Hello..... I need Help!

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MikeW-71

Veteran
Location
Carlisle
Could the GT be used also as a Downhill MTB? From what i have seen currently dont have the budget to get a proper one
Noooooo. Full-on downhill MTB is not the place for a hardtail. For trail riding they are excellent, particularly Blue grade, but I've tackled a few Red grade ones on mine and it will do the job. I am looking at upgrading the fork on mine though, it will improve it a lot.
 
Stupid Question really, Just meant as a bike for proper downhill courses
both myself and my OH use Rockhoppers and manage very well on red runs in the Scottish scene and I know my OH could easily manage blacks as well. I probably could if I hadn't lost my confidence a touch after a nasty fall 15 months ago. (the fall wasn't on a run, ironically it was on the flat stopping on snow...)
 
OP
OP
Madhamster

Madhamster

New Member
Noooooo. Full-on downhill MTB is not the place for a hardtail. For trail riding they are excellent, particularly Blue grade, but I've tackled a few Red grade ones on mine and it will do the job. I am looking at upgrading the fork on mine though, it will improve it a lot.
Ok, Full suspensions is what i would need then for downhill?
 

MikeW-71

Veteran
Location
Carlisle
Ok, Full suspensions is what i would need then for downhill?
Most definately, but it needs to be a Downhill bike. They are built tougher (and heavier) and the geometry is significantly different to Trail-oriented full-suspension bikes.

Buying new, you'd be looking at £1500 minimum for something decent.
 

vickster

Squire
I haven't, if i was would my budget of around £450 get me a decent enough full suspension bike?
Possibly, probably not. Look at Decathlon's MTB offerings, good spec for the money
 

Cubist

Still wavin'
Location
Ovver 'thill
@Madhamster


Before you jump in and buy kit you need to be sure what it is you actually want to ride. Downhill MTB is a specific competitive discipline. It involves riding as fast as you possibly can down a course which is designed purely to head downwards. It takes riders over jumps, gaps, rock gardens, steep plunges and berms. It's great fun but calls for massive amounts of skill and dedication, not to mention body armour. Downhill specific bikes are heavy. They have huge travel suspension, with 180 to 200 mm front and back, with bomproof tyres, heavy frames designed to take all sorts of abuse, and gearing designed to turn the pedals to bomb through flattish sections, so tend to be close ratio single ring affairs.

The bikes are so specific that they more or less cannot be ridden uphill. Riders either push the bikes up to the top of the jump park they're in or get an uplift via a van or even a cable car/ ski lift to the top of the course. You can ride Downhill on a hardtail, but the people who do tend to be time-served psychopaths who are doing it because they can, not because its the best route into the sport.

Riders tend to have cut their teeth on dirt jumps and park riding. They have massive balls, and have learnt their craft by feeling at home on a dirt jump or even BMX bike, going over big jumps, hucking off drops, and generally hooning around.

I'm going to assume you are a novice, and unless you tell me you have already done the BMX/ Dirt Jump stuff, then that's where I would suggest you start. Hardtail MTBs come in many variants, and a £450 XC or trekking style MTB will rapidly show you that it is unsuitable by falling apart and killing you. :whistle: Look secondhand for the best bargains, but remember that a DJ bike will have been thoroughly abused if used by an enthusiast.

That budget will get you a great DJ bike for a novice. Shortish travel coil fork, sturdy frame, probably chromoly, with decent brakes and strong wheels. A bit of research will show you where the locals ride theirs; there are plenty of bike parks knocking around, and I know of many woodland areas where lads have dug and built jumps and stuff near here, so I don't suppose your area will be any different. Visit sites like Pinkbike, Dirt, for the best advice. The majority of us MTBers on Cyclechat are XC or trail riders, or use MTBs to commute so will tell you to budget for a basket and reflectors. ^_^
 
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