[jonKranked]

If you can't get off the racelink because you think it's such an awesome bike and you've been lucky to have a direct line in for tech support from the guy who designed and fabricated it (if that's the support you're referring to) perhaps you ought to consider keeping the RL til this guy's new bike is done and get that one.

hurry it up already!!!

 

[racelink]

OK Sandwich, I have walked in your shoes and will give you my opinion.

First things first. Skid Marks is right on. Everything he's stated will happen when trying to mod the geo is true. I think a shorter shock is your best bet. Since the Race Link is a rearward travel frame your static chainstay length will be I think a smidge over 18" in the rear drop out setting. Getting the front mount dropouts will bring it more in line, but limit your tire size. I think if you really want to hack into your frame, the best mod would be to slightly "dish" the boxed swingarm cross brace on the tire side. This would allow much better clearence without sacrificing strengh (might even be stronger). You could then run a larger tire using the front drop outs and the shorter shock to lower and slacken.

But in a nutshell.......

Don't do it. Keep the the Link.

Secondly, don't listen to people in this thread who either haven't ridden a Link or had a Link but didn't really race it. To many people look at the geo numbers and combine that with the myth, that the Link is a "TANK" and throw the baby out with the bath water. All bikes are NOT a prisoner of their numbers. Many other factors come into how a bike performs in real life.

I have had 2 Race Link's. In 07 I had #105 (Amish's old Link). I now currently have #46 (DHS's Captain America Color scheme bike).

Brief history of bikes I have had, in sequential order. Not including a couple I don't remember. As you will see, I am a bike whore of the worst kind. Keep in mind this list only goes back to 2004 when I first started DH.

2001 Foes DHS
Intense M1
2001 Turner DHR
Nicolai Nucleon (this is a bike like the Link, in as it is doesn't look that great on paper, but it just plain rode nice. But IMO the frame mounted Rohloff wasn't worth the weight penalty)
Nicolai Lambda (I mainly used this as a goof off bike, never really raced it, another bike that rode great despite numbers that would indicate otherwise)
2004 Turner DHR
Canfield F1
Brooklyn #105
Intense SOCOM (replaced the Brooklyn)
2005Turner DHR (Yeah, I like DHR's, a real toss up between it and the Brooklyn. The DHR and the Brooklyn are the only two bikes I've ridden that I felt INSTANTLY comfortable on, Both my sons ride DHR's)
2005 Rotec RL9 (Super nice bike, with lots of potential, but its got a few quirks that annoyed me to no end.)
Brooklyn #46 my current ride.

OK, so you can see I have issues, but thats another thread. Back to the Brooklyn.

Can you win on the Race Link? Hellllll Yaaaa!!! I just switched to Geezer expert, but I had been racing Geezer Sport up until this year.

2007 was my first year racing a full series and I had just moved to Colorado from California. To say the courses out here are ahhhhh, different compared to California, is an understatement. I couldn't believe people rode this stuff, let alone raced down it.

I hit Angel Fire with my freshly rebuilt Link and promptly took 2nd after holding on to first until being beaten by the last man down. I won't go thru the whole year. But I lead the MSC in DH Points but didn't win the series, cause you have to race Mountain Cross to win the series out here, and I don't. I was also overall NORBA points leader for the entire US age 45-49.

Sure I was racing a bunch of old guys. But hey.... the top 5 guys were all pretty fast. Colorado terrain just flat out produces good riders. Besides the MSC, I raced the G3 at Sol Vista and got a podium with a 4th. G3 had no age classes. I raced everybody from 19 year olds and up. I had 3 decades on the next oldest guy on the podium and was less the 3 seconds out of first. My Brooklyn didn't seem to slow me down.

So that brings us to your decision and mine at the time. I decided, "WOW, I'm really kicken ass! Just think what I could do on a "real" race bike"!!

So along came the SOCOM. Built it to 37lbs. A thing of beauty to pick up in the parking lot. Custom PUSH tuned DHX. All the bells and whistles....... Boy did I hate it. Seriously, the bike had a lot of good qualities but it just did not feel "solid" . Plus I did not like the suspension at all. Couple that with, it was damn noisy (more on that later) and didn't shift all that great (more on that later also). In the end I sold it before ever getting a chance to really race it. But only because my son broke his foot at Keystone and the insurance companies where being, well.......insurance companies and trying not to pay. I had to come up with 10 grand to pay the doctors so the SOCOM went on FeeBay. But I didn't really miss it.

