[haggis]

Yes, 2004 the shout went out; the post is still receiving comments so here's the reply.
I bought an Evil Sovereign after giving up on being on a waitlist for an On-One 456 for 5 months. I went on the Sovereign's sovereign reviews, but tbh, she's not the animal I had intended. Slack to me means 68' or less. Perhaps I should have plumped for the D.O.C. but the super slack seat angle meant non-seated climbing, ruling it out. The Sovereign is an awesome ride on the curvy bermed trails, but is nervous on the steeps. I had thought about a longer fork to stabilize the front-end, but in terms of travel the 130mm Vanilla is awesome.
There's always compromises. The Ruckus with a 6" fork is still my weapon of choice.

 

[Acadian]

I have a Specialized Stumpjumper FSR with a Pike and I absolutely love that bike. The Pike slackens the head angle a bit and ups the already ridiculous low BB. For aggressive trail riding I love it - the bike rips!

DISCLAIMER: I only ride one a month on fire roads - so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

 

[BTF]

http://www.sinisterbikes.com/sbforum/showthread.php?t=682

 

[ATOMICFIREBALL]

With the invention of adjustable forks with some kind of climbing lock down feature is an option.Then you can ride a SLACK FR/DH bike & use that lock-down fork for climbing.
I am riding with a tall 2005 66RC on my Bullit without that feature & am limited to climbing fireroads & similiar.Even with dual rings it's impossible to climb most trails because of wheelies & wondering.
I just bought a DC Boxxer & it will have the same effect though & might hinder climbing even more because of the upper part of the DC fork. Pushing up trails isn't bad if you have to.Sometimes it is quicker to push back up!The trail i train on takes the same amount of time either pushing back up the trail, or climbing a Jeep trail back to the top.It's a 3:30 DH run.

 

[tgreathead]

Ya, throwing a longer fork on a frame is always an option to do your own geo modification. My Saber is intended for a 150mm fork so putting on my longer (and taller A-C) 170mm SuperT helped give me about a 68.5 head angle. Wish it was a tad slacker but it helped the bike perform pretty well in Mammoth.

 

[Santa Maria]

I have a Specialized Stumpjumper FSR with a Pike and I absolutely love that bike. The Pike slackens the head angle a bit and ups the already ridiculous low BB. For aggressive trail riding I love it - the bike rips!

DISCLAIMER: I only ride one a month on fire roads - so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Hi acadian, is this an Ardent on your back tire or an advantage and if its an Ardent, how is the performance?

and man, why did you trade your MKIII

 

[Acadian]

Hi acadian, is this an Ardent on your back tire or an advantage and if its an Ardent, how is the performance?

it's an Advantage - haven't been able to find any 2.25 Ardent's yet

and man, why did you trade your MKIII

why not? I like to make my own opinions of bikes and decided it was time to try something different.

 

[Santa Maria]

just kiddin, wonderful build! looks super light too!

 

[DirtyMike]

My suggestion for a downhill worthy, but not specific trail bike would be a Bottle rocket, equiped with a coil over roco, and an 07 66rc2ETA, and E13 DRS. Tough bike that climbs, fork that you can lock out and drop 6 inches in height at the flick of a switch, ability to run a dual raing int he front without giving up chain dependability, and still have a burly bashguarg for when you get a little sloppy inthe rocks.Probably stick with a Raceface Diabolous stem, or maybe an Azonic shorty. Medium length bars, and whatever other components you desire, maybe 170 cranks, I like the Hozifellers<sp> Myself for this, Available with 24/36 bash stock, and one tough as hell BB.

So that was My 6 cents on teh Dh worthy Trail bike.

 

[bushrider]

A specialized enduro SX with a travel adjustable fork is the perfect weapon.

It has a fox RP23 so you have 3 levels of pro-pedal for pedaling as well as a full open setting for DH.
With the slack/low shock shuttle I think I has a 67.5 deg HA with a 4" fork. So with a 5 inch fork it should be about 66.5 which is pretty spot on for DH. I'm not sure of the BB height but its lower than most DH bikes (sub 13"). The standover is also way better than most DH bikes. The only negative is the interupted seat tube.

With a travel adjustable fork and a gravity dropper/speed ball seatpost it would be perfect for pedal up to ride down type trails.

 

[Adjunkie]

i have a scott nitrous 10 as my trail bike. it's a 7x7, but adjustable on the fly to 5x7- which helps a lot when climbing. also, i'm running a double chainring setup. the whole thing comes in around 38lbs.