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do you need a freeride and DH bike?

What im wondering is if you need both. I have an 2003 foes fly with a 888rc, mavic d321 rims on magura hubs, hayes hfx-9, mrp, raceface cranks, chris king. I dont need a seperate bike for each? I can race DH, do urban and ride freeride all on the same bike right? Ive heard some people say you should have a DH only frame, and a FR only frame. Im just wondering if this is valid at all or if im set. Also wondering if i could race a foes fly as cross country and if so what would i need to do? (i.e. lighter wheels or what not?)
 

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
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actualy I've got a 2005 fly with pretty much the same build-up and its good for a whole lot more than just dh and fr it kills as a trail-bike xc is acceptable, 24hr race no problem, road handling could stand to be quicker, I just don't like full suspension at the skatepark, the best advice I can give you is to use 2.3" tire for anything less than med. free-ride and count grams for best results, my size large is hitting about 35.2 pounds with pedals and minion 2.5"s it also has some sensable stuff on there louise fr brakes, stylo team x-type cranks, answer carb. bars, ect.
 

Li'l Dave

Monkey
Jan 10, 2002
840
0
San Jose, CA
Just ride the fly for everything, that bike is pretty sick. Lighter wheels would be nice, but realiztically just keep it how its is and suffer on the uphill. The downhill will be much more rewarding :)
 

dexter

Turbo Monkey
Sep 23, 2001
3,053
99
Boise, Idaho
personally i need seperate bikes. my race bike is too low and slack for freeriding, where as my freeride bike is my mtn x bike with a longer rear shock on it and the fork travel cranked up. so its nice and snappy and light with lots o suspension
 

stinky6

Monkey
Dec 24, 2004
517
0
Monroe
It depends on how much money you have and what type of stuff you ride. The way your fly is built up sounds good for DH FR stuff, but if you want to do frequent XC rides it would probably get old fast unless its super gnarly XC. Personally if I had the money I would have my Demo 9, dirt jumper and something like a Transition Preston with a dual chain ring for XC/light duty FR.
 

kinghami3

Future Turbo Monkey
Jun 1, 2004
2,239
0
Ballard 4 life.
As somebody who doesn't race and doesn't have excess money, one bike suits me just fine. As long at it's tough and has the travel, I'm not too worried.
 

frznnomad

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2005
2,226
0
a-town biatches
if you got the $ then i say go for it. its nice to have a dh race specific bike and a freeride specific bike. but if you dont got the $ then no worries man. let the xc geeks laugh at you for the heavy bike then put the tire up the giggling backs on the dh then suffer again on the uphills.
 

1000-Oaks

Monkey
May 8, 2003
778
0
Simi Valley, CA
I don't know how you get a Fly to 35 lbs, mine has a 6-lb Foes F1 fork and it's still 44-lbs. Pretty much the same setup as DHdemon, though I'm running Comp 32 front tire and Comp 24 rear.

That's why I picked up an '04 FXR and an '05 Z1 fork, it still comes in at just over 35-lbs but climbs like a rocket compared to the Fly. 850-gram Kenda Negegal tires (still using D321 hoops and Hadley hubs) and more XC-ish geometry makes a huge difference. It's surprisingly good DH, even with a 90mm stem.
 

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
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In the bathroom, fighting a battle
my fly got to 35# because of two things, the '05 frame with ti spring is a CHUNK lighter than the older frame and I am the biggest DH/FR weight weeny you will ever find, Dt revo spokes, ti harware here and there and everywhere, Bommbshell rims (they're light and pretty strong) Hadley sl hubs bet you didn't even know those existed, Magura louise fr brakes, only abou 50gm per pair heavier than hope mono mini's, you can probably tell where I'm going withj this but I assure you it hold up to everything just fine, remember with the fly almost no energy gets transfered to the parts. Currently I'm working on a full air conversion for the 888, its still in blueprint form.
 

Monkeybidnezz

Turbo Monkey
Dec 16, 2003
1,212
0
Pac NW
I loved my Fly, it was good for almost everything...Depending on how your set goes, you can get away with 1 bike. I have a dh/fr bike and am getting a trail bike. I think that makes more sense than a fr and dh bike.
 

TheInedibleHulk

Turbo Monkey
May 26, 2004
1,886
0
Colorado
I wouldnt mind having a lighter long travel trail bike as well as my dh, but theres a long list of other bikes I would add to the stable first if you dont already have them... jumper, 4X race bike, maybe xc or ss hardtail, road, and then "freeride". I would not buy a bike for "freeriding" ever. If I got something like a fly or a vp-free I would build it as light as possible and use it as a trail bike for gnarlier days. But the honest truth is I would never use it enough to justify buying one. I have two bikes now and often wish for a fs 4X bike and a trail bike, but I think that's all I would ever need. Ive had one freeride bike, a giant AC, and my experience with that was that it does everything ok but nothing well enough that I really wanted to ride it. Then again it was an AC.... what a turd.
 

Kntr

Turbo Monkey
Jan 25, 2003
7,526
21
Montana
Change to a set of Mavic Crossmax XL disc wheels and a lighter XC fork and you would be set for a light XC rig.

Then throw the 888 and 321s back on and you would be set for DH/FR.

They Fly is a do all frame. You just need to change a few components.
 

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,647
1,116
NORCAL is the hizzle
Since when does "need" have anything to do with it? If you've got the desire, cash and space for more bikes, feed your jones. There are lots of vices in the world and indulging in bikes in pretty harmless.
 

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,140
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
the idea for my air 888 came from the air jr t zokes sells a stock air-cap for 'em and witha little internal tweaking they will hold enough air to suport up to about a 190# rider, I need to check out the seals on the 888 to see if they will hold air and is so will they hold enough, otherwise I am gunna try to get as many internal parts machined out of ti as I can, did I netion I was kind of a weight weeny on my big bikes.
 

Discostu

Monkey
Nov 15, 2003
524
0
I have a Turner DHR for my DH race bike, and riding that thing uphill is pretty much out of the question I've found. So I got an old 6"x6" Yeti AS-X for everything but DH racing. I love it cause the DHR is a real fast race bike and the Yeti is a great climber, but I can still abuse it a bit on drops and such. I actually end up riding the Yeti ALOT more than the DHR.
 

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
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In the bathroom, fighting a battle
I agree with discostu a full DH bike is the best for DH runs, I have already talked to Brent about getting one of the new DHS 2:1 but that fact is it is not strictly nessicery its like your kidneys you don't kneed 2 but there nice to have.
 

RaID

Turbo Monkey
if id had the cash, id build up a nice race bike
then a smaller freeride snappier freeride bike eg Enduro SX
something along those lines.

I dont think there is much sense having a full blown 8" race bike
and 8" huck/freeride bike
 

JRogers

talks too much
Mar 19, 2002
3,785
1
Claremont, CA
downhilldemon said:
i have the foes fly and i just traded or am in the process of trading my ac2 for an azonic eliminator. out of the two which would you make your freeride and which your downhill?
First off, the original question comes down to the definition of "need." I don't need a bike at all. It's nice to have, can make riding more fun if you have a better (faster) bike for the trail.

Uhhh, as for this question, I don't think the Eliminator can take a front mech, so it'd be tough to call that a "freeride" bike....'course I think I'd rather use a Fly for DH than an Eliminator anyways...but that's just me....
 

Discostu

Monkey
Nov 15, 2003
524
0
I didn't intend to say that I or anyone else "needs" both a freeride and DH bike. However having both, I find myself riding alot more because I'm happy to climb on my freeride bike and I have more fun downhilling on my DH bike.