Yup,

A Morewood Mbuzi is looking like second choice after a Prophet MX for now.

Bugger, two rare frames to track down!

My downhill bike is a 2010 Morewood Izimu with Boxxers and wheels and bars etc.

I think i need to redefine short.

I mean short travel NOT a short bike. Although good suggestions the MC Battery and Absolute SX are just way too short. I need a 600mm horizontal top tube for my long arms and legs.

So, by short travel, I mean 150mm maximum. Bullits are great, I had one way back when but they’re too much travel.

Also, I hade a Patriot 66, lovely bike, but it was a downhill bike. I want something a bit more pedallable.

The whole point of this excercise is to change my DH bike for something a bit less!

Orange 5, especially with a 135×12 back end go for more than my budget.

My mates got a Banshee and it’s not quite right.

Morewood, yup, I’ve got two already, but again the one I’m after, the Mbuzi, is very rare. Also, just a touch too much travel? However, a shorter shock would solve this….anyone got one for sale!

The Reign looks good but too much travl, what is the Giant bike below(in terms of travel).

I really don’t want to go above 150mm.

I’m Joe, who are you z1ppy!

Even Std prophets are rare?

I’ve had a Turner DHR as single speed between the first two as well.

I’ve had a fair few DH bikes in my time. What I’d say is any of the big names will do you well.

But if you’re going down the second hand route, remember that DH bikes have a hard time. A couple of my mates have recently bought second hand DH bikes, a Sundy and a V10 and both were a bit suspect. Pretty worn out, dings in the rims, ropey brakes, suspension in good need of a service. I’m not saying you can’t get a good second hand DH bike, I’d just say, make sure you try before you buy and make sure you know what you’re looking for.

Save a bit of money in your budget for new tyres and grips and a suspension tune to get it set up cporrectly for you including any new springs you might need. These thins are a lot more important when you have 8″ of travel as opposed to 5″.

Bargain price on that link only if I’m XXXXXXL! Also, it’s meshed back which is no good when standing in the back of an uplift truck.

Endura gilet is good except it doesn’t fulfill the cheap requirement!

Perhaps I should head down my local Millets?

The Southern Yeti – Member

I just don't really get on with the leatt – anyone want to buy it?

I might be up for buying your Leatt. Email me please, see my profile.

The only time it makes a difference is during acceleration. The average acceleration produced by the average STWer is very, very small, so in terms of bicycle riding, the idea that rotating weight is important is a myth.

Someone will be along in a minute to totally disagree, but that's STW for you.

(they'll be wrong by the way)

Yup, you are accelerating the whole bike. But you are also accelerating the spinning wheels. The wheels spin faster than the bike moves forward so have more kinetic energy.

So a bike where the wheels are a higher proportion of the total weight will require a greater energy input to accelerate than a bike where the wheels are a lower propertion of the weight.

Similarly weight in the wheels more towards the outside will spin faster and therefore have more kinetic energy than weight at the centre of the wheel.

Energy balances can solve most question in this world!

Last week I ended up getting cut up twice within 100 yards. On a mini roundabout, I kept going straight to avoid getting run over but someone still tried to overtake me. The other case was the same as you, indicating to get around a parked bus, but a 4×4 driver decided to block my way and try and knock me off.

All ended in a stand up row at a roundabout a mile up the road. Two guys shouting at me, me shouting back. One guys argument was that I'm on a bike and he's in a car, so I have no rights! I love that argument, why doesn't he just drive over the top of me then?

Then another driver pulled up to help defend me, saying that he'd seen me get cut up twice and that I was in the right, indicating clearly both times and just standing my ground.

Fianally the 4×4 driver, who told me he was a roadie, kinda realised he fu**ed up. He wouldn't apologise but held his hand out for me to shake adding, "I'm not really a prick, you don't think I'm a prick do you?". Brilliant!

Basically, the attitude of the guy who said that he was in a car so more inportant is the problem. Bikes are slow and to be overtaken, even if thet're not slow and overtaking is dangerous, they are a hindarance to their forward progression.

There will always be some conflict. So, accept it and just try to stay safe.

Hit everything first time flat out. It's the most excitment you'll have and you'll hit all the big jumps and drops with no fear!

Make sure you ride the black run to the right after the tunnel, this is the only bit of real DH. All the rest is just like a big trail centre!

I would rather buy tatty but untouched too…

However, that's not the case for most people. Newly sprayed frames seem to go for more money more redilt than tatty frames!

The current batteries are NiMH, so that was all i was going to do.

Smudge, where are you? Sounds like you might be the man i need to speak to.

Trailseeker, is your spare pack for sale? How much you after?

Peeps,

I've managed to find this route map: here.

Do you think this will allow me to find my way around or is there not enough detail?

Unfortunately I'm riding with my mate who's a bit slow to say the least. So I don't think anyone would want to drag us along?

What I'm after is some maps, routes etc.

Thanks for the advice though. Perhaps these peeps will pipe up soonish.

Shoulders, hands, thighs I think have been hurt. Maybe the bmx stuff taught me how to fall off better? I don't know.

Maybe people just fall off in different ways. There was actually a recent topic on SDH about this. Most people seem to crash and hurt one side more than other. Most of my injuries are to might right hand side!

