Im soon coming to a place where i can afford to run a 5" trail bike and a 7-8" bike park/freeride/uplift bike instead of using a 6" bike (sb66) for everything.
I could just stick with the SB66, splash out on lots of ti/carbon and some devoted xc and DH wheels.
I ride everything from trail centres, tame woods through to uplifts days, mini DH races and doing whatever gaps (the bigger the better) i can find. My version of a XC ride though is making loops out of DH tracks.
It's attractive to have a smaller travel bike to clock up the XC miles more easily, but worry about the strength of the bike as i tend to send whatever gaps i find on a xc ride.
It's attractive to have a bigger stronger bike, since i can always have a bike ready to go with the right tyres/wheels etc, plus no worries about breaking it on big stuff, but worry that it will hardly get used and also feel too removed from what's going on. Im a life long BMXer who will either gap the rough or enjoy getting flung about, smoothing out the rough really isn't a priority of mine.
It's also a harder decision to make since the SB66 is so good at everything i ride.
What's everyone elses experiences?
An example of my ideal riding -
http://www.pinkbike.com/video/303796/
7+ bikes only really come to life on big mountains. buy the carbon sb66 if you really must spend money.
If you get a 5in trail bike, will you end up putting a bigger fork on it and making it the same weight as the 6in bike anyway?
I ride a patriot 7+ and an old sub5.
Theres definately room for both in the uk and the patriot is worth the weight penalty if i am feeling 'rad'
What are the guys in that vid riding? Nomads, or V10s?
A few of the group I ride with use Nomads as their do-it-all bike.
Either way 2 bikes is good - always have a backup for when the shocks need servicing or whatever.