i think i've only been 2 or 3 times since i moved back to PA. Blue is about half the distance and half the crowds. plus no water park shit show.
Is DH hot again?
- Thread starter daisycutter
- Start date
I had to go look on YT as I kept thinking of the Salvation drop, which I knew was wrong. Covenant leads into the Cannon thingy.
Yeah, I think I must be thinking of the same incident as you as that's where we found him wondering what day it was.
i just fell down a big hole in the internet and learned that was actually 2002.This was 18 years ago on a 2003 santa cruz V10
Try this on your 2021 32lb trailbike.
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which was the same as a 2002 v10, no? maybe a different color?
only in the shed.DO YOU NOT SEE THE GREEN!!!
i did find video of that. 13 minute mark
I can't watch.
The 2inch wide handlebars kill me. (and many others at the time)
The 2inch wide handlebars kill me. (and many others at the time)
I think you and I are part of a trend of riders who's last DH bike was 26" and have been waiting for the geo/wheel thing to settle down. It probably helps that so many frames are now 27 or 29, your choice.I just purchased a DH bike, I typically drive trends in the industry, i'd say the answer is yes.
There's an overlapping group buying DH bikes this season cuz they spent the last couple destroying their enduro bike at resorts and are ready to upgrade, coinciding with covid settling down and more resort riding.
It seems to be hot in this neck of the woods. Adding a second lift to the summit for the bike season is great news. Lines were longer than normal at Thunder due to the Rona, but never ridiculous. Highland on the other hand was downright stupid, unless you could go midweek.
Edit: tried to attach a photo, but it was too large. Thunder is adding bike carriers to another summit lift to have two lifts running all year.
Edit: tried to attach a photo, but it was too large. Thunder is adding bike carriers to another summit lift to have two lifts running all year.
I’m definitely part of the group that has been sitting out dh bike ownership until wheel sizes settled down. First couple years of no dh bike i enjoyed riding an enduro bike, but owning an enduro bike has made local trail riding something akin to boring, so i built up a tiny 27.5 trail bike with burly parts to attempt to stay interested in local riding.
I have a big pile of wheel-size agnostic parts off a 26” build and a plethora of modern dampers and forks and tires in the basement waiting until the bike industry has some aluminum DH frames in stock at the same time i have a semi-fat stack of spare cash.
I’m definitely glad it looks like 150mm and 148mm rears won’t be leaving us any time soon, and that I own a dorado, so i can at least bodge in a 29” front wheel on a hub i already own.
I went from living 45 minutes away from 2 bikeparks and having my own secret training spot 15 minutes from home to living 3 hours from the closest dh spots and having a super half assed local shuttle spot that isn’t worth the hassle.
It is definitely impossible to even concieve why i’d want to own a dh bike right now unless I wanted to go racing for a whole season, and even then, the Mullaly’s have added cat1 single crown age group categories for DHSE going forward, so the only reason to buy a dh frame is to beat up on Butch and try to catch up with Chuck Pitts.
There just aren’t enough good places to ride DH bikes to make it worthwhile any more, unless you live in Knoxville or enjoy going to Snowshoe(when the western lift is open).
The shitty 170/165 enduro bike i already own is a 2017 dinosaur with a 75sta, so last year it only got ridden on chair lifts anyway- but my two most enjoyable “local” lift spots are more fun on 140/120 trail bike, especially since i always seem to carpool to them to coach local kids on 24” and 26” wheels.
I definitely miss 200mm of smashing support- but outside of racing for a regional or national title(well Trestle would be faster on an enduro bike), I can find very little motivation to spend money on a dh frame.
I have a big pile of wheel-size agnostic parts off a 26” build and a plethora of modern dampers and forks and tires in the basement waiting until the bike industry has some aluminum DH frames in stock at the same time i have a semi-fat stack of spare cash.
I’m definitely glad it looks like 150mm and 148mm rears won’t be leaving us any time soon, and that I own a dorado, so i can at least bodge in a 29” front wheel on a hub i already own.
I went from living 45 minutes away from 2 bikeparks and having my own secret training spot 15 minutes from home to living 3 hours from the closest dh spots and having a super half assed local shuttle spot that isn’t worth the hassle.
It is definitely impossible to even concieve why i’d want to own a dh bike right now unless I wanted to go racing for a whole season, and even then, the Mullaly’s have added cat1 single crown age group categories for DHSE going forward, so the only reason to buy a dh frame is to beat up on Butch and try to catch up with Chuck Pitts.
There just aren’t enough good places to ride DH bikes to make it worthwhile any more, unless you live in Knoxville or enjoy going to Snowshoe(when the western lift is open).
The shitty 170/165 enduro bike i already own is a 2017 dinosaur with a 75sta, so last year it only got ridden on chair lifts anyway- but my two most enjoyable “local” lift spots are more fun on 140/120 trail bike, especially since i always seem to carpool to them to coach local kids on 24” and 26” wheels.
