[Closed] How much quicker is a downhill rig?

Depends on the track. The rougher and steeper it gets the bigger the gap.

Well, if you have a rig as part of your quiver as well as an Enduro specific gnarpoon, you should be able to shred 3.76 more gnats on the big rig. Unless of course your cruising the brown pow, in which case you'll need to be prepared for some serious roost.

😉

Not gnarly, fast with roots, trees, I know it seems like a daft question, I timed myself riding a course that had been used for a timed run, I felt like I was riding as fast as a middle aged mincer could go, eyes on stalks, i would have been in the bottom of the field but not last.

As said depends on the track I reckon. If its really rough, rooty etc I can imagine the dh would be quicker but for most other things I would've thought a trail bike would be quicker.

I hear Brendan Fairclough has some opinions on this...

It depends on you more than the track: If you aren't use to it then it could be slower as they do take a fair amount of commitment and skill to get the best out of.

Depends what sort of timed run. I once took my DH bike out in the peaks to try and beat some strava times (I know, I know) and was very disappointed that I was slower with 9 inches than I was on my 140mm travel XC bike. Essentially if the section involves any pedalling, I'm probably quicker on a bike that can pedal well.

This was Blacka Moor Devil's Elbow and the Houndkirk Jumble road if you know them.

On a proper downhill track though, the DH bike will be quicker. The steeper / faster, the bigger the gap would be. The Pietermaritzburg DH World Cup is a good example - plenty of people were riding long travel 'Enduro' bikes for that rather than full-on DH bikes and there was an advantage in some places and hinderance in others. Overall the times were similar between the riders on DH bikes and those on Enduro bikes - no clear advantage either way. Although Pietermaritzburg is relatively tame by DH world cup standards, it's still pretty fast / steep compared to what most of us ride.

Jared Graves came 3rd at the World Champs on a 150mm travel trail bike.
Greg Minaar won it on a 240mm travel Dh bike.
There are no conclusions to be drawn from these facts.

There are no conclusions to be drawn from these facts.

That Pietermaritzburg is a borderline track? All the other tracks see riders using their big travel bikes exclusively.

Yep I figured if I had a full face, I might be able to commit more, couldn't see me making up much more time though.

Imagine how fast you'd be with a neck brace..........

For uplift days etc on big tracks it can really help to be on a DH bike especially after a few runs when you're getting tired the extra comfort and plushness helps

I'm faster nearly everywhere on my Meta SX than I was on my Session.

They are faster at absorbing money than any other bike. And they can do 120mph.

Greg Minaar won it on a 240mm travel Dh bike.

*216mm

Imagine how fast you'd be with a neck brace and without any other armour, not even gloves..........

😉

Imagine how much faster you'd be having left a tear off and at least two cans of Relentpiss at the top of Steel City.

the ability to land big drops and plough through rock gardens at full whack are the main advantages of using a DH bike.

Depends really. You need to ride a DH bike quite hard to benefit from it.

I race a 150mm 29er for the odd DH race. Much to the annoyance of the other guys, I nearly always podium, beating a bunch of people on DH bikes. It would probably be a different story down some super rough, steep & long tracks, but who knows until you give it a crack. It would take me a while to get back up to speed on a DH bike again, having not ridden one for a while.

The limiting factor is generally the pink blob on top, rather than the bike. One of the guys I used to race with would regularly beat 75% of the field on a hardtail, at big races too (Dragons/Pearce/etc) so proper tracks as well. You bike will generally go a lot faster than you.

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Rorsach and sq, good work chaps!

I dream of being Jamie #swoons.

I race a 150mm 29er for the odd DH race. Much to the annoyance of the other guys, I nearly always podium

Roots and Rain link or it didn't happen

Podium is a noun. That aside, links/pics oidh.

Roots and Rain link or it didn't happen

Really?

Guess I must have dreamt it then 🙂

Yeah I podium in those races too 😉

What a coincidence.

Stile Cop red run 4 mins + on Cannondale 140 mm trail bike
Same run 2 1/2 mins on Scott Voltage FR

I podiumed twice in the same race....

I summited every time I podiumed.

They did the comparison with 3 different bikes and three different bikes, results weren't conclusive iirc but that was as FOD.

im pretty sure Im slower down cwmcarn DH on my 140mm am bike than on my 180mm freeride bike

certainly as a rider Its harder work, after a few runs id be slower on the shorter travel bike, just through fatigue

At antur, cwmcarn or any of the others maybe excepting FOD. I am damn sure I am faster on my 200mm DH bike than on the 140mm Bandit.
If for no other reason then it gives me the confidence to beat the snot out of the bike and rag it through things.

I like the confidence I get from my DH bike, but the enduro bike is generally quicker on UK tracks.

however, I dont have a vast amount of experience to compare, however, the lads that race in my team are all looking at the enduro bikes and dare I say it 650b for the fastest option on a lot of the UK tracks.

A lot depends on the tracks and to some extent the bike, some dh bikes pedal better than others, for example a carbon v10 or session will pedal better than my nukeproof scalp.

Also depends on the rider I can ride the black runs at antur stiniog no problem on a dh bike but would be significantly slower on my spicy,

I quite often swap between a DH bike and a Hardtail on the same tracks, last time I went to BPW I took both and spent half a day on each.

On smoother tracks that are still mostly downhill I don't find there's all that much difference in the two, usually the DH bike is fractionally slower than the HT, but it's not by much, maybe only 5% in it.

But on anything that's rough or has jumps and drops in it the DH bike is much quicker - like 30% quicker.

When I raced dh I was shit on both my V10 and Enduro.
My legs and arms took less of a pounding on rock gardens on the V10 so less arm pump.

had a specialized status was great for a while untill i got bored of pushing up hill, now have an orange alpine which pedals up hill very well and is more fun and faster downhill too.

status cost £1800, alpine cost just under 5k

never ridden a 5k dh bike but can imagine it would be very good downhill.

For the last day of an alps holiday last summer, I hired a specialized Status, but it felt heavy, slow and clumsy in comparison to my Mojo HD that I'd been riding for the previous 5 days.

Maybe it was because it was my first ever time on a downhill bike, maybe its because I'm not capable enough to exploit the potential of a downhill bike, maybe its because the trails just suited the mojo better than the status. In reality its probably a combination of all three for me.

No doubt though that a DH bike is faster in the right hands on the right trail.

If the OP is thinking of chasing podiums and licence points for national ranking, taking DH racing a bit serious, then get a DH bike.

Depending on variables of track-V-bike-V-rider then some gifted riders will do well on most bikes.

In theory a DH bike will be built to take some serious abuse, and really need ragging hard.
An Enduro bike, some are very capable at DH, and offer a very lively ride, and can feel more exciting as you are on and beyond it's limits more than a DH race bike.
An Enduro bike will deal with so much, but it will show the wear and tear faster as well.
Saying that..... not uncommon to see snapped DH bikes, mostly of the very lightweight frame design.

If just doing the odd DH race now and then, then if you only have an Enduro bike, few tweeks and race that 🙂