Good Location for All mountain riding?

Skyline has some good stuff that would be most enjoyable on about a 6" travel bike.

If I end up keeping my Giant Faith, I may eventually build it back up as light as possible as a freeride bike (single crown fork, air shock & dual chainrings) to ride places like that.
 
My 2 cents on the All-Mountain thing. No offense intended.

I race DH in the Summer. I have a Salsa Moto Rapido whip for XC and a SC Blur LT2 for the "All Mounatin Freeride thing". During the Winter I find that most of the northern technical trails are too muddy, leafy or covered in snow and ice to go fast. I end up riding the hardtail more. It does get frustrating how the supposed "All Mountain" bike is not so all mountain around this area. They are dam fun in certain situations and that is why I have one - to match the feel of my DH bike in the off season. I have the bars setup identical to the DH bike.

It is fun to ride a lighter XC bike way past it's capability and work on line choice, pump, flow and cornering. Any bike can be ridden aggressively in a freeride DH fashion. Probably why I cracked my steel rigid this year. Oh yeh - you only need 6+ inches for drops to flat and they are boring and suck. :getsome:
 
dhsean said:
My 2 cents on the All-Mountain thing. No offense intended.

Any bike can be ridden aggressively in a freeride DH fashion. Probably why I cracked my steel rigid this year. Oh yeh - you only need 6+ inches for drops to flat and they are boring and suck. :getsome:
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While I agree that you only need 6+ inches for unsmooth landings and flat drops, I think it is a bit much to say that any bike can be ridden aggressively in a freeride DH fashion. If you are riding a downhill at say, sourlands, you can't tell me that you can go as fast on a rigid bike as you could on a 4" bike. I am not saying you can't go fast, but at least not as comfortably. I have ridden bmx and trials so I learned the magic of keeping it loose and knowing when to nose in or land rear wheel first and soak stuff up. But the more technical and fast you get, the more suspension is gonna help.
 
Seems like...

the other (more) important aspect of any bike is the geometry. Yeah your AM bike with 69 HA is not going to handle the same as a AM with a HA of 67 or less. Of course all witha ST angle of 72 or so so you can pedel the beast uphill. To me this is more important than the travel aspect.
 
i agree with bobw - geometry seems to be an after thought in comparison to suspension travel when you see folks asking what kind of bike they need. you normally see 'i need 6 inches of travel' as the only consideration (which seems to be the result of marketing) versus 'i want to go downhill faster and make the ride on the rough stuff smoother, so i want a slack head angle WITH more suspension'. but that isn't just marketing, thats people just not knowing head angles and seat angles... and probably because they don't care or dont have time to figure that stuff out.

i dont have a problem with long suspension bikes with slacker angles - if it makes the ride more fun for the rider - have at it. even if a rider just rides a DH bike at lewis morris - who cares? marketing or not, if the bike works for the rider, it works. in fact i am personally looking for probably the longest travel bike i will have ever had (right now that has been a 100mm fork). why? because i want downhills to be a little more fun and i find myself making more trips to the sourlands than lewis morris in the past year... but since this new bike will most likely be my only ride, it'll be overkill in some spots but just right for others.
 
clarkenstein said:
but that isn't just marketing, thats people just not knowing head angles and seat angles... and probably because they don't care or dont have time to figure that stuff out.
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Is there a synopsis of this somewhere? I would like to learn without going into too much details or having to read a book.
 
clarkenstein - I think some of the current adjustable forks are incredible (including the price depending on how you look at it). I have a Fox Talas on my sussy rig. Never thought I would change the travel so much in a ride but I'll use all 3 settings a lot. I noticed I changed it even for trails I wasn't too familiar with - because it's so quick and easy. I think pair up w/ a nice HT frame that could be a lot of fun and very versitle.
 
idbrian said:
Is there a synopsis of this somewhere? I would like to learn without going into too much details or having to read a book.
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i dunno - maybe on mtbr somewhere or on sheldon brown's site? i have learned most of the stuff i know from listening to people on rides and at the bike shop, and also reading a bunch on mtbr and on manufacturers sites.

