|   bike strength | myckls
Jan 17, 2004 11:40 AM | | I'm going to be getting a new bike soon but I need some help. What I'm most concerned about is bike strength. See, I'm 6'5", 230+ pounds and need to find a bike that will fit me and not break when taking some big jumps. I've been riding a regular cheap mongoose but havent done anything to extreme with it since I've heard some stories about big people snapping aluminum framed bikes. I've ridden a lot but dont know much about picking out bikes/components so any help would be appreciated. I'm looking for something in the $1000 to $1500 range. |
| re: bike strength | Damion
Jan 17, 2004 3:57 PM | | How big of jumps are you talking about? do you intend to use the bike as a commuter as well? Kona is mahing a line of hardtails right up your alley. |
| GT Avalanche is another tough hardtail frame. | Danny
Jan 18, 2004 5:11 AM | | Very tough construction on the Avalanche. Good deals on it too (though you might want to upgrade some components on the cheaper ones.) Also, good deals on nicely spec'd K2 Monkeys. The frame on the monkey is fairly heavy duty. |
| I don't think 230 lb.-plus people should be doing big jumps | club
Jan 17, 2004 4:54 PM | | if you manage not to snap off the head tube, you can still worry about broken crank arms, broken BB spindles, broken pedal spindles, ruined wheels, busted hub axles, snapped seat rails, etc etc. It's your bike, your money, and your safety. While all the ragazines would have you believe mountain biking is all about the adrenaline rush of scaring yourself silly, flying through the air, and pulling bonehead moves and surviving; nobody I ride here in Durango rides like that. We're more interested in backcountry epics, where any mishap would be a disaster. Jumping and flying through the air is for skinny little kids who just graduated from BMX, and those without the intestinal fortitude and dedication to ride enough to get into the kind of shape it takes to enjoy long singletrack rides. |
| A bit of a flame, but some good points. It seems there is alot.. | Bikeless Rider
Jan 18, 2004 12:12 AM | | ...to do about hyping the fear factor of stunts, rather than the basics of what the sport is, adapting a bicycle to something athletic, while retaining it's vehicular nature. Sometimes I have to remind fellow riders that they're more of a point A to B implement rather than a stunt toy. That being said though, the strength of the industry seems to rely greatly on the sale of FR and DH bikes, wish I could say the same for our trail rights.
I really want to check out some of the Durango area singletrack, I'm moving down to Grand Junction, hopefully soon. Is there much fire damage on the sigletrack there from that last drought? |
| fire aftermath | club
Jan 18, 2004 8:13 AM | | Missionary Ridge trail is open again, as are most of the feeders on both sides of the ridge up to it. There's places where you're riding through burnt timber for sure, but the FS and youth corps got busy on the actual trails in 2003 and the trailbed itself is good to go. We rode up Stevens, along Missionary, and down Haflin last fall. Haflin had the worst damage,but that trail's always been sick and wrong. On Missionary, the burn actually opened up the views of the Animas Valley, and while it'll never be forested like it was in our lifetimes, it's still a might good trail.
Across the valley, Church Camp trail, a trail visitors usually never find anyway as it's not in any guidebooks, burned for about a mile of its length. What used to be singletrack through there is now a big honking bulldozed fire road. Sections have already been rerouted by Trails 2000, mostly to detour around an obscene big house somebody built before the fire, which burned to the ground and was quickly rebuilt. It's still a nice shorter route worth riding.
Other than that, everythings same as it ever was. Development is a bigger threat than the fires were. Sailbarn got rerouted so the huge gravel pit on Grandview Mesa could get even bigger and uglier. Carbon Junction will someday need the same rerouting as it now skirts another expanding gravel pit. I hear parts of the Old Car Loop, also not on any maps, is now in Indian hands and may one day be a housing development. So much for Indians respecting the environment...Off topic rant follows: Animas LaPlata water project dam was pushed through to give the Indians the water that was promised them. OK I can live with that, can't deny anyone clean water when they turn on their taps, right? Turns out the Utes don't need water for personal use, they're gonna use the extra water to open up some coal mines and then flush the coal slurry thru pipes. The Utes are at least as greedy and unrespecting of this great piece of real estate as the white man. End of rant.
Someday in the next couple of decades, riders on Telegraph trail will be able to look down from the switchbacks on a couple thousand new houses, a golf course, and malls. Supposedly Trails 2000 has a permanent easement from the land's owner, a rich Texass oil widow, so the trails should still be there, although they may be skirting someone's backyard or 18th hole someday.
Even so there's still more singletrack within riding distance of my door than anywhere else I know, and, unlike Crested Butte, the other great place, a lot of it is ridable most of the year, although right now, the singletracks are pretty much snowed in. |
| If you are interested in jumps/drops, regardless of your size... | man w/ one hand
Jan 18, 2004 5:39 AM | | then go for it. Be fore warned though, big riders who do this type of
riding "require" burly built bikes. I have a friend who rides a RM rm7
for XC & everything else. He has to, he's broken everything else he's
rode.
Don't let anyone "pidgeon hole" you cause of your size. Plenty of guys
out there your size jumpin'/droppin'. I'm 41 & jump & drop regularly,
on a ht also, I might add. If you want to do it bad enough you'll find
a way. You WILL get banged & bruised up, on a good day.
Don't let anybody hold you back, they are not you.
GOFOR IT. If you don't you'll regret it, & have noone to blame but myckls. |
| clarifying usage | myckls
Jan 18, 2004 2:02 PM | | I guess when I said "big jumps" i was a little hasty. I need a bike for fast single-track with drops of about 4,5 or 6 feet, so I guess thats not really "big jumps" compared to what some other extreme riders are taking. |
| clarifying usage | man w/ one hand
Jan 18, 2004 7:36 PM | | "I need a bike for fast single-track with drops of about 4,5 or 6 ft."
This is big jumps for some. I don't do much over that. However, th'
kind of bikes for th' type of riding the guys above are speaking of
will only break when you happen upon a 3,4 or 5' drop/jump & hit it on
a xc bike, given your size. Go burly so you can ride out of th' woods
instead of pushin', walkin', or being carried out.
Check out th' down hill/freeride board they'll hook you up.
"Beware th' pigeon-holers from ANY ridin' discipline".
Keep us posted & Good Luck. |
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