[Closed] £500 budget for second hand DH bike.

One of My favourite topics this.

One of the great things about DH is the Turnover rate of "Old" kit, A lot of stuff seems ot be considered out of date within a couple of years...

Don't fixate too much on having the full 8"+ of travel 6-7" is probably enough so you can look beyond pure DH bikes IMO...

I reckomend looking at more [I]Common[/I] brands Kona Stinkys,possibly the older Specialized Demo and Bighit models, Oranges 222/223/224, Patriot (7+), Giant Glorys and Reign, I don't know how many of the Hill era Iron Horse Sundays are still about but it's worth looking at those as that was probably one of the first widely sold "Modern" long, low, slack DH frames...

Given your budget I think you'll be looking at Mid 00's bikes (Circa 2004 - 2009 maybe)...

Personally I tend to steer well clear of anything with lots of pivot bearings and bolts to worry about ,but that's just me, a bit more effort and you can keep a nice bike in working order...

The main thing is for £500 you want something used that isn't going to need lots of work doing or parts replacing, forget posh gears, functional 8 or 9 speed with a decent Chain device, Are the brakes in good order? 8" rotor on the front,
Wheels straight? and free of dinks ideally.

Then there's the fork, on a £500 bike you'll probably be looking at older model (32mm) Boxxers, 35mm 888 VFs, 66s or Domains, you might happen upon a bike with Shiver DCs, or Monster Ts these are good forks, but probably getting Rarer by the day, worth having if the price is right...

My DH bike wouldn't really be considered a modern DH bike but it does the job:

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I bunged it together for about your budget a couple of years ago and its still going, it will probably be my last DH bike...

The other option is of course to MTFU and build a DH-HT, spend your money on Rims and new fillings, rather than Shock servicing and bearings...

Either way there's lots of cheap thrills on offer these days as

You should be able to pick up a big hit on pink bike for around your budget, used to have one ideal starter DH bike.
Make sure you don't get one with a 24 inch rear wheel.

offset bushings are a cheap way to slacken out and older steeper HA frame, throw in a shock tune for your weight and you can get a very nice feeling bike, thats what I did with my stinky and it makes a big difference

offset bushings are a cheap way to slacken out and older steeper HA frame, throw in a shock tune for your weight and you can get a very nice feeling bike, thats what I did with my stinky and it makes a big difference

Ditto on that Stab above, and I extended the fork down in the crowns a bit to slacken it further and help hold the front up on steeps (that's a rather old photo now)...

Cookeaa,

I actually have a stab deluxe for sale in Dunkeld if your still looking and it's £500.

Here is the pinkbike link if it's something your interested in

http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1416103/

dunkeldlocal that looks like a nice bit of kit but I think it'd be a bit small for me as I'm 6' 4''.

That's another query I had, is the size of the bike as important for a DH bike as xc? Should I definitely be looking for an XL?

I'd be looking for a Glory at that money. Don't discount the fr ones too, great for UK tracks. Best DH results I ever achieved were on a Glory fr and I had all sorts of exotic 5-6k DH rigs in the past.

If you can get 2006/7 888 rc2x forks they are still some of the best forks ever made for DH despite the marketing bollox that is spouted these days.

Traditional frame size isnt really that important, wheelbase & TT length matters more but bigger bikes can be a handful when not flat out.

Oh and dont skimp on chainguides, badly designed / set up ones can ruin your day.