Progress on Mt. Stromlo

[dhd]

I totally agree, I've been trying to decide on a downhill bike but after riding the XC trails a few times at Stromlo now I'm definately thinking of a more all mountain bike.

Just bite the bullet and get both! I've seen it so many times......
Quotes from the guy with the Six inch travel all mountain bike:
On an XC ride:
"I just wish it was a bit lighter and didn't absorb as much"
"I really need some lighter tires"
"It just doesn't climb as well as my old XC bike. It's not the weight. I think it's the geometry"
"I probably should get a proper XC bike"
On a DH ride:
" Damn I wish I had just a bit more travel"
"I'd hit it if I was on a DH bike"
"Can I borrow your bike for a run?"
" How sick would that have been on a DH bike"
"I probably should get a proper DH bike"

I also have a group of friends who are adamant that they can have one bike to do it all. They go through cycles that are something like this:
Buy light weight XC bike.
Break it doing jumps.
Buy heavier all mountain bike.
Break it doing DH runs.
Buy DH/Freeride bike.
Decide it's too heavy and buy light weight XC bike.

Sorry for the rant.....I went off on a bit of a tangent there didn't I.....Oh yeah, Stromlo...WooHoo!!!!

 

[spinner]

so you ride through the bridge???????.....
and its after the rock corner thing right????

The fire road (horse rd) is the red line , dunno if the track will run from the corner directly above Rennies helmet to where he is in the pic , or if its over to the left more.......or somewhere in between......?

From the pic posted , looks like you ride through it , yeah.

 

[Trevor_S]

Just bite the bullet and get both! I've seen it so many times......
Quotes from the guy with the Six inch travel all mountain bike:

Uh huh... so what about when you get to the bottom of the DH run and then ride over and start the climb up the XC trails, hire someone to meet you at the bottom of the DH run so you can jump on your XC bike and have them walk your DH bike out ? or what about for the transport to the tracks, have a freeride as well ? I ride 11km of street to get to the dirt trails, screw that on a DH... I don't think an all mountain is to do XC or DH at different times, if you are doing that then sure, get separate bikes but All Mountain (for me) is about doing both (or more), on the same ride. well, that's what I use mine for who the hell knows why a 41 yr old enjoys some street but I do. I also use it to ride to the top of the DH run, (not up the DH track but up the access road), and mines only 5".. all depends on where and how you ride IMO.

 

[doin]

Just bite the bullet and get both! I've seen it so many times......
Quotes from the guy with the Six inch travel all mountain bike:QUOTE]

I hear ya, I'd love to have a full stable of bikes, but other hobbies like snowboarding and paintball= contant poverty. I think a solid 7" bike would be almost perfect for somewhere like stromlo, could handle the dh and you could ride it back up again. It doesn't bother me too much to ride something a bit heavy on XC. Unless you want to sell me a couple of Turner's at an obscenely discounted price?

On another note, I hear that they are planning to build another dh track at Stromlo for intermediates later on, anyone know a bit more about that?

 

[Kramer]

I've got a Kona Coiler (6 front & back) which is good for riding up Stromlo and then down the DH - although I do wish it had more travel on the down.

The new DH track will be on the west side of the mountain, starting almost opposite to the start of the current DH track. It will be a beginner DH track, more like Super D, with no real nasty sections, but should still be awesome fun.

 

[tomac1]

stromolo

hey man wats the point of putting so much ,oney into a shit hole of a track the downhill track is more like a xc track theres up hill and flat its farkin crap.

 

[FR Drew]

hey man wats the point of putting so much ,oney into a shit hole of a track the downhill track is more like a xc track theres up hill and flat its farkin crap.

what demo man says...

 

[demo man]

hey man wats the point of putting so much ,oney into a shit hole of a track the downhill track is more like a xc track theres up hill and flat its farkin crap.

The course you and everyone else has ridden does have some problems - but Jacobs has heard the issues that both the pro riders and the weekend warrior type riders have with it and has about 12 changes planned for the track (well, last time I spoke with him that was the number, may have changed). UCI rules have also changed since the construction of the track and now it can be a little shorter time-wise, which means faster.

It is also worth noting that if this track was on a hard-compund of dirt and rolling resistance wasn't so high, I think you'd find you'd be hitting very high speeds.
That long last straight at the end that was so hated at the Nationals, is a) not going to be a long flat straight anymore, and b) a top gear sprint where pros couldn't go any faster without further gears (speaking with some of them at the time they said they were pedalling out about 1/2 way down it).

You will find that, if you come back for the next Nationals, the Brindabella Challenege, any of the CORC club rounds, the Nationals after that, or the Worlds, or on any day after the track has been opened, you will probably like it a lot more.

It's also probably worth saying that the DH track in Cairns Glen Jacobs built for the Worlds up there in '96 was hated by everyone the first time they rode it (there was a national round to test the facility on). He then made some changes based on what people said to him, and now it's considered one of the worlds best DH tracks.


Oh, and you could also look at this from a whole different perspective. CORC has managed to get the ACT government to fully commit to Mountain Biking as a sport, and create facilities on a large scale for the sport. this is a massive change to the way things are done within the MTB industry and culture, and so of course there will be some things that need to be ironed out. However, the step that is being made here could lead to the best position MTBing in Australia has ever been in.


So, stop whinging mate. I don't think you have any idea what you're on about.

 

[alpinestar12]

hey man wats the point of putting so much ,oney into a shit hole of a track the downhill track is more like a xc track theres up hill and flat its farkin crap.

for the record, I liked it,and think it has a lot of potential. Some trees would be nice though, but we can wait.

 

[BLAKE-2234]

trees would be very nice indeed after nationals me and my dad were bright red kool but painful so yer trees is high up on the list for me

cheers