[ashtong63]

Can you guys suggest good frames/major components for me? I want to do some DH this year and am not sure where to start in terms of what bikes to consider. I'm 5'10" and 150lbs, so I'm looking for something lightweight and don't need the most solid frame ever built.

I grew up racing motocross and did a lot of urban riding/dirt jumping/dual slalom racing in college, but this will be my first DH bike. My budget is roughly $1500, but I would be happy with an older bike so I think this is reasonable. I'm looking for a DH specific bike, and will be riding mostly in the Mt. Snow/Killington areas (New England.)

So, what were some good lightweight bikes from a few years ago? Which ones should I stay away from?

Thanks!

 

[norbar]

At that budget you HAVE to go used so I wouldn't go lightweight at all because lightish bikes don't live that long. Not that there is that much choice at 1500$ for a bike.
Look at the classifields
http://www.ridemonkey.com/classifieds/cat-2/ad-17667/
http://www.ridemonkey.com/classifieds/cat-2/ad-17618/

 

[4130biker]

I agree, I would go with something solid and not worry about weight. The weight won't hold you back for now as long as it's not out of control. There are tons of reasonable weight durable frames out there (demo, sunday, bighit, blindside, etc.) Just stay away from the karpiels and screams and you'll probably be ok weight-wise. Good luck and let us see what you get!

 

[norbar]

Karpiels were and are not heavy at all. They only way reason why there were so much heavy bikes on their frames was because of the pretend-a-bender fashion in the old days. Though I wouldn't get it anyway. Not that durable.

 

[4130biker]

Ok, old karpiels are light. Good save.

 

[al-irl]

look for a used morewood izumi. There light, single pivot means low maintenance and they corner like there on rails.

 

[Sandwich]

I'd encourage you to look for an older trek session (with ABP), a Sunday, a devinci wilson, a morewood, or orange frame. Those are all very light and reasonably stout, with the sunday and single pivots being the most reliable. There's still a lot of aftermarket support for most of those frames too, and you can probably grab any of them for a reduced price, especially the sunday.

Otherwise I'd look to build the bike up as cheaply as possible. I built up my sunday for about $2200, I think, and that had a lot of new parts, including everything but the frame and fork without any bro deals. Pick up some used parts and you can probably get it way down. You can also save a lot of weight in your wheels, and since you aren't too heavy you may not need uber strong wheels.