Whe i crash, my knees tend to be the first thing that hits the ground. Therefore knee pads do me a service.

Why would anyone, unless you are doing some pretty extreme free riding or downhill, need to use knee pads on an MTB?

I once had a pretty minor fall riding some xc. My knee landed on a rock and i broke my knee cap and damaged some ligaments. I've worn knee pads all the time ever since. Admitedly softer one for XC, harder ones for DH.

I recently fell off my BMX and removed a 50 pence piece size of skin from my knee, which meant stiches and no riding for a couple of weeks, wish i'd had my pads on!

I assume your post is just tring to trying to be contraversial.

Ancillotti.

or

Appalache Real.

In my opinion these bikes seem to have the most character of anything out there. Surely the positive side of Quirkyness is Character?

All other bikes seem a bit too popular, common, unstylish, boring, etc. Both of these bikes have bneen around for a while but still look modern and stylish. They both look even better in the flesh.

Also, they both have a good race pedigree. Go for the Real if weight is important, the Ancillotti if ploughing is more important to you.

The only other option is to go for an old design classic. What about a Yeti DH9. This would still win races and still has loads of character.

I've been running flats full time for a number of years now. I know this is tempting fate, but I can't remember the last time i scratched my shins.

Muddy and dark at the moment!

I've got some Intense Intruders for sale if you're interested. Not quite as grippy as a spike but rolls better. A good tyre for most of the winter.

twohats – Member

I reckon really big Q factors to match wide bars for that jet ski feel, will be the next big thing.

I started a whole thread abou this on SDH a while ago. Narrow Q factors are for pedalling efficiency. For DH this isn’t too important. However, stability is. Therefore a wide Q factor on DH bikes will be advantageous.

This is opbviously too radical thinking for most people out there so nobody really understood!

Pegglet, cheers, for that.

Can you explain the end of your post “get it AND a xc…”?

Keep em comin?

I ran my Prophet with 36s for a long time and it was fine. Admittedly, i wound them down for trail riding but let them full out for DH. At a DH race in Spain i saw a chap running a Prophet with Boxxers, and he wasn’t slow either, he raced for a local team!

Are you a big heavy chap?

A flexible back end is not necessarily a problem. A bit of sideways deflection helps the rear wheel deflect a bit when whacked, a pseudo lateral suspension if you like?

Also, flexibilty in the hub is going to be a small component of the flexibility of the whole rear end.

Like some other poster put; check the spoke tensions? Check the trye pressures? Is the rim too narrow for the tyres you have? Check your main pivot bolts?

All you guys who say the’ve never dropped a chain without a chain guide obviously don’t ride fast enough!!!

Yup,

34T up front, 11-30T at the back. MRP G2 to keep it all together.

Given the choice i ride downhill. Once you’ve got use to having a chainguide, you’ll never want three rings up front. For a start I’ve never got a front mech to work properly and quietly, you always seem to have give it a kick from time to time to get it to jump up or down.

Brilliant, cheers!

Grifter!

I filled the swingarm of my Patriot with expanding foam. It was a messy job, but now all those clatters and bangs are damped right down and the bike is pretty quiet.

Only downside is i have found that i might have trouble getting it resprayed due to issues with ovens and expanding foam!

I wouldn’t reccomend it.

I never tried it myself but I’m an aerospace engineer specialising in composites. There’s a chance you cause delamination between the lamina, if these delamination grow you could dramitically reduce the strength of the post.

If you are still going to do it anyway, i’d wrap a few layers of gaffer tape around the post where you intend to cut it. This should help keep the fibres in place on the outside. Perhaps shove an old broom handle or similar up the middle to try and restrain the inner fibres in the same way.

Also make sure you where a dust mask. Small carbon fragments can do nasty things to you lungs!

Just run a tad less pressure. Get the correct dynamic geometry but with more supple suspension … Win, win situation in management speak!

True, Sheldon’s original points are still valid. Nothing he says is wrong and it still all applies. But he mentions that frame design rather than material is more critical, why not expand this?

What about a sticky thread for each topic that is felt to eb interested, with an owner who regularly collates the information posted and updates an assosiciated report?

GW – Go on then, find me some information on how a frame gusset works.

Not just “it redistributes the stresses” but some actual numbers, stress plots, force balances…..

What’y’got?

Just had a look through the Sheldon Brown Frame Materials page. Yup it’s very good; discusses the major materials in a clear, simple, un-opinionated manner. This is good stuff.

However, it’s not state of the art. Frame manufacture has progressed, this page needs to be updated and expanded. It needs to be expanded to cover issues suct as how modern tubing manipulation can effect materials choice. How suspension frame requirements affect material choice. Admittedly, the title is “Frame Materials for the Touring Cyclist”, but should we not strive to coninue expanding and documenting our knowledge giving “Frame Materials for the Modern Off Road Cyclist.

Why be happy with just a part of the story when we could have the whole?

Thanks for the replies so far.

However, the Sheldon Brown and Park websites for example mainly focus on what needs to be done to maintain/repair a bike. What i’m interested in is the actual science/physics about what goes on.

This is like the difference between a mechanic and a engineer if you like?

Ed H’s articles are very good, but this is the kind if thing i’d like (or someone else as I’m lazy) to further develop.