Downhilling on a budget - the bare essentials

[Scott]

Ok, I now have my stupidly expensive bike (well I think so), when I break stuff do I REALLY need to replace it with XTR this and that? Or are these just silly ways to spend hard earned cash.

What I would like to do is compile a list of components that MUST have quality parts and others that we can skimp on. Give examples where appropriate... (XT/LX/BOXXERS/JR.T's)

 

[josh]

where do you get HARD-EARNED cash from scott?

 

[no_3]

Here's my list for spare parts of the things that break a lot.

Cranks - many people might disagree but I'd go for lx cranks for a dh bike, Lindsay has run em on his d_8 for 2 years and their still goin strong, I used to run em with similar results, FSA also make fairly cheap strong as cranks.

derailleurs - I would recommend going a shimano 105 road job, strong and cheap . I wouldn't go below xt cause everything else has a long cage

chains,clusters ect - deore or lx is fine.

pedals - anything over $30 is fine, as long as you like the feel of em

forks - don't really break, but if they do boxxers all the way, dorado's are awesome but too expensive, jr t's are ugly as fuck and flex a shite load.

bars - azonic, protaper or easton, none are really cheap but I don't reckon bars are a smart place to skimp

rims - mavic 321 all the wat don't bother to look elsewhere (just my opinion) 521 are my choice for racing cause they're lighter but not quite as strong. Mavic make the best rims.

anything like seats, seat poles, get whatever , doesn't matter.\

hope this helps, if anyone has a problem, tough!!!

 

[Scott]

Well thats a pretty good list

Chainguides I think are probably another good example... cost a shitload and arn't really that super duper. If you can get one made and or make it youself do so.....

 

[Scott]

where do you get HARD-EARNED cash from scott?

Well for some people it is

 

[belly_up]

i reckon tyres are another area where you can skimp a bit. Perhaps not when racing, but for the rest of the time, there's no real reason to spend $80-$90 on a tire, when a Tioga Factory DH or something similar will do almost as good a job for half the money.
Especially if you have to ride to tracks, or ride elsewhere, all you're doing is wasting $90 rubber on bitumen. Trust me, it sucks.
By all means have an expensive set of tyres, but save them for racing, and let something cheaper do the hard yards.

PS. i know there are arguments against this such as the fact that you won't be used to your race tyres handling when it somes time to race etc, however for most of us, thats not going to be a huge issue. And those people whom it is an issue for, mysteriously seem to have sponsors giving them tyres for free

 

[no_3]

yeah,

cainguides don't ever fuck up though ( after saying this mine's gonna explode this arvo at lefty) but you can make them yourself for cheap as chips. Lindsay's been making some mean mothers for people, they work flawlessly ( basically an MRP copy with a few small changes) He does em for $100 with genuine MRP rollers ( the best) but you shouldn't have to worry.

 

[Scott]

My Maxxis high rollers are ~ $40, they are phat, I havent had a flat yet, and grip good. That's about all I need from a tyre. I'm yet to try and few others, but from what I hear they are pretty good going on the budget

 

[no_3]

I forgot tires, Maxxis are the shit and are cheap as. just don't get the slow reezay ones unless you like wearing out tires evry 2 weeks. they grip unreal though.
You can't go wrong with the 50's (compound) like you got.

 

[belly_up]

My Kujo DH on the front is still awesome, and definately worth the $90 i paid for it (I was the first person in Toowoomba to have one, back in the days when i was at the forefront of local DH'ing....).

My Specialized Evil Twin on the back was purchased for the infamous coffs harbour race, and has pretty much only seen bitumen ever since, and is now bald. good tyre, waste of $80 though.

Both these tyres are/were excellent, but in hindsight, i would have got better value for money out of something cheaper.

 

[no_3]

the kujo's were good in their day, but now compared to the soft compound, slow return rubber tires they cop a bagging. One good thing about thost tires (kujo's, tioga factory ect) is that they were so hard you could get about 4x the life of a tire you get now. I've still got huchinson jumbo's lying around , those things last forever, and still have some good grip though.

 

[belly_up]

I was telling Pana how Damien had to take 5mm of travel out of my Quadra 21's to stop the Kujo scraping the crown when the fork bottomed out. didn't leave me with much travel...

 

[no_3]

Quadra's were the shit. I laid in bed awake at night dreaming of a set of quadra 21's. Actually I laid in bed at night dreaming of a set of suspension forks period. Damian sure could work some magic, but 5mm off a set of quadras would make them rigid wouldn't it??

 

[belly_up]

Nah, i still had at least 45mm of travel. i've still got them at home, gave up and bought they Psylos after i ran out of replacement brake arches. I'll sell em to you for $50

 

[Scott]

we all know that the quadra's had nothing on rst 381's... cheap... 3 1/2 inches of travel.... what more could you want?

 

[no_3]

ahhh, emmm, I'll pass on the quadra's , unfortunatly dreams change.
long live rst 381's, you never needed to touch them puppies, except when they got ridden in the rain, you could get about 100ml water out of both legs

 

[Scott]

hrm, thats what that sound is!!

 

[DOM]

Budget Man

Gotta love the old skool quadra's
haha i had a set of Quadra 21r's the yellow ones ..
they bent 1 day and i leant all about rockshox warranty etc etc .. these forks arent ment for anything but curb riding .. etc etc.

I just buy parts on a budget which i wont break ..
I have SMO rims .. front and back .. heavy but quite strong.
Husselfelt DH cranks 2nd hand $100 with BB ..
Azonic Bars ..
Husseltfelt CH guide

My frame was only $400 . Boy Bike co ..
my forks are farked though .. Mozo XMO 5.5's .. i just got new lower legs on warranty and had to pay for new stanchions ..

my bike is a definate dher on a budget ..

But yeah .. alot of shortcuts can be taken .. unless your a WC rider...

I love those Tomac's though they look sweet as.

 

[belly_up]

we all know that the quadra's had nothing on rst 381's... cheap... 3 1/2 inches of travel.... what more could you want?

what more could i want? A set of the original Z1 Bombers, in orange. </drool>

 

[EsPeGe]

Here's my list for spare parts of the things that break a lot.

Cranks - many people might disagree but I'd go for lx cranks for a dh bike, Lindsay has run em on his d_8 for 2 years and their still goin strong, I used to run em with similar results, FSA also make fairly cheap strong as cranks.

derailleurs - I would recommend going a shimano 105 road job, strong and cheap . I wouldn't go below xt cause everything else has a long cage

chains,clusters ect - deore or lx is fine.

pedals - anything over $30 is fine, as long as you like the feel of em

forks - don't really break, but if they do boxxers all the way, dorado's are awesome but too expensive, jr t's are ugly as fuck and flex a shite load.

bars - azonic, protaper or easton, none are really cheap but I don't reckon bars are a smart place to skimp

rims - mavic 321 all the wat don't bother to look elsewhere (just my opinion) 521 are my choice for racing cause they're lighter but not quite as strong. Mavic make the best rims.

anything like seats, seat poles, get whatever , doesn't matter.\

hope this helps, if anyone has a problem, tough!!!

So I was bored and decided to go to the very last page on the forum to see the oldest threads. The oldest thread is closed but this one, the 5th oldest remains open. It's a classic. It's a cool time capsule of how biking was waaaaay back. Now I didn't get in to riding until 06 but I remember even then a shimano 105 derailleur was the tits!!!