Full suspesion frames
Discussion
Not wanting to put you off but don't just buy a cheap and/or old DH frame.
You should consider the type of (read hard) life this type of specialist rig is going to have had.
Secondly, suspension set-ups (links and shocks) have evolved a lot in the last 5-6 years. Geometry has been slowly tweaked too. So much so that, imoho, a good All-Mountain bike - Cove Hustler, Orange Five, Commencal Meta 5.5 to name three - would out preform a late 90's DH rig.
Having said that you haven't qualified what you consider cheap? Someone posted up their Orange 224 the other day and they wanted, iirc, £1500 for the bike.
Afterall, as Top Gear demonstrated, although you can buy a Ferrari for £10K it won't be any good.
You should consider the type of (read hard) life this type of specialist rig is going to have had.
Secondly, suspension set-ups (links and shocks) have evolved a lot in the last 5-6 years. Geometry has been slowly tweaked too. So much so that, imoho, a good All-Mountain bike - Cove Hustler, Orange Five, Commencal Meta 5.5 to name three - would out preform a late 90's DH rig.
Having said that you haven't qualified what you consider cheap? Someone posted up their Orange 224 the other day and they wanted, iirc, £1500 for the bike.
Afterall, as Top Gear demonstrated, although you can buy a Ferrari for £10K it won't be any good.
Well, an 08 Commencal Meta 5.5 frame (inc shock) can be had for £850 or less. Unless you're actually going to start DH racing then I expect that that would be a good bet. At least you'll be able to ride it up hill too!!
Alternatively an Orange Pariot or a Cove G-Spot would be a burlier option - but more expensive.
Alternatively an Orange Pariot or a Cove G-Spot would be a burlier option - but more expensive.
mk1fan said:
Not wanting to put you off but don't just buy a cheap and/or old DH frame.
You should consider the type of (read hard) life this type of specialist rig is going to have had.
Secondly, suspension set-ups (links and shocks) have evolved a lot in the last 5-6 years. Geometry has been slowly tweaked too. So much so that, imoho, a good All-Mountain bike - Cove Hustler, Orange Five, Commencal Meta 5.5 to name three - would out preform a late 90's DH rig.
Having said that you haven't qualified what you consider cheap? Someone posted up their Orange 224 the other day and they wanted, iirc, £1500 for the bike.
Afterall, as Top Gear demonstrated, although you can buy a Ferrari for £10K it won't be any good.
Just like to reiterate that post. You should consider the type of (read hard) life this type of specialist rig is going to have had.
Secondly, suspension set-ups (links and shocks) have evolved a lot in the last 5-6 years. Geometry has been slowly tweaked too. So much so that, imoho, a good All-Mountain bike - Cove Hustler, Orange Five, Commencal Meta 5.5 to name three - would out preform a late 90's DH rig.
Having said that you haven't qualified what you consider cheap? Someone posted up their Orange 224 the other day and they wanted, iirc, £1500 for the bike.
Afterall, as Top Gear demonstrated, although you can buy a Ferrari for £10K it won't be any good.
I bought off a friend a “transitional” bike (03 Marin East Peak) to get me into XC full susers. Now I’ve used and abused it over a whole summer and most of the winter and tbh it’s falling apart. My thinking was to rebuild it but after talking to people I have realised that technology has advanced so much that it wouldn’t be worth the time or money. I realised too that I hadn’t destroyed it the person before me had too! That’s the point! People who buy bike off Ebay don’t sometimes understand that the bike would have been used like how they are designed to be, thrown off things and abused not kept in cotton wool so are already in need of tlc and once you cost that tlc up your into new bike territory (hence why people buy new bikes instead of rebuilding all the time)
I think if you read this months mags, a lot of them have the new 6" rides (from £1500 - £2300) all of which apparently are great for the Sunday warrior in you and seem to accomplish 80% of what a DH hardcore rig would give you without being heavy clumsy and annoyingly frustrating on anything other than a vertical trail. I think my point is after the 3 mags have had their say the conclusion is that the technology has come so far these rigs (all mountain/Freestyle etc) and are as capable for me and you as a 2000 - 2004 DH bike (if not more capable) why would you go to a old skool approach of frame buying.
TBH im really torn at the moment on this issue. All I ride is QE park (Portsmouth way), Southdown’s, a bit round Bath/Bristol and that’s about it. So XC with some small drops (and I mean small)
So what do I need?
Is it an Epic racer, Stumper jumper XC, Enduro DH or a merging of the SJ & Enduro (all mountain) which has come out in 08?
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