By the start of 2008 I prep my son's old DHR and was gonna race it, but stumbled upon the Rotec and snapped it up. Really liked that bike and I kicked ass at Chile Challenge, but in the end it had several quirks that I didn't like about it. I won't go into details, but I sold it and went back to the Brooklyn. Unfortunately work and other stuff, kept me from racing the rest of 08. So well have to see what 09 holds for me and if I can hang, in what is now Category 1, with some VERY fast old guys. I think I'll do OK. Even though I don't have a "real" race bike.

BTW, Doc and Teri moved out West to Utah, and he kicked ass on his Link.

Race Link reality.

It does have a high BB. But this bike corners EXTREAMLY well. As you can see from my list, some of the bikes I've had are considered to be excellent cornerers. I frankly am pretty convinced that I corner faster on the Race Link then any of them. The Link flat out corners great, despite the BB height.

The head angle is steeper then some, especially by the current standards. But I have never felt it hindered my riding. Having come freshly off the Rotec, which is LONG and SLACK to put it mildly, I figured I would have to really be careful until I got use to the HA. To my surprise, I found out what I found the the first time I rode my old Brooklyn. And thats that it didn't cause me any problems. Instead, I loved the fact that it tracked and whipped around, almost effortlessly. In the steep rocky filled chutes I felt totally confident. I think it's because the bike is so easy to get low and back on it. Only real down side I could see, is it doesn't seem quite as stable in the long fast sweepers or after landing a really big air jump. But that might have more to do with the short wheelbase.

Race Links jump great!! Very predictable, stable in the air, easy to whip around. Rock solid on the landing. The suspension is a thing beauty. Nothing I've ridden lands big air as smoothly as a Race Link. Amazingly supple on the small stuff (assuming your tune on the AVY of course), ramps up smoothly through out the entire stroke and is basically impossible to bottom harshly. Similar to the DHR, althought the DHR seems to ramp up much more rapidly at the end, especially the 2001. Only real down side, is if you tune your shock to be "plush" you won't get much "pop" off jumps, so you gotta hit gaps pushing hard into the face or with super sonic speeds. Fortunately, if you case it, the Race Link takes it better then most.

Things you'll notice about other bikes after riding a Link for any length of time.

Other bikes are NOISY. Seems silly, but the simple fact is, Race Links are the Stealth Bomber of DH bikes. Deadly silent (I have a mod to mine that makes it even quieter). You take it for granted when you ride one. But get on something like a Mono frame (303, FOES, Intense) and you think your driving a trash truck down the mountain. There are some other quiet bikes out there, but the Link is the hands down winner.

Race Links just feel solid and invincible. This is hard to quantify and your results may vary, but I couldn't get over the feeling of insecurity or the flimsy feeling I got when I switched to the Socom.

There is not a better pedaling bike then the Race Link, period. Yes, there are other bikes that pedal just as well but most pedal worse, much worse. The Link doesn't need a "crutch" shock to make it pedal well. In fact it uses what is considered to be the "plushest" shock on the market. Slap a AVY on a Foes and you'll see what I mean. Lighter bikes will feel snappier, but no bike pedals with less bob. I live on a hill and part of my training is to do standing, uphill sprints. The link pedals uphill better then my trail bike. Seriously (except for the weight of course). All that said, I give best overall pedaling to the SOCOM. It pedaled great and coupled with the light weight, it was damned near like riding an XC bike

Race Link has the most reliable, trouble free drive train around. You will never drop a chain, if you have it set up right. (Disclaimer, there has been some threads about trouble with the Jack Shaft drive chain, but I have never seen one correctly set up, drop a chain). It does this all without a chainguide. Not to mention the unbelieveable clearence provide by the tiny chainring. Just think how much momentum you loose everytime you smack you bash guard on a rock. DH racing is all about maintaining momentum.

Best, most reliable shifting. Plain and simple, the jack drive makes for awesome, ultra smooth shifting. ZERO CHAIN GROWTH. You can run a Race Link as a single speed, without a chain tensioner, if you wanted. This all results in a rearward travel bike with zero pedal feed back.

Race Links are not light, but they're not heavy either. I had my old one built to 42.5lb and I pretty sure DHS had my current one built to around 41-42lbs. (I have a mod in mind that may drop mine to around 40lbs)

Race Links = Burly tough. I think my current one is somewhere between 6 and 8 year old, with no signs of slowing down.

So there you have it. From someone who has been there and back. Most of what I stated is simple fact and some is perception. Your impressions may vary. I think most who have actually spent any real time on a Link will agree with me.