short travel am bike for dh?

[mitchy-b]

hey guys, i was havin a quik look through the lbs today and noticed they had a norco fluid lt 3 for 1500 and wondered for it would go for dh and fr? i been looking to upgrade to a dualy but dont want to loose the convenince of a hardtail, any feed back would b great, thanks heaps
mb

 

[Fisher]

My mate tried Downhill on his Commencal Prophet. I think its a 4-5" Dualy, said it was pretty pathetic. Assuming that this is the same kind of thing, i would advise against it.

 

[doug89]

My first DH race was on a Giant Reign. For a while I was racing DH and XC on that same bike, although only in Sport categories. I even did a 100km+ enduro with Funn Fatboys and a Transition DH stem on it. I loved that bike, and I only upgraded as far as a Reign X for DH. There's a dude over here in WA who's been racing all season on a Commencal Meta 5.5. He's certainly not the quickest, but he has a load of fun. If you're stuck with only having one bike, the right build on an AM frame can give you a lot of fun even if it's not the fastest.

 

[mitchy-b]

thanks for the feedback guys, im not gana b racing or anything, just slogging around lol, anyone know how they hold up for jumps?

 

[jacko13]

fluids not so much.
something like a norco 6 would go alright though.

 

[mitchy-b]

yer im thinking somethin like that, i guess tbsm will sell 09 bikes cheap when 010 bikes come in yer?

 

[horsey]

corsair marque - 5" travel, low BB, slack HA. rearward axle path is super plush on the big square edge hits.

rides and handles like a DH bike with less travel

 

[Langers]

I own a LT 3, it holds up well on my local light dh tracks (havent bottomed out yet, but very close), jumps I'm no so sure i don't do enough to know but it depends on your riding style, and how demanding the trails you ride are.

 

[mitchy-b]

ill have a look at that 1 thanks,
yeah im not sam hill haha just fairly light dh aye, nothin to extreme but i wana progress to be a better faster harder rider u know lol
thanks again guys keep em coming

 

[jacko13]

ill have a look at that 1 thanks,
yeah im not sam hill haha just fairly light dh aye, nothin to extreme but i wana progress to be a better faster harder rider u know lol
thanks again guys keep em coming

maybe see if you can pick up a giant reign x, they're pretty good, and do the job for you.

they're bit more dh suited then a fluid.

 

[nic1894]

bike

as said before i would recommend a giant reign great bikes had a ride on one the other day and it was excellent but could be abit out of your price range but have a look into it

 

[mitchy-b]

yeah i been havin a look at the reigns, seen 1 for 2,800 the other day...tempting lol yer the old fluid is out of the question now i think

 

[Wiffle]

if you want to use it for light Dh a fair bit, get something with a 67-ish deg head angle; it will make the bike much more stable at speed. Reign X is a good pick, so is Marin Wolf Ridge/Attack Trail. The Marin's are very plush, and feel like a mini DH bike, although pedalling is not quite as good. Mongoose Khyber is also worth a good look.

 

[mitchy-b]

arh thats an awsome bit of advice, ill check em out, thanks alot mate
!

 

[Viv92]

You can ride pretty much anything. Fluid LT would be fine, I've got a mate who rides one on proper DH tracks a fair bit. I rode a Reign for DH for about a year and it was do-able. Jumping bikes like that is fine, it's just steep rough stuff that will catch you out.

 

[JaylikesDH]

I have a Giant Yukon that I ride on dh tracks, its good just to learn on. I will upgrade to a proper DH bike when funds are approved

 

[MTBalltheway]

!

Yeah, I've got a dually XC and a DH. I have found that the Dually just does not work for downhill.

I would sugest DH bike. Although, if your worried about loosing confidence on a Hard tail, then why not do Downhill on a hard tail?

 

[SouthYarraSage]

I've got a Fluid LT1 and I use it for everything, including some downhill races. As with most things, it's a compromise but if you want to do a bit of everything and only want to run one bike then I'd say it's an excellent choice.

A Norco Six might be stronger but it would be a shitload less fun to pedal uphill I reckon. I've literally raced downhill one weekend and a 6-hour enduro the next on the LT. Sure, it's not going to be optimal for either, but if you're just having a go... well, to me it makes sense.

 

[Kamikazee ideki]

My Bro is currently riding a 2008 norco six one. You can get them for a pretty good price and they ride most terrain fairly decently. For xc you can wind down the forks and switch on the propedal and for dh you wind up the forks, switch off the propedal and your set.

 

[frdlvr]

My first DH bike was a Cannondale Super-V carbon with Manitou X-Vert Rs that was only a 4 inch XC bike with triples and it was great. Look at the worlds Lopes,Hill, Fairclough and Barel were only using 6 inch travel bikes and they all went really well.

I would say look at a Norco six or Shore (shore has 2 settings 6.7 inch and 7.4 inch) and run 888's, Boxxers, or 55s, 66s as forks.