I definitely miss 200mm of smashing support- but outside of racing for a regional or national title(well Trestle would be faster on an enduro bike), I can find very little motivation to spend money on a dh frame.
I've actually purchased an older dh bike that I am doing a bit of a refurb (275/26 mullet), I'll get some pics up soon. I do ride a lot of bike park in the summer so wanted something relatively inexpensive as project bike to pound around at the resorts.
Had my local guys rebuild my 40 for me this week, it's oh so smooth now.
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Seriously though
I think bike parks and hot laps have gotten hotter, and downhill will always be hot as well so long as downhill trails exist. That said, when I am at a park it sometimes feels like pulling teeth to get some of the crew to slide down the actual downhill trails. Thankfully it's never too much trouble to convince @schwaaa31 .
I couldn't say if actual DH bike use is increasing. My guess is probably not, since it seems rare to run into bottlenecks or other riders on the true DH trails.
I couldn't say if actual DH bike use is increasing. My guess is probably not, since it seems rare to run into bottlenecks or other riders on the true DH trails.
I personally spend most of my time on the natural trails, never been that much into the big machine built stuff...
for how little i've been riding DH the last few years, i've had no reason to upgrade. this summer i'm getting back into it, and am just making some updates to the bike. it's still 26", but it's not suddenly so obsolete that i won't be able to have fun on it.
unless you’re racing seriously, or have various industry affiliations, 26 isn’t going to hold you back on the fun factor end of the dh spectrum. In fact, isn’t that why most of us got into it in the first place?
In short, I agree.
that's basically it.
in my search for updating, a lot of new model DH tires are not being offered in 26". And maxxis does not offer the 26" DHF as tubeless ready in a DH casing.
Kudos to Michelin, they do offer the DH 34 in 26" as tubeless ready and the magi-x compound. I also picked up some cushcore in 26" before it was discontinued.
if you're chasing chuck you're gonna be chasing ol' will murray too!
same. despite years of trying i never feel comfortable in the air and would rather plow rough steep tech stuff for most of the day.
When do skinny pants go away?
you need to start wearing skinny pant repellent in the form of cutoff camo cargo shorts
i’ve been trying to get back on the road bike to get some racing in so i can be like Mr Murray- but i always seem to get roped into offficiating or timing every time I get near a drop bar race because the USAC officials shortage really is that bad. Surprisingly people don’t enjoy getting paid $100 a day plus expenses to stand around with a notepad in the sun and get yelled at by old men in skinsuits. Somebody has to do it though.
this is the way.
Let me rephrase.....
"start?"
"start?"
if that's the case, carry on.
Hopping onto a 26" dh bike that's too short and steep from a nice slack trail or enduro bike wether 27.5 or 29 just feels gross....
interesting! what you got? or keeping it quiet till the photo reveal? restomodding older dh bikes is neat.
my dh bike is from 2010, and has nearly identical geometry to my 2015 enduro bike, so there's at least that.
haha, yeah. while my old dh sled is properly slack, the reach is between 3-4" shorter than my current trail bike. SUCH a weird transition.
How skinny is skinny? Are straight leg black jeans ok?
Sorry to hear that. How long have you had this problem?!
Plenty of newer 26” bikes that don’t suffer from that... get the right size too. But once again, humans are incredibly adaptable... and there is plenty of fun to be had.
more like how long hasn't it been a problem?Sorry to hear that. How long have you had this problem?!
well it was a problem when i got a pivot 5.5 and it was much longer than my old 2008 foes 2-1 mono.....
didn't want to ride the foes any more
picked up a mondraker summum carbon. 27.5 and certainly long....
at this point i dont see why to stick to 26.... 29 is driving the "OLD" 27.5 bikes down in price.
sure humans are adaptable....
but when i feel something i dont like i fixate on it and it sort of ruins my ride.............
so all of my equipment gets adapted to me to achieve maximum riding pleasure.
on the tail end of the 26" dh bikes geometry and sizing was pretty well sorted. the farther back you go, the more of a crap shoot it is. my 2010 furax is good in terms of low and slack, but could be considered "short" by modern standards (my large has a wheelbase of 46.25, about a half inch shorter than my 2015 megatrail, but with a 2° slacker head angle). its not as short as an 08 foes thoSorry to hear that. How long have you had this problem?!
because i already have a 26" dh bike, and the last few years haven't ridden it enough to justify a new one.
curious comparison..... my 2010 Large furax vs same size commencal supreme 29 for 2021. same chainstay length (well, maybe a mm or 2 difference), same head angle, 4" longer wheel base. so all that extra length is going up front, which means 4" longer reach. and even more ETT since it has a slacker seat angle (71.5 vs 66.5)
It sounds like we've managed to get a few of the old DH crew together to enter this weekend's state race. Should be fun although I imagine non of us are going to be podium contenders.
Out of interest - how many Monkeys race anymore? Enduro or DH? Hell even XC.
Out of interest - how many Monkeys race anymore? Enduro or DH? Hell even XC.