope Tech DH.
– Brakes : tempting to go with SRAM Guides as that’s what I have on the Jeffsy so there would be some spares/bleeding kit/pad swapability. Magura MT7 (I think, the beefy ones for DH) also attract me. Don’t really want shimano (if only because I fairly recently sold on a brand new in box set of Saints and I’d be loathed to buy another set of Saints now 🙂 )

No particular rush to build it up so waiting for good second hand or discounted stuff might be an option.

I’ve not built a Dh bike personally but I’d rethink the Guides for that type of bike and weighing that amount of kgs. I’d look at Code R’s instead for the extra power.

Fork wise, having tried some Formula recently they were excellent. With Mojo taking on Formula there may be some good backup soon too. Otherwise, Boxxer is decent enough and popular enough that spares and parts can be bought easily.
I’d agree with joebristol about brakes, codes / zee would be my choice, or hope v4 if you feel spendy.
With wheels, I reckon DT EX (471 or 511 depending on width preferences) with whatever hubs you like would give good strength at a reasonable price.

What about the X-Fusion RV1 forks, Upgrade bikes are selling them on ebay for very good price £380.

I’d definitely hold off on replacing the X2 until you’ve ridden the bike. They’re excellent. If a coil is ‘better’ somehow it’ll be minimal and you could spend the extra money on big brakes.

My Tues was definitely a steam roller bike. All the grip in the world but I struggled with small jumps and popping the back wheel up and down. An X2 with some volume spacers might have made it feel much more lively.

budget for a pf41 to 24mm BB so you can run shimano cranks, then just get everything secondhand from pinkbike .from a p##sy not a pinner . excuse the language.

i have a tues and love it. shock size is a bit weird, as is the headset standard. mine is fron 2016 so they may have changed it now.

don’t really want a steamroller

Well you’ve bought a DH frame, which is kind of on the steamroller-y side of MTBs – but maybe keep the air shock as it’ll be easy to tune it for a more poppy feel.

Thanks for the input, and especially comments on the shock. I realise a DH bike will always be a bit of a steamroller, just meant that I wasn’t particularly looking for parts to accentuate that. I guess I will give the X2 a go on that basis then. Also on the fork I’m conscious that Boxxers are somewhat ubiquitous and therefore never a bad choice but mismatching fork and shock will make me twitchy 🙂

Noted re: brakes too, and I think I kinda knew that anyway, I was just in denial.

Good call on the EX511s, they sound like a good choice.

To add, if you have guides with a bleeding edge adapter / bleed kit that will also work for the newest codes – only different part will be the pads.

DT rims are great – the ex511 are what a lot of pros are running I believe.

Brakes: Big powerful 4 Pots for that sort bike in the Alps, so Codes, Saints, Zee, MT7, Hope Tech3 or even the new Hayes Dominion.

Wheels: I’d probably stay away from carbon for an alps bike, a smashed rim could ruin your holiday, with alloy worst case you can straighten and put a tube in if need be.

Forks and Shocks: Coils.

Well you’ve bought a DH frame, which is kind of on the steamroller-y side of MTBs – but maybe keep the air shock as it’ll be easy to tune it for a more poppy feel.

Well that’s bollocks for a start. Both my full coil sprung DH bikes are poppier than most folks air sprung trail/enduro bikes.
Don’t go overly long on frame size, Build it light, run slightly harder tyre pressures and spring rates and don’t go too slow on the rebound adjusters. And you won’t have any of the issues Sharkattack had.
Guides will be fine for UK DHing. stick a code caliper or a cheap set of zees on for the Alps etc.

full coil sprung DH bikes

Which fork?

Guides will be fine for UK DHing

Based in France :/

Have you owned and played round with the setup on an X2 geex?

You can do so much to change the feel of it with the four way adjustment and especially the volume tokens.

More than with a similar coil shock on the same bike.

So bollocks it isn’t, matey.

@geex!

Are you consistently aiming for **** bag of 2019 or some Shyte?

Genuine question btw unlike the guff you spout.

Are you consistently aiming for **** bag of 2019 or some Shyte?

Yeah, I like how he suggested I don’t know how to set a bike up despite having a DH bike for almost all of the past 20 years.

Seems to be a current theme on his to disagree and call everyone else out as speaking nonsense.

Go take a look at your attitude geex and pull your socks up !

Which fork?

The two bikes I was referring to, Boxxers. But there’s no reason any coil sprung DH fork can’t be set-up similarly for a rider of your weight.

@sharkattack. No need to bite. It wasn’t a personal dig. I’ve no idea what your experience in suspension set-up is. And have no need to. I was simply using your set-up as an example. You said yourself you struggled with the Tues. There’s absolutly nothing stopping a coil sprung Tues frame from being set up poppy. If that’s your goal.

@chakaping. Sorry. I should have explaind more clearly. I wasn’t saying the X2 couldn’t be set-up poppy (far from). I was saying it’s bollocks that coil shocks can’t. So there’s no reason for the OP not to fit one.

@tdog you’ll have to step away from the safety of your keyboard and ask me in person. I can’t work out what your naughty word is.

These high enough for ya sweetie?

As you can see below there’s nothing weird about the Tues’ leverage curve and being very progressive will actually be easier to set-up playful/poppy with a coil than a less progressive frame would be.

On-One have SRAM 7spd DH cassettes at £13 a pop and SRAM DH mechs at a great price if that route is of interest to your build.

cheers geex thats brilliant

On-One have SRAM 7spd DH cassettes at £13 a pop and SRAM DH mechs at a great price if that route is of interest to your build.

Sorry – missed this. Thanks – will have a look – have been thinking 7spd GX SRAM is a good option. Any gotchas with wheel spacing – I gather it just fits on a standard XD freehub. Anything else I should know (apart from that the GX seems a whole chunk cheaper – are the shifters OK?)?