Starting up

[Miss_Twisted]

Hi girls.

I'm looking to get my first real downhill bike. I've had this one recommended to me by someone but I'd love a few different opinions too. Particularly from other female riders. I'm a beginner I've only ridden once or twice before, and not very difficult tracks either.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320511711279&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT


This is the bike I'm looking at. I'm fairly certain I want a duallie as I like the extra forgiveness over the bumps. It should be about the right height for me I'm about 5 foot 4, or 5 foot 5.

I'm new to downhill riding, and while I've ridden regular bikes before I've never really known anything about them. So I don't really have a clue what to look for, but I want to make sure I'm getting the right thing and I'll learn as I go. Any suggestions or recommendations for me?

 

[pink]

Hi there,

I just started recently and was asking for help not that long ago, see the link for the discussion:

http://www.rotorburn.com/forums/showthread.php?197134-Downhill-bikes

I ended up with a Kona Stab second hand and am very happy with it.

That bike you are looking at on ebay is more freeride... not as much travel as downhill bikes... do you know what sort of riding you will be doing or where you will be doing it?

I was originally going thinking of a freeride bike, but ended up going with the downhill which I a glad I did considering the downhill tracks I've tried so far! I need all the suspension help I can get

 

[Miss_Twisted]

Hi there,

I just started recently and was asking for help not that long ago, see the link for the discussion:

http://www.rotorburn.com/forums/showthread.php?197134-Downhill-bikes

I ended up with a Kona Stab second hand and am very happy with it.

That bike you are looking at on ebay is more freeride... not as much travel as downhill bikes... do you know what sort of riding you will be doing or where you will be doing it?

I was originally going thinking of a freeride bike, but ended up going with the downhill which I a glad I did considering the downhill tracks I've tried so far! I need all the suspension help I can get

Thanks Pink I think it is more a freeride bike I'm after though, from what I've tried so far I think it's more suited to me. I'll have a read of that thread too see if it will help me out.

 

[Cypher]

So, have you been riding normal trails for a while or are you going straight to the deep end and downhilling first up?

My advice for you is that the first bike you buy will probably not fit - especially if you are getting into a new style of riding. It takes a while to sort out how you ride and what you need from a bike. Don't spend too much money on your first bike - save it for your second bike.

This is especially important is that as you mature into your riding style, it will change from what you first thought it may be. I started off downhilling a while back, but now I only go trail riding/all mountain. I'm doing bigger drops and jumps than ever (I was quite lame when I started DH'ing), but I only ride 5 inches as it is more than adequate. Also I need to be able to ride up hills as well.

You may find that you start out with a certain style of DH and morph into another - necessitating a change of bike to suit your purpose.

Occassionally I think about getting a dh rig and shuttling. It would be fun to have all that suspension

 

[Miss_Twisted]

So, have you been riding normal trails for a while or are you going straight to the deep end and downhilling first up?

My advice for you is that the first bike you buy will probably not fit - especially if you are getting into a new style of riding. It takes a while to sort out how you ride and what you need from a bike. Don't spend too much money on your first bike - save it for your second bike.

So far I haven't really been riding much at all since I went about 6 months ago with my ex, but apart from the occasional downhill I used to go just around the regular bike paths around my area.

Since then unfortunately I haven't actually had ANY bike to ride on, since my dear brother broke my regular bike quite some time ago. So I would like to get into some relatively easy tracks first, (once I buy a bike) but preferably downhill/freeride ones not just flat trails.

So far as spending money..how much is too much? What's a good price range to start off with for a beginner bike? The cheaper the better but as long as it's still ridable and won't fall apart the second I get on it.

 

[pink]

I was aiming for $1000-1500 for my downhill bike and managed to get one within that price. I had never purchased a bike second hand before, always had gone new, but wasn't sure about how much downhilling I would do so went for a used machine. I kept my eyes on the for sale section on here and ebay... if you do some research and know what you are looking for it is easier...