Mid Travel Freeride Bike Question

[Sharon]

I am looking for a 6-7 inch travel bike that is good for riding on technical North Shore trails and would also ride it a few times in the Whistler bike park. I will huck max of 3-4 feet and would like a bike that can climb.

Other big bikes I've riden are the Norco VPS ( too active ), Big Hit Comp and Giant AC2. I don't like slanted seat posts where your geometry changes so much with seat height nor do I like interupted seat posts.

I like the Heckler but it feels kinda cramped for me.

Any thoughts on the:
Foes Inferno
Heckler
Banshee Chapparel
Others?

Thanks!

[thewwkayaker]

Turner 5-spot or the new 6-pack (I ride a 5-spot, the older version I have uses a Romic, the new one uses an airshock). The 6-pack would be a better ride at the bike park and beefer but still a good weight (the 5-spot is about 6.2lbs while I think the 6-pack is closer to 8lbs)

Devinci Magma is also another good choice (good part spec and not too expensive) - new for this year. Has 6 rear and 5.5 front I believe (pike fork I think) and uses the Saint setup and juicy brakes. Horst link, about a 71 seatangle - full tube, so it should climb well.

[Putty]

Banshee Chapparel - cant say enough good things about this bike. climbs well, goes down well. sturdy as hell compared to the joker.

[Millstone]

What year VPS were you riding? This years VPS Six comes with a Fox DHX3 propedal shock, and is not a shabby bike when it comes to pedalling.

Also comes with a telescoping post, which isn't the same as uninterupted, but will do the job pretty damn well.

[polytics]

Defiently check out the new Giant Reign series. My GF is running the Trance (wicked standover for vertically challenged individuals 5'1") just modified with a 5" Fox Fork. The climbing performance is awesome the weight is very resonable and the linkage design is quite plush.

The Reign is the same design with a little less standover and 6" of travel front and rear.

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/cn/030....asp?range=219

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/cn/030...sp?model=10281

They have a pretty long top tube by frame size.


The other promising agro XC/ All mountain/ Light FR bike I've checked out (but cant speak to its ride or durability as I haven't done more then sit on one) is Devinci's new line, the Remix line.

http://www.devinci.com/english/aml.html

Both the Reign and Remix line offer very resonable weight/travel ratio's and excellent standover (and both could easily handle the drops you are talking about).


If you really can't decide. Buy the Charrpal. The weight is OK, but I've never met a person on the trail with one that didn't love it (never personally owned or tried it)

[schoenrock]

It sounds like the Yeti ASX is the perfect match for you and it so happens that I have one for sale

[Wayne P]

Originally posted by thewwkayaker
Devinci Magma is also another good choice (good part spec and not too expensive) - new for this year. Has 6 rear and 5.5 front I believe (pike fork I think) and uses the Saint setup and juicy brakes. Horst link, about a 71 seatangle - full tube, so it should climb well.

Good choice. The Remix line would be a little better as this year it has a coil-over.

Also, if you can build it really light, a VP Free COULD be a player in that group. It rides pretty upright and the frame is a respectable weight. You'd have to spend some coinage to get the weight down to fit that niche. I don't need to mention the pedalling efficiency do I?

[Danksi]

How about a Cannondale Gemini?

[NooNer]

an inferno with a curnutt would be nice ... the shocks pedal amazingly well.

[Scott C]

[CraigH]

The only bike out of the list I have any time on is the Heckler. I demo'd one for a day in Downieville in 03. At the time I decided it wasn't the bike for me as I already owned a Bullit (and was looking for a XCish bike for interior riding), but thought that for the kind of riding I do that it would probably be a better choice than the Bullit except for one thing, Whistler due to 5" travel and that it wasn't really designed for a 7" double crown fork. The 5" & 5" Heckler felt exactly like when JimC had a 5" Z1 on his 6" Bullit, other than the Heckler's fork was better and that it climbed better due to the 5th compared to the RC.

Since that time the travel on the Heckler has gone up from 5" to 6". and the market now has good 6" SC forks available.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That said, I've owned a horst link bike (Sunn), single pivot bike (Bullit with Fox RC & 5th), and a VPP bike (Blur).

For a bike that I wanted to climb with, I wouldn't consider anything that didn't have a VPP or similar type of design, for both the climbing ability & braking characteristics.

So that limits the selection to bikes from SC, Intense, Ironhorse & Giant.


Have fun shopping!$

[ruff]

Santa Cruz Heckler with the fr Sram Build and a nice 5 inch fork upfront.

A buddie of mine bought a Heckler with that parts spec and a Manitou Flick up front. The only thing he switched out was the tires. That bike is in the 35lb rage climbs like a goat and is strong enough for Whistler.

[Zedbra]

Sharon, I would choose a Chaparral out of those. I am going to be selling my big bike and riding the Chaparral for now. It is sturdy and stiff in the rear, rides butter smooth, and climbs great! Even my fat ass can climb on that bike - I just love it. I'm even running a 6" Flick right now - it's a good mix. I have it built with heavy DH parts/tires and it is 42 lbs.

That being said, I am also impressed with the weight/geometry of the new Specialized Enduro Expert. They have a nice sized cockpit, and are really light..

[thewwkayaker]

Wayne - according to the Devinci site all three versions of the Remix line sport an airshock - but since Steeds deals with them perhaps it's a misprint?

Sharon - do you want coil or air or don't care? What weight range are you hoping for?

Cannondale Gemini's are light (36lbs) with 7x7 (single crown), but are they too heavy? What's your price range? For cheap Kona would be hard to beat (not the lightest bikes), Azonic is another option, Weyless is also cheap (knock offs of Heckler). On the flip side Turner, Foes, Intense (5.5 for the lighter side, VPX for the beefer but still reasonable (lighter than a VP Free)).

[CraigH]

Originally posted by Sharon
Other big bikes I've riden are the Norco VPS ( too active ), Big Hit Comp and Giant AC2.

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post, the VPS you used to own had a cheap Fox shock on it. With a more modern shock that wouldn't be an issue as you could tune how active you wanted it to be, or not. Your AC has a shock with stable platform doesn't it?