Powered by Outside

Would 7-8 inch travel bike be enough for world cup DH or do you almost need 8.5-10 inches?

PB Forum :: Downhill
Would 7-8 inch travel bike be enough for world cup DH or do you almost need 8.5-10 inches?
Author Message
flag ninjatarian
Posted: Dec 4, 2007 at 22:29 Quote
its both for sure. a mag actually did an article on that called, "can you buy tallent?" had a pro ride a crud bike a mid range bike and then a top of the line bike, then compared all the times. they did that for a bunch of situations from xc to trail to dh
flag ninjatarian
Posted: Dec 4, 2007 at 22:34 Quote
btw, in the end they said you can buy speed, but you cant buy tallent
flag a-r-c
O+
Posted: Dec 4, 2007 at 22:35 Quote
ninjatarian wrote:
its both for sure. a mag actually did an article on that called, "can you buy tallent?" had a novice ride a top of the line bike and a pro ride a crud bike a mid range bike and then a top of the line bike, then compared all the times. they did that for a bunch of situations from xc to trail to dh

If you put the top 25 guys on the same bike you would still see the same 25 guys at the top. That article is comparing apples to oranges.

I swear it is the rider first and foremost.

Kinda like doing up a 69 cuda on the body and looking all good then just slamming a POS motor in it, looks godd but it isn't going to win any pink slips, if ya know what I mean.
flag a-r-c
O+
Posted: Dec 4, 2007 at 22:36 Quote
ninjatarian wrote:
btw, in the end they said you can buy speed, but you cant buy tallent
Ah yes thank you.

Speed + no talent = life endangering situations
flag ErenG
Posted: Dec 4, 2007 at 22:55 Quote
s-t-e-v-e wrote:
Just ask cedric gracia and the rest of the commencal team, they ride the supreme dh which has only 7" of travel and they do quite well on the wc circuit. The truth is alot of the bigger bikes on the market (v10, session 10, foes 2.1, ect...) are a little overkill in most situations, rarely does a course actualy require that much bike to take the win. Another example of a smaller bike beating out it's longer travel compitition is the 8" Iron horse sunday which is used by sam hill, who finnished first overall in the wc standings this season.

cedric does have his one of a kind 8 inch bike for rough courses! havent you seen it?

ill search for a picture of it later today
flag michael-scott
Posted: Dec 4, 2007 at 23:12 Quote
ErenG wrote:
s-t-e-v-e wrote:
Just ask cedric gracia and the rest of the commencal team, they ride the supreme dh which has only 7" of travel and they do quite well on the wc circuit. The truth is alot of the bigger bikes on the market (v10, session 10, foes 2.1, ect...) are a little overkill in most situations, rarely does a course actualy require that much bike to take the win. Another example of a smaller bike beating out it's longer travel compitition is the 8" Iron horse sunday which is used by sam hill, who finnished first overall in the wc standings this season.

cedric does have his one of a kind 8 inch bike for rough courses! havent you seen it?

ill search for a picture of it later today

Really? thats's sweet. Cedrics bike are always so mint. But still even 8" is on the smaller ide for wc racing.

Anyways I agree with maestroforlife, the rider is definitly a much more important factor then the bike. However you can't deny that the suspension design and overall set up of the bike do play a role, if a rider like sam hill went out and did some timed runs on all the top dh bikes I'm sure there would be some degree of difference from bike to bike(though it would probably be small).
flag lostbikes
O+
Posted: Dec 4, 2007 at 23:28 Quote
Just look at the field of riders right now. Sam Hill is on a Sunday, then youve got some V-10s and then your back to 8" bikes. It seems like more and more companies are scaling down their bikes.
Just ask anyone who has a Transition BottleRocket howgreat it is at DH ahahahah
(BTW thats me be facetious, the suspension on a BR is awful)

I agree with Maestroforlife 110%
A good rider can handle anycourse with any bikes, but a bad rider will kill themself.
flag aaah
Posted: Dec 4, 2007 at 23:44 Quote
ninjatarian wrote:
i read some bad reviews on white bros forks. got the lowest rating in the mbuk downhill fork test and i havnt seen too many people use them or stand behind them. thats saying something right there. that frame on the other hand looks nice

The travel of the frame all depends on if you are a smooth rider or a feck it just get there type of rider as for the White bros they require a lot of maintenance roommate has one on his big hit and he went out and got another one as a spare just as a back up so he can maintain the other he has to do this after about every 15h of riding, they are uber smooth tho
flag diggery
Posted: Dec 5, 2007 at 0:23 Quote
Would 7-8 inch travel bike be enough for world cup DH

Yes.

Don't believe me? Check Gee Atherton's 2007 results on a 7" travel bike.

Would a 7" travel bike suit you? Whole different question.....
flag cerejo
Posted: Dec 5, 2007 at 0:56 Quote
I think that 7"/8" is better for downhill competition because it's a faster bike, doens't soap every thing as a 10" but in my opinion thats not so bad, i have ride a v10 and all that travel is good for your back, but sometimes slows down the bike. I ride a 7" bike and the bigger problem is not the big drops is the speed that this bikes go, and if we can go whit it!!! look at Sam Hill, and the Athertons
flag stabdee661
Posted: Dec 5, 2007 at 1:27 Quote
maestroforlife wrote:
stabdee661 wrote:
the honda team which has been ranked #1 in the team standings for the last 2 years has 8 inch's on the back and only 7inch's on the front, thats a seriously large lack of travel if you ask me but they stil beat every other team out there.. also, the orange 222's that greg minnaar and steve peat were running a few years ago only had 8 inch's of travel and they dominated on those bikes.. something maybe to watch next year is greg minnaar on a v10, going from a short travel to a long travel bike and see how he does, if he ends up doing better maybe it is better to use a bike with longer travel.
then again maybe its because he's finally had has shoulder op and because he's running around town(pietermaritzburg, south africa) in a sling and when he gets back on the bike in 2 months he'll have alot of energy to get rid of.. haha..

Still the rider, more then the bike.

i totally agree with you but im just saying that 8 inch's of travel isn't a limiting factor...
flag yatesy576
Posted: Dec 5, 2007 at 1:49 Quote
cg and the athertons run 7 on the rear
flag richiethornhill
O+ FL
Posted: Dec 5, 2007 at 6:50 Quote
best example is orange DROPPED the travel on the 224 as it was'nt needed, the honda was only 7inch, Commencal is only 7 inch, for most world cups thats all you need, maybe with the exception of Fort william...

suspension is there to improve grip and soak the small to medium sized hits, any more on a race bike is excessive.


that said I can't talk, my bike is 9.5inch.
flag will54869
FL
Posted: Dec 5, 2007 at 17:10 Quote
I am pretty a pretty smooth rider but if a bumpy line is definatley faster i will almost always take it instead.

 


Copyright © 2000 - 2024. Pinkbike.com. All rights reserved.
dv56 0.015938
Mobile Version of Website