DH Bike Choices aka pushing the limits to the N+1 rule

a.s.

a.s.

Mr. Chainring
Downhilling was a big part of my life. In my 20s I spent summer weekends racing Plattekill, riding Diablo (now Mountain Creek) or never quite breaking mid-pack on the NORBA circuit.

Marriage, kids, work, life... entire seasons have gone by with zero days on the mountain.

Reading this thread has stirred up a bunch of emotions. You guys lit a spark in me. I started looking at used DH bikes on eBay and Pinkbike. Of course with this pandemic, all that’s available is overpriced garbage so I took a quick look on Craigslist, expecting I’d find nothing good.

By sheer luck the stars align and I spot a practically new DH bike for cheap. The owner rode it once at Windham then got hurt at work and never got back on the bike. Turns out he’s not even a mountain biker- just bought the bike to try park riding with his kid who saw some videos on YouTube.

Are you fucking kidding me? Nope.

I hand the guy $2500 and come home with this...
F6238C78-BAE7-40FE-9075-2F91426F24C7.jpeg

0DE837B5-8873-4E00-BE74-6E4B0643E862.jpeg

2020 Commencal Supreme DH Race 29er

Dusted off my full face and got my lift ticket to Mountain Creek. I’ll see you bitches on the mountain this weekend. :banana:
 
serviceguy

serviceguy

Well-Known Member
a.s. said:
Downhilling was a big part of my life. In my 20s I spent summer weekends racing Plattekill, riding Diablo (now Mountain Creek) or never quite breaking mid-pack on the NORBA circuit.

Marriage, kids, work, life... entire seasons have gone by with zero days on the mountain.

Reading this thread has stirred up a bunch of emotions. You guys lit a spark in me. I started looking at used DH bikes on eBay and Pinkbike. Of course with this pandemic, all that’s available is overpriced garbage so I took a quick look on Craigslist, expecting I’d find nothing good.

By sheer luck the stars align and I spot a practically new DH bike for cheap. The owner rode it once at Windham then got hurt at work and never got back on the bike. Turns out he’s not even a mountain biker- just bought the bike to try park riding with his kid who saw some videos on YouTube.

Are you fucking kidding me? Nope.

I hand the guy $2500 and come home with this...
View attachment 142875
View attachment 142874
2020 Commencal Supreme DH Race 29er

Dusted off my full face and got my lift ticket to Mountain Creek. I’ll see you bitches on the mountain this weekend. :banana:
Click to expand...
Sweet deal!
 
Soundguy

Soundguy

#SenditGuy
Team MTBNJ Halter's
a.s. said:
Downhilling was a big part of my life. In my 20s I spent summer weekends racing Plattekill, riding Diablo (now Mountain Creek) or never quite breaking mid-pack on the NORBA circuit.

Marriage, kids, work, life... entire seasons have gone by with zero days on the mountain.

Reading this thread has stirred up a bunch of emotions. You guys lit a spark in me. I started looking at used DH bikes on eBay and Pinkbike. Of course with this pandemic, all that’s available is overpriced garbage so I took a quick look on Craigslist, expecting I’d find nothing good.

By sheer luck the stars align and I spot a practically new DH bike for cheap. The owner rode it once at Windham then got hurt at work and never got back on the bike. Turns out he’s not even a mountain biker- just bought the bike to try park riding with his kid who saw some videos on YouTube.

Are you fucking kidding me? Nope.

I hand the guy $2500 and come home with this...
View attachment 142875
View attachment 142874
2020 Commencal Supreme DH Race 29er

Dusted off my full face and got my lift ticket to Mountain Creek. I’ll see you bitches on the mountain this weekend. :banana:
Click to expand...
Fuck. Yes.

that’s some quick work lol. @graveyardman67 you need to get your shit together. @a.s. congrats man!
 
Ian F

Ian F

Well-Known Member
Damn a.s. - that is a freakin' SMOKIN deal! Well done!

I've honestly had no serious intentions of ever building up another DH bike. And then this popped up on FB and IG:

(space saved for when I'm not getting server errors when I try to insert a picture...) In the meantime, go look at this!

Shit.
 
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JonF

JonF

Well-Known Member
I'll be up there tomorrow if anyone else is going, pm me. It's a two plus hours ride so I'll probably get there late morning. Mild blue trail rider so if you're gonna ride dominion and tech all day, you don't want me holding you up. 😂😂
 
mtn

mtn

Well-Known Member
a.s. said:
Downhilling was a big part of my life. In my 20s I spent summer weekends racing Plattekill, riding Diablo (now Mountain Creek) or never quite breaking mid-pack on the NORBA circuit.

Marriage, kids, work, life... entire seasons have gone by with zero days on the mountain.

Reading this thread has stirred up a bunch of emotions. You guys lit a spark in me. I started looking at used DH bikes on eBay and Pinkbike. Of course with this pandemic, all that’s available is overpriced garbage so I took a quick look on Craigslist, expecting I’d find nothing good.

By sheer luck the stars align and I spot a practically new DH bike for cheap. The owner rode it once at Windham then got hurt at work and never got back on the bike. Turns out he’s not even a mountain biker- just bought the bike to try park riding with his kid who saw some videos on YouTube.

Are you fucking kidding me? Nope.

I hand the guy $2500 and come home with this...
View attachment 142875
View attachment 142874
2020 Commencal Supreme DH Race 29er

Dusted off my full face and got my lift ticket to Mountain Creek. I’ll see you bitches on the mountain this weekend. :banana:
Click to expand...
Over-paid. Look at those pedals. If it's an XL, I'll buy it for $1000.
 
a.s.

a.s.

Mr. Chainring
A quick review for @graveyardman67 and anyone else looking at the Commencal Supreme DH 29er...

The bike feels long and rolls really f’ing fast. On my first run at Mountain Creek I overshot almost every jump from Upper Dominion through Crapshoot. It wasn’t until my 3rd run that I started to feel comfortable and in control but it required a lot of break checking.

Tech sections like Exodus and Slayer were a breeze with the 29” wheels. They really do make a significant difference. On the down side, I had some trouble keeping my speed through tight turns. I’ll need more time on the bike to adjust to the long wheelbase.

One complaint is that the rear wheel hit my ass on a few too many occasions. The worst was when I overshot the cabin drop by about 6 feet. I have some nice bruises on my inner thighs if anyone cares to see? :oops: It happened on a few other occasions where I didn’t land so hard. I’ve never had this problem before so I’m not sure if it’s the bike, a need for more compression dampening (heavier spring?) or that I need to adjust my body position. I suspect all three. I’m 5’11” with a 32 inseam, riding a size large as per Commencal’s recommendation. I could see this being an issue for shorter riders who want to get on a 29er DH bike. It’s definitely something to consider.

Unfortunately the lift line at MC was really long today so I only got 5 runs. I’ll need a lot more time on the bike to really know it’s potential. I’m also an old rusty fart, getting on a DH bike for the first time in 3 years so take my review with a grain of salt.

It does feel good to be back though. :cool:
 
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graveyardman67

graveyardman67

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
@a.s. Thanks for the review! From one old fart to another.

I actually noticed hitting my ass going from my Remedy to the Slash. 27.5 vs 29 and more slack. I think my body sits back a little further naturally and I've since compensated for that. And to the wheels and wheelbase with tight turns - I noticed the same issue. At first, Domboo and Indy felt slower on the Slash. I've been helping my kid get up to speed, so I've been doing a lot of explaining on technique. Realizing I don't always do what I say... I really focused on getting the lean with my CG as low as possible and I can really make that 29er go pretty good.
 
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