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Bottlerocket as kids dh bike?

weedkilla

weedkilla

Monkey
Jul 6, 2008
362
10
My lad broke his stinky on the weekend and I'm tossing up the options.... He's only just grown out of a big hit grom, and still too small for a small true dh frame. The stinky looked pretty good on paper - when I built it (with a 36) the BB was a bit high 14.5", HA a bit steep at 67deg, the rear end was massive at 17.5" and the seat height was pretty high to stop the rear tyre hitting the seat. I built a 8.25x2.25 shock to get it down and it was pretty close to right. Then he snapped the swingarm, while I'm waiting on a price for a new swingarm I've seen a 2nd hand bottlerocket and I think it might be an even better fit. The 1.5 headtube is gold for a canecreek, i have plenty of 7.5x2 shocks if i want to short shock it (standard 7.875x2.25). I'm assuming I'll have to do a custom valve on the shock as he is still pretty light.
However I've never ridden one and would like some feedback from anyone who has as to their suitability as a "mini-dh" type bike. And of course am I taking much of risk with a 2nd hand one - I knew the odd stinky broke but figured it would be fine under a little tacker!
 
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F

freeridefool

Monkey
Jun 17, 2006
647
0
medford, or
I dont see a problem with it. I havent owned a bottlerocket but I have riddent them alot. The only problem I see it getting the suspension soft and active enough to turn it into a dh bike. The ones Ive ridden (my friends bike) rode high in the travel and had a slopestyle feel to them. Not that you couldnt tune it to work but just something to think about.
 
captainspauldin

captainspauldin

intrigued by a pole
May 14, 2007
1,263
177
Jersey Shore
My brother has been beating the piss outta one for the past 3 seasons, and he loves it. He's the type that doesn't do ANY maintenance(I end up doing the necessities), basically runs stuff into the ground and he's had ZERO issues with his BR. If you're looking for something that your son can beat on w/o having to worry about breaking stuff I'd highly recommend the BR. It's a bit on the heavy side, but I'm sure it's not that far off from the Stinky. I haven't really had much seat time on it so I couldn't tell you about suspension feel or whatnot. My bro rides it for everything he can't ride his DJ/street hardtail on, he just swaps a RP23 on for more pedally/XC riding.
 
Leppah

Leppah

Turbo Monkey
Mar 12, 2008
2,294
3
Utar
That would probably be a really good bike for a kid. There are a few issues i would think about though. My step son rode one last year and it was way over sprung for him. He was 14. He wasn't using hardly any of the travel at all. My ex was tiny and rode a DH bike for a while. She had to get her rear shocks custom valved and sprung for being so light weight. If you don't do that, it won't really be like a good full suspension bike. Sometimes the spring wouldn't have enough recoil to push the shock back to full extension after being compressed.
That bike would last a kid forever though. I wouldn't worry about anything breaking, unless he's a huge kid.
 
rigidhack

rigidhack

Turbo Monkey
Aug 16, 2004
1,206
1
In a Van(couver) down by the river
Sounds like a lucky kid, if you ask me. Why not run an air shock on the back to make it all that much more tuneable? It would likely get you away from the problems associated with an inherently oversprung coil setup, especially if he is really light.
 
Sam B

Sam B

Monkey
Nov 25, 2001
280
0
Cascadia
w00dy said:
Nice bike, I've seen the alloy pivot bolts break off before. Easy fix, it's just something to watch for.
Click to expand...
Rounded out yes... broken though? That is news to me. In any case, readily available replacements no matter what.
 
Sam B

Sam B

Monkey
Nov 25, 2001
280
0
Cascadia
weedkilla said:
My lad broke his stinky on the weekend and I'm tossing up the options.... He's only just grown out of a big hit grom, and still too small for a small true dh frame. The stinky looked pretty good on paper - when I built it (with a 36) the BB was a bit high 14.5", HA a bit steep at 67deg, the rear end was massive at 17.5" and the seat height was pretty high to stop the rear tyre hitting the seat. I built a 8.25x2.25 shock to get it down and it was pretty close to right. Then he snapped the swingarm, while I'm waiting on a price for a new swingarm I've seen a 2nd hand bottlerocket and I think it might be an even better fit. The 1.5 headtube is gold for a canecreek, i have plenty of 7.5x2 shocks if i want to short shock it (standard 7.875x2.25). I'm assuming I'll have to do a custom valve on the shock as he is still pretty light.
However I've never ridden one and would like some feedback from anyone who has as to their suitability as a "mini-dh" type bike. And of course am I taking much of risk with a 2nd hand one - I knew the odd stinky broke but figured it would be fine under a little tacker!
Click to expand...
Plenty of groms ride the piss out of that bike, and you are definitely on track with some of the options for tweaking it.

A big price jump, but the small TR250 is sized and intended to be a good option for little people lookign to ride DH. Shorter travel for less seat buzz issues, great suspension feel, real DH bike spec and features and a pretty compact package (a Fox 40 set at 7" would really round it out nicely). Just a thought in case you find a stash of cash.

Cheers!
 
weedkilla

weedkilla

Monkey
Jul 6, 2008
362
10
Thanks guys, it may well be a go. The stinky swingarm was just cheap enough to make it worthwile....but I think the shorter CS on the bottlerocket is nearly enough to seal the deal and at least I can sell the stinky now. As for the custom valving, I'm happy with that, I did it for the stinky, do it for one of his mates bikes there is just no real choice under 50kg (unless you can find an original Fox Vanilla rc and wind off the adjusters completely!). Usually I get away with just a lighter oil, sometimes its a shimstack job.
And as for the tr250.....well if I get one it'll be a large and it sure as f wont be for him!
 
D

DHRracer

Monkey
Sep 29, 2004
371
0
weedkilla said:
Thanks guys, it may well be a go. The stinky swingarm was just cheap enough to make it worthwile....but I think the shorter CS on the bottlerocket is nearly enough to seal the deal and at least I can sell the stinky now. As for the custom valving, I'm happy with that, I did it for the stinky, do it for one of his mates bikes there is just no real choice under 50kg (unless you can find an original Fox Vanilla rc and wind off the adjusters completely!). Usually I get away with just a lighter oil, sometimes its a shimstack job.
And as for the tr250.....well if I get one it'll be a large and it sure as f wont be for him!
Click to expand...
You want a Vanilla RC from 2001 8.5x2.5 has not been used since 2003 or 2004
 
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