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Post your Big hit or demo

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Post your Big hit or demo
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flag VF400rider
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Posted: Feb 22, 2018 at 8:55 Quote
Hey all, I’m looking for some tire advice and was hoping you could grace me with some of your wisdom. I’m a bit of an odd duck, and I’m still running a bighit with a 24’’ rear. This makes my tire selection, well let’s just say rather limited. To start with, here are the tire setups I’ve tried:
- Zee rubber (excavators?) Rear 24 x 2.6, front 24 x 2.6 : meh tires, forgettable came with a past bike.
- Kenda Nevegals, Stick-E compound with DH casing and wire bead. Rear 24 x 2.5, front was 26 x 2.5: Overall really liked these tires in terms of grip and progressivity. Main drawback, they had lots of drag/rolling resistance.
- Maxxis High roller 2-ply DH casing. Front was the 40a slow reezay compound and the rear was the 60a maxxpro compound. Both front and rear were 2.5: Not bad tires but, still some rolling resistance, better max grip than Nevegals in loam or dirt (maybe 15% more) but less grip on wet rockfaces and roots. Also far less progressive, especially at the limit.

My bike is currently shod in the 2.5’’ maxxis highroller combo but I’m looking for change. My main issue with the maxxis is I don’t like the lack of progressivity. I’m fine with the transition to the side knobs but once those side knobs start to go I find they go really fast. It’s sort of you have grip, have grip, have grip, boooom zero grip huge slide. It’s not a terribly great tire characteristic for anything, progressive at the limit is really important (especially on the front!). Also, when on surfaces where the side knobs can’t bite say flat rock faces (Lots of that on the Canadian shield where I ride here at the momet) or roots, the high rollers aren’t great. They’re maybe on par with nevegals or slightly lower, but less progressive and once those surfaces are wet the high rollers have I’d say ~30% less grip than the nevegals and are far less progressive. Overall this has made it hard for me to ‘trust’ the tire (In my defense I’ve ridden a whole season on them now riding ~ 2-3 times a week). A little slide in the rear is okay but in the front I like to keep things planted, two wheel slides are sketchy. The high rollers were livable but not ideal. The nevegals on the other hand I always found extremely predictable in all conditions which made it easier to push to the limit all of the time. I liked the nevegals, but found when rolling even with gravity assist I could really notice/feel the drag when rolling and found I needed considerable pedal work to keep up the correct speed for flow/jump trails.

As for my riding terrain I’m most focused on the downs rather than the ups, but due to the areas I’m in right now I need to make the more out of less descent as there isn’t as much vert here to eat up as out west. Due to that I’m trying to enjoy the slight decline/flattish more and even do some mild to moderate uphill (gasp!). I’ll admit, installing a dropper post has greatly increased the span of where I can now enjoy my bike. I’m looking for a tire combo that does moderately packed dirt, roots and rocks. Oh, and it also has to be at least progressive in the wet as I’m a diehard and ride in pretty much all conditions.

I’m curious where to go from here so first off how about front options? If I changed the front and just ignored the rear would I notice a decent improvement? I’d possibly be okay with the rear being looser (although progressively loose would still be nice) so long as the front was always planted. In this case I’d like to get similar rolling resistance (or maybe even a bit better) to the front but similar levels of grip and most important progressive, especially over wet roots and rock faces. I’m going to be moving back out west this spring/early summer so wet roots are paramount as it’s never truly dry on the shore.
So what would you guys recommend? Minions (DHR or DHF I don’t know the difference!), Conti de barons? Anything else? I’m open here guys!


Now for rear options I’ve been scouring the internets and found a few choices that have popped up. I’m curious if anyone has thoughts on Halo tires, specifically the Halo contra and the Halo Ception. I’ve found a contra in 24 x 3 and a ception in 24 x 2.6. I will admit I’m intrigued by the 3’’ contra as that’s basically a plus size tire which is all the rage now isn’t it? Anyways, has anyone used these tires before? How do the stack up in terms of grip, progressivity and rolling resistance to the above tires?
I’m also considering the 24 x 2.35 DMR moto digger tire, it’s a little narrow for my taste but I have a feeling it would vastly reduce my roll resistance. Any thoughts on this bad boy a well?

Thanks in advance guys!
Cheers,
VF.

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flag DerkGort
Posted: Apr 6, 2018 at 17:00 Quote
Demo 9 commencal v3
Here is my demo 9pro VS my commencal v3
flag Maxingmadman
Posted: Jun 18, 2019 at 9:41 Quote
Big hit '04 I believe.

Just getting back into DH after years, bought a frame then some other bits and this is a before and after, still got ALOT more to do though.

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flag DerkGort
Posted: Jun 18, 2019 at 10:29 Quote
Nice! Beer
Maxingmadman wrote:
Big hit '04 I believe.

Just getting back into DH after years, bought a frame then some other bits and this is a before and after, still got ALOT more to do though.

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flag brassinne
Posted: Jun 19, 2019 at 21:56 Quote
It's nice to see someone have interest in a now old school big hit. But i have to be honest, I'm not a fan of the green, the brakes are absolutely awful, the cranks and pedals aren't really my cup of tea either. Ok, fine it's got an ok fork. A shiver or monster t would be more appropriate in my opinion. Decent shock though. Cant really tell, but the new saint derailleur doesn't really do it for me neither. Other than all that, nice ride. Show them 29'ers what flickability is.
flag rende
Posted: Jun 11, 2020 at 5:40 Quote
Hi, Im not a demo owner but looking to buy a wheelset that coms from a demo. Just asking if anybody knows what comes in between (if comes somthing) bearing outer face and the black cap that is pushed on. The hub looks similar like in the picture below. Sorry for my bad english. Cheers Rene
flag rende
Posted: Jun 12, 2020 at 14:48 Quote
I thought at least if I involved in this thread I can ask my frend who have a demo to borow some his pictures. Some parts are upgraded. He is the 4th owner or 3rd intiali it was used by a dh racer.
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flag DimitarDimitrov
Posted: Jul 28, 2020 at 8:07 Quote
Speciliazed Demo 8 S-Works Carbon 2014
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flag slope
Posted: Aug 21, 2020 at 10:52 Quote
Another build coming!
Just picked up a 11 BigHit frame.
Can't wait!
flag hypeonegative
Posted: Aug 23, 2020 at 2:52 Quote
Just updated the hit with custom White Brothers, enjoying the geometry now.
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flag Griff254
Posted: Aug 26, 2020 at 14:56 Quote
My recent eBay purchase, been after one of these for years. The previous owner had it sat inside his house for 2 years and it never saw the trails......first outing planned for this Sunday Big Grin

Stock frame 2006
Hope Tech3 E4 front and rear brakes with Braided Cables
DMR Deathgrips
Nukeproof Neutron EVO pedals
HALO SAS wheels front and rear
Marzocchi Bomber forks
Fox DHX 3.0 rear shock
Shimano XTR Shifter and Rear Derailleur

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flag slope
Posted: Sep 2, 2020 at 12:50 Quote
Anybody need a bearing kit for a 01-03 BigHit?
I have one, RWC Enduro Bearing Kit.
flag CraigG8
Posted: Oct 19, 2020 at 10:19 Quote
This is my Big Hit (if the picture works)...


[PI= 19170001][/PI]

If you’re interested in what’s on it, let me know and I’ll give you the full spec.

I do wonder if I could fit a 26” wheel on this, I tried a 26” wheel off my tandem on the back, not to ride, and it fitted no problem at all... But it did only have a 26x1.75” tyre on it. Has anyone actually tried to fit a 26”, or has mine got the longer swingarm?

How do you post a picture?

 


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