google around... for example - here's a pretty decent discussion on yahoo answers on headtube angles (mostly).

http://nz.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071220060219AAkNDTU
 
don said:
clarkenstein - I think some of the current adjustable forks are incredible (including the price depending on how you look at it). I have a Fox Talas on my sussy rig. Never thought I would change the travel so much in a ride but I'll use all 3 settings a lot. I noticed I changed it even for trails I wasn't too familiar with - because it's so quick and easy. I think pair up w/ a nice HT frame that could be a lot of fun and very versitle.
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you read my mind - it looks like a lot of people use the U-TURN too. it would be nice to drop the fork a bit on steeper climbs if i go with a slacker HA... which i am thinking i might do.
 
clarkenstein said:
you read my mind - it looks like a lot of people use the U-TURN too. it would be nice to drop the fork a bit on steeper climbs if i go with a slacker HA... which i am thinking i might do.
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Coil U-turn is 12-13 half turns between 80 and 120 mm - I don't want to change my fork travel anymore :(
 
clarkenstein said:
... but since this new bike will most likely be my only ride, it'll be overkill in some spots but just right for others.
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I think you should go for a bike along the lines of stumpy fsr, giant trance, or trek fuel then which I :drooling: for all of them which the marketing scheme calls "trail FS bike"
 
THATmanMANNY said:
I think you should go for a bike along the lines of stumpy fsr, giant trance, or trek fuel then which I :drooling: for all of them which the marketing scheme calls "trail FS bike"
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all real nice rides, but i am going for a hardtail. but if i were to spend the extra $$$ on a FS, i would go for a trance. the trance looks pretty sweet as far as the geo goes. but i like hardtails, for the way they ride and the cheaper cost. plus im looking for something i can occasionally go to the DJs with... a FS would be a bit odd for me to bring to some jumps.
 
Cheapest way to improve your downhill powers on your current ride is to add a remote extending seatpost. I put in a Joplin on my bike (3" of infinite height adjustment) and I really noticed the difference - granted it's on a 6" bike. The posts aren't cheap and are somewhat heavy but it's the best bang for the buck I've had. Lowering the seatpost essentially forces you into the correct downhill position - low down, bent elbows, etc. You can really rail corners and I find it easier to get back under control after losing traction.

All mountain? I rode the same stuff on my hardtail with a 2" rock shock (not sure what the models were - you either had a rock shock or a Manitou). Just riding it much faster on my 6" F/S. Figure Skyline, Allumuchy, Ringwood all apply.
 
goldsbar said:
Cheapest way to improve your downhill powers on your current ride is to add a remote extending seatpost. I put in a Joplin on my bike (3" of infinite height adjustment) and I really noticed the difference - granted it's on a 6" bike. The posts aren't cheap and are somewhat heavy but it's the best bang for the buck I've had. Lowering the seatpost essentially forces you into the correct downhill position - low down, bent elbows, etc. You can really rail corners and I find it easier to get back under control after losing traction.

All mountain? I rode the same stuff on my hardtail with a 2" rock shock (not sure what the models were - you either had a rock shock or a Manitou). Just riding it much faster on my 6" F/S. Figure Skyline, Allumuchy, Ringwood all apply.
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or you can just drop your seatpost...
 
warcricket said:
or you can just drop your seatpost...
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Or get down behind the seat.

GD and their kin are kinda useless in most of the Northeast it gets annoying raising and lowering it all the time and you are thinking more about using the post than focusing on the ride. Out West with more sustained climbs they make sense.
 
syadasti said:
Or get down behind the seat.

GD and their kin are kinda useless in most of the Northeast it gets annoying raising and lowering it all the time and you are thinking more about using the post than focusing on the ride. Out West with more sustained climbs they make sense.
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Riding RV I raised a seatpost to the max height for efficient climbing and then realized cannot shift weight effectively anymore... stop and drop it... that is such distraction... so I gonna try an adjustable seatpost very soon
 
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