i) What rig you Got ... or What rig do you consider as a "Do it All Bike"
I currently have a 2008 Norco Six1 with travel adjust forks, also an old Avanti Aggressor XC bike, which is really light.
ii) How many or what styles do you use it for ... [are you really doing everything with it ?]
I gave my Avanti to my sister to ride so don't ride that as much as I used to, but if my bike is broken or I can't use it for some reason I'll take her(my) bike.
So basically I ride my Six as it's my only other bike after I sold the RMX cause of the lack of gnarly decents in Aus, particularly Qld where I live.
I ride what I'd call AM, or rough XC. Generally encompasses a push up some steep and quite rough hill or slope, I like medium drops and ok jumps, so I'm definitely not going on any epic 30km rides on it, although I have done around that much one time. I haven't taken it to any 'DH' courses yet but I would if I had the opportunity. Sometimes it also gets used as a commuter or just a ride around the street.
iii) What other rigs have you ridden
Used to own a 2005 Manik with triples, a RMX, a few other shitter bikes. And I've ridden quite a few types, never ridden a dedicated street/park bike like a Blk Mrkt though, but I really want to.
iv) Would you have ridden the various styles you ride faster, better or with more confidence if you had a more specific bike to that style / track.
Well yes, and no. This is a tricky one and I'll go into a little detail down the bottom..but overall I'd ride a specific style of bike according to that styles faster, ie. I'd XC an XC race bike faster than my RMX ect..
v) Assume your on a group ride ... you all have roughly the same skillz and fitness ... everybody except you has a specific bike design for the style of track you are riding versus your "Do it All" rig ...
I'd ride the track anyway, as to me there is nothing more fun than hitting trails up with your mates, and even the occasional video camera, not to record how big or epic you went, but just so you can reminisce after the ride at the awesome day just had by all.
So here's my detailed story kinda thing of my ride on the weekend.
A week ago when I was performing some maintenance on my bike, I stupidly broke the main pivot bolt behind the BB on my Norco (now I'm getting a torque wrench
) which rendered it useless last weekend.
Enter the old XC Avanti which weighs like 11kg and is BIG and LONG compared to my Norco.
We were just hitting up Tewantin for the first time, and I had no idea what it was going to be like, I was told there's a pretty sweet DH section that goes for a while, and I initially would have liked the Norco, this was just because of my mentality of steep/loose/rough = dualy.
That's not because I don't like HT's but I do prefer something a bit beefier than an 11kg XC bike with 1.9" tyres, and 110mm stem, for the rough stuff.
But as fate will have it there would be no softy for me that day, it was the Avanti or nothing, and I wasn't going to be the softy to bail on the ride!
Not having been there myself, and not going with anyone who had, I had no idea what to expect, and was quite sure I'd find myself in some sketchy situation before the days end.
At first we were just on flat single track and there wasn't looking to be much use for a dualy, until we found this decent that is.
If anyone who's been there knows the hill that runs next to the hill climb course for cars and roadies, then you'll know that this is kinda rough and really rocky in some places.
Pushing up I was making note of what lines I'd take on the way back down as there was quite honestly some sections I just could not see myself hitting with any speed to a safe extent. However the hill just kept going up, and by the time I'd turned around I'd already forgotten what was 30seconds down the track.
So with me in front and the rest behind to follow and observe the carnage first hand I set off. At first I was just rolling down, not trying to speed up, and not trying to slow down, just kinda hold a constant speed and flow which didn't interrupt the others'.
I came across drops I wouldn't have done a year ago before I'd bought a dualy and sought out rough sections to test it on, and jumps, and rocky sections too.
Hit most of them, until I came to this really rough blind drop that I just didn't like trying as the bike would not have liked it one bit.
So heading straight towards this drop I needed a b-line, and quick. Oh, to the right! I thought and steered in that direction, however that was where the double step drop thingy was that I'd clearly made a mental note to definitely not attempt, too late, I bail I fail, so I have to commit, oh shit I'm rolling out!! I remember thinking how lucky I was, then the rock garden/off camber slope section came up..got a bit sketch there again, but rode it out too.
That pretty much ended the hairy sections, and reflecting afterwards I had a few thoughts and made a few mental notes.
Everyone should have a HT and a dualy.
As I said there were sections I didn't think the bike/I could handle a year ago, which was basically the last time I really rode this bike off road often. But since then I've been hitting stuff like that and stuff which is worse on my RMX and my Six.
The track wasn't crazy rough by DH standards, but for the XC bike it was pretty crazy I thought.
I guess there's a few things to this, but I put it somewhat down to the marketing that bike companies spit out, it's utter shit really.
I was worried that I'd definitely break the bike or myself trying stuff like this, and that's kinda why I got a dualy to start with.
But over time I've refined and progressed my skills to a stage where I'm comfortable to ride stuff like this on my bike, so really I knew what could be done and couldn't be done.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the softies have given me confidence that my bike will hold up, and that I just needed to master myself and up my skills to match the bikes abilities.
Going back to the hardtail I was seeing things I knew I have done, or could do, and just stuck it, put it out of my head that I was going to crash and just got on the ragged edge and held on tight.
The confidence I got from the dualy has been transformed and converted into confidence I have for myself and my abilities.
I'm glad I took out the old HT, and I'll definitely be taking it out again, it gave me a thrill in some places which are hard to replace with the other bikes with travel front and back.
Sure I wasn't as fast, but honestly, I reckon I had a better time riding that bike than I have had in the last few months on my Six, instead of meandering down with little to worry about I had to focus and stay on it, or I would surely have been off it..the thrill of taking on the terrain is much more fun than the appeal of just cruising down a hill really fast and not really being in touch with it.
I guess this could create some arguments, but as I said it's not a DH track as such, and I probably would have eaten it at Thredbo or somewhere like that.
What I did learn is that taking a bike that's arguably under the recommended spec to a track is much more fun than taking a bike that's twice the bike that the track can handle.
Less = more here guys, so get that short travel or rigid rear out and go tear up some trails you don't think they can quite handle, you'll be suprised, I know I sure as hell was!
EDIT: I think you CAN have a do it all bike, but can you compete in something with said bike? Fuck no, that's silly and disadvantaging youself.
Unless you're a pro who's chasing gold, having FUN on one bike is definitely achievable, but I guess we should further define "do-it-all" does it have to be fast, and be the first across the line, down the hill or whatever? NO, but as long as you enjoy it and can maximize your riding with it then it's a fine bike for you. That's what I'd define as a do it all bike..
hopefully someone else reads this lol or I just wasted 15mins