DH bike to all Mountain Bike conversion

PB Forum :: All Mountain, Enduro & Cross-Country
DH bike to all Mountain Bike conversion
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flag Drummerwearshorts
Posted: Feb 5, 2014 at 0:10 Quote
Hi there, i was woundering if anyone had ever converted a DH bike to an AM bike? Im of to New Zealand but only want to travel with one bike, so i had the idea of buying different forks and rear shock so i could use my session for either Dh or more pedaly single track.

Any imput will be greatly appriciated

Mick
flag Cackerman
Posted: Feb 5, 2014 at 7:47 Quote
Not saying you cannot do it, but the result will ride like poo. There are so many complications that will detract from the handling and ride characteristics. You would end up with poor geometry, bottom bracket height, centre of gravity for a trail bike and end up killing the downhill performance too. So, you will end up with the worst of both worlds.

If you want a do-it-all bike, you would be better off looking for something specifically designed to be a do-it-all bike. Something like a Santa Cruz Nomad. Capable enough to ride some fairly rough downhill, and able enough to climb back up the other side.
flag Drummerwearshorts
Posted: Feb 5, 2014 at 23:46 Quote
Yeah point taken, shame i think i will just have to take two bikes, dont think a nomad will handel big DH.

Cheers
flag j-t-g
O+ FL
Posted: Feb 6, 2014 at 3:18 Quote
Drummerwearshorts wrote:
Yeah point taken, shame i think i will just have to take two bikes, dont think a nomad will handel big DH.

Cheers


Get a Soda or something. It'll be reasonable for both.
flag robhill
Posted: May 29, 2014 at 8:41 Quote
Yes,

Done it.

It works! - VERY WELL Pirate

Rode a 4 day long weekend in the 7Stanes, I led both the climbs and descents with my "dodgy hybrid". Comparably climbing performance to Orange 5, Giant Trance, Rose Uncle Jimbo, which are all prime examples of trail/enduro bikes!

My bike is a 2012 Rose Beefcake DH.
I swapped off the Fox 40s for some RS Domain Coils (180mm), left the Fox DHX RC2 as it was, just tweaked the preload up a little and took the rest of the bob out with some more low speed compression damping.
Added a KS Dropzone with a remote and added a normal stem (nice stubby 40mm Spank Spoon... as 40s are obviously direct mount)

Don't worry about these drastic end of days comments like "centre of gravity" and "poor geometry" - use some common sense... centre of gravity is going to be affected more by how many kilos of water is in your camelbak than a 20mm drop in front travel!

As for geometry change, the head angle delta by dropping from 200mm to 180mm forks is negligable. Consider also that DH bikes use 30-35% suspension sag. You want much less than that for an AM set up, so a stiffer+shorter fork will result in about the same geometry as a longer and softer setup when you are on the bike!

As for the rear shock, putting a shorter damper in wouldnt be a good idea. I investigated this. A shorter damper effectively moves the rear end through part of its travel, a 20mm shorter damper wont give you 20mm less rear travel, thanks to the complications of multi-links. It will result in your BB sitting low. Leave the damper as it is, get the seat up, see what the bob is like. It depends on the seat tube angle for your frame, fortunately for mine it is relatively steep compared to the typical DH rig, so it works with a long post. If its too slack, you may find you need very long arms when the seat is up, as the seat will go further back as the post goes up! Passing that test, invest in a stiffer spring from TF Tuned, they are only £30 a pop for a decent Cane Creek number, and get that shock all enduro'd up!


Oh, and beast all the haters on your newly conceived hybrid monster!
flag robhill
Posted: May 29, 2014 at 9:57 Quote
... to further the cause, forget about 20mm difference in travel... there is only 6mm difference in axle to crown! Which is what ultimately drives the head angle! so in fact there is even less difference!

https://www.pinkbike.com/forum/listcomments/?threadid=78006PB thread on atc measurement
flag AntN
Posted: Nov 21, 2016 at 17:29 Quote
I'm going to chuck a granny gear on an Intense Socom and see how that goes...
flag dirtrider76
Posted: Nov 21, 2016 at 19:47 Quote
Why not something like a Banshee Darkside? 180mm DH bike that can be run single or dual crown and has adjustable geo in back? I looked into it cause my Rune cracked and was told I could run my 8.5 shock on the Darkside instead of the 8.75 with no ill affects.
flag robhill
Posted: Dec 31, 2016 at 7:42 Quote
I also did megavalanche twice on my beefcake with 180mm front. An absolute alpine machine.
Ran it 1x10 with 32 or 34 front and 11-36 rear. What a great bike.
Sold her now though
flag fiftypercentsure
Posted: Dec 31, 2016 at 18:40 Quote
Well, the lad went on vacation near 3 years ago now this advice may be a bit late Big Grin

Hopefully he threw the DH tires from the Session onto the Nomad and brought that.
flag khanvath
Posted: Nov 2, 2017 at 10:23 Quote
Drummerwearshorts wrote:
Hi there, i was woundering if anyone had ever converted a DH bike to an AM bike? Im of to New Zealand but only want to travel with one bike, so i had the idea of buying different forks and rear shock so i could use my session for either Dh or more pedaly single track.

Any imput will be greatly appriciated

Mick

I converted my 2015 Trek Session to all mountain... I replace the rear shock with Fox Float X2 with lock out, and lighter tires,change to 11speed 46T with 30T chainring,KS dropper seat post and drop the fork to 170 mm.... I proved the bike industry wrong that I can climb with DH bike and fun coming dh..
flag Fazeless
O+
Posted: Nov 2, 2017 at 15:28 Quote
Something like the Scott Voltage, HA could be changed from 63 to 66, and compatible with160mm to 200mm forks!
flag cjmars-cycles
Posted: Nov 25, 2019 at 10:31 Quote
I love the voltage idea. Add a wide range cassette, lighter tires, and a dropper. Then I could just bring an Allen and shock pump and adjust the geometry and suspension on the trail.
flag slowrx
Posted: Dec 8, 2019 at 12:51 Quote
AntN wrote:
photo

Looks unique. How does it ride?
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