[eaterofdog]

I have been riding mountain bikes for 10 years and dirt jumping the last few years, all on 26" bikes. As I have gotten better with DJing, I wanted a smaller bike that I could whip and spin harder of the lip. I ended buying a 2008 DK General Lee. I rode it for a while and ended up upgrading the wheels and various other parts. I sold it a few weeks ago.

The bad.
• Crap brakes. Why, in the name of all that is holy, do BMX bikes still use U brakes? V brakes are about a 100X better. I realize a V brake can be damaged easier, but replacing it is cheap anyway.
•*No front suspension. Lack of front suspension is nice until you overshoot a jump (and your wrists hurt for a week) or you ride in a rougher area. Then it sucks balls. A few roots will bounce you right off the bike.
• Narrow tires. Not much room for tires larger than 2.0. So they will need to be pumped up tight, making the lack of suspension even worse.

I really wanted to like the Gen Lee. My problems all stem from riding in a rough area in the woods, rather than a groomed track area.

The good thing is I really liked the 24" wheels and shorter bike. I am now setting up a different 24 with 3" front suspension and the ability to run fat tires.

 

[Axis]

U brakes when setup correctly are superior... (I am sorry I have had the best v brakes...).

This is especially true for tire taps, abubacas and fufanus.

 

[eaterofdog]

Uh huh. They are all yours. I'll be running a rear disk only on my next build.

 

[Axis]

Uh huh. They are all yours. I'll be running a rear disk only on my next build.

That's cool. I like discs too but I grind on the non drive side so they won't work for me.

 

[eaterofdog]

The boneshaker

 

[ServeEm]

sounds like you're not cut out for bmx and would be happier on a 24" mtn bike. different strokes for different folks. At least you know what you want.

 

[chuffer]

a big part of the reason that you may not have enjoyed the GL is because the thing is a pig. it is a great starter bike, but at $260 for a complete every single component on the bike is going to be low end. the forks for example, compared to a pair of S&M pitch forks the GL forks feel like a couple of lead pipes. same thing for that frame versus damned near anything. again, there is nothing wrong with that quality level at that price point, but there is a lot higher quality stuff out there.

i had a GL and I had a DMR as well for a while. The DMR will be a step up in quality, but not a big one. also, i have never even seen one of those forks in person, but all i have ever heard is that they are boat anchors.

you have been riding for a while, why dont you slow down a half step and build something decent? light weight short travel forks and a light weight steel frame? there are so man options out there. going from a GL to a DMR isnt much of a change...

Oh, and if you are basing your opinion of u-brakes on the trash that came on the GL, that is pretty unfair. decent quality u-brakes (odyssey evo II for example) work great. minimum a brazillion times better than that tektro oem trash.

 

[Cru Jones]

Oh, and if you are basing your opinion of u-brakes on the trash that came on the GL, that is pretty unfair.

Especially on those plastic mags... that would probably make it difficult to get any rim brake to work great.

The mags are rad, though!!!

 

[eaterofdog]

The Lee weighed 31 lbs when I sold it, mags and all. The weight didn't bother me. As I said in the first post, the problem was the small tires and lack of suspension in a rough area. It would have been a good for groomed jumps or whatever.

I'll take you guys word on the U brakes.

Yeah Cru, the mags were kind of cool. They would just bounce back from hard hits.

 

[TortugaTonta]

I thought the same thing when I tried riding a BackTrail 24. What I found after riding it for a while is that after you go faster and ride more agressive it actually starts to smooth out.

Sometimes when I'm tired or just kinda warming up I feel like I'm skipping all over the place and sketchey as hell but once I get warmed up and start riding a little faster you hit this speed where the bike starts to smooth out and get more stable.

I also ride it with 2.3 k-rads at 40 psi, I have no idea how my friends ride the same trails on 20s with 80 psi, it must be chattery as f@ck.