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I have been idly browsing super cheap 26" DH bikes recently and have a question regarding reach.
Should a DH frame for me have a shorter, longer or the same reach as my trail bike? I have a transition patrol with a 425mm reach and its nice. If I was (very hypothetically mind) to get a DH bike is there a benefit of going shorter or longer? I may have read somewhere, possibly here, that shorter was a bit better?
The bikes I have looked at are in the 2012-13 age bracket so there are a range of styles available. For example a 2012 Transition TR450 in medium is nearly 400mm while a Demo is 430mm in medium and 420mm in small. Trek sessions seem to run at around the 400mm mark too. A medium or small frame would fit me fine. I know a lot of this is personal preference but I was just wondering about the different thinking behind shorter vs long!
I always thought I preferred a shorter DH bike, until I tried a longer one...
Most DH bikes have shorter reaches than enduro bikes, steep 'downhillness' nature of tracks means bars would be further away and that you can't move back as required. thats the thinking anyhow i believe
Being purely focused on riding down means that you don't really ever put your weight back on a DH bike. I'd probably just run something very similar to my normal bike if buying again, one less thing to have to get used to when going from one to the other
It's obvious how long it is since you rode a DH bike if you think you never ride one with your weight to the rear.
DH bikes should be about an inch shorter in reach than your enduro/trail bike. Nothing to do with what Leg said. But simply to aid raising the front wheel And the fact it doesn't have to be compromised for any stupid climbing.
Pretty much all DH bikes feel shit on the flat and even worse pointing uphill.
Nah it hasn't been that long, and your DH bike (and bike in general) sizing has never exactly been the norm
I'd go back to riding one size up if racing was important to me. You know this It'd still be an inch shorter than the recommended reach for a 2018 derp bike.
Given that the front wheel is attached to the forks, and the forks to the bars with the stem, "getting back" on a bike really doesn't change as the reach changes, ie, what matter is how far back you are behind the FRONT wheel, not the rear wheel! IME, it's the length of the chain stays that makes a bike easy to get the front up as most of your weight is down through your legs to the BB
If you are a "stylish" rider, who whips, srubs n' pops things, then a shorter reach, a more nimble bike could be good, but these days, generally speaking stabilty = speed, and the longer the reach (and more importantly the wheelbase) the more stable the bike will be.
For me a pukka DH bike is about ploughing through the rough at warp nine without getting knocked off course, and for that, longer = better 😉
He's comparing with a trail bike though....
There would be no scrubbing and whipping...
All the dh bikes I have had have been around the 420mm mark and were all pretty good so I will probably stick with that.
[quote=rhid]There will be no scrubbing and whipping..
by super cheap I guess you mean well flogged 😉 are there some 650b options at the same price? There were some great bargains in the last thread on this which might update the geo slightly too - and get you a slightly less flogged bike you can upgrade/repair/replace easier
The theoretical budget is 700. Ideally a fair bit less less. No 650b options for that....
Being purely focused on riding down means that you don’t really ever put your weight back on a DH bike
Complete nonsense I’m afraid
My dh bike is 40mm shorter than my enduro bike, still has a longer wheelbase though due to headangle & chainstays. I cant feel any difference unless I sit down to pedal in the carpark.
Plenty of well maintained 26" bikes about.
Being purely focused on riding down means that you don’t really ever put your weight back on a DH bike
Seriously, i'm getting tired of this forum.
Act you age gents, not your shoe size.
If you actually read any of the posts, rather than ****ing yourselves off in a frenzy of self aggrandizement, you'd notice i wasn't the one who said you don't have to get off the back off a DH bike.
But hey, i guess reading really isn't your strong point eh, so back to the un-neccessary abusiveness .......
So you're not going to post the picture then? 😤