VORB IS IN MAINTENANCE MODE You will not be able logon or make posts. We recommend you ride your bike in the meantime. [CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION]
Posted: Thu 24/Jan/08 12:37am Post subject: The Ultimate Bike For Queesntown?!
Hi everyone,
This is a pretty open-ended question but I am moving to Wanaka/Queenstown for a year or so from the UK. I am struggling to work out what style of riding is most dominant in the queenstown area and the ultimate trail bike to make the best of everything. There seems to be loads of long pedal-worthy singletrack and DH - which one do you get more of?!
If you had one bike, would you be better of with....
1. A 5.5 inch travel 'all mountain' full sus to do everything, with say a fox rp23 (i.e. easy to pedal, maybe not ideal for DH). Fox talas air, xt groupset etc.
E.g. Marin Attack Trail
Iron Horse MK III
Santa Cruz Blur LT
Intense 5.5
Commencal 5.5
Cove Hulster XC
Rocky Mountain Slayer
2. Would you have more fun with a 7 inch virtual pivot bike, basically a slopestyle bike - talas 36 or potentially totems, coil or DHX Air shock. And then pay the weight penalty when trying to do XC. Is there enough DH to be worth it?
E.g. Marin Quake (note: I can get Marin half the price of everything else!)
Intense 6.6
Iron Horse 6 point 6
Cove STD
(A bit of background - I have had an 03 Santa Cruz Heckler with fifth element coil and talas forks, the frame is knackered now, I mainly do techy agrresive singletrack here and would love to do more serious park riding but can't do dirt jumping really due to a crash in Canada.)
Any opinions appreciated, you guys know the trails after all. Thanks!
If you want to enjoy yourself and progress in Wanaka QT the 'one bike' option would be a Giant Reign or equivalent. It will need to be able to climb OK, descend superbly, hold up to chairlift and shuttle action and also be versatile enough for all day epic trail rides. Thats a big ask. Its really a '2 bike' kind of place where you want a 5 inch bike and a DH ride. If you can get Marins half price get 2 of them.....easy!
Last edited by integral on Thu 24/Jan/08 7:55am; edited 1 time in total
I reckon the 6 inch trail bike is probably the way to go.
For some reason I am not so sure about the Giant Reign - I have heard endless stories about the bearings going in about 1 week!
I am tempted by the Commencal 666 as I get that super cheap - the only thing not right about it is the rp23 shock, it should be a DHX if it's capable of proper downhill - also it's single pivot.
I would get a Marin Quake for it's virtual pivot design and dhx air but well it's a beast of a bike to pedal for a smallish person. Their 6 inch bike (Attack Trail) is just too dog ugly!
Joined: Jan 09, 2007 Posts: 1,349 Location: Queenstown (the real south Auckland)
Posted: Sat 26/Jan/08 9:45am Post subject:
Ellie wrote:
Thanks for the advice.
I reckon the 6 inch trail bike is probably the way to go.
For some reason I am not so sure about the Giant Reign - I have heard endless stories about the bearings going in about 1 week!
I am tempted by the Commencal 666 as I get that super cheap - the only thing not right about it is the rp23 shock, it should be a DHX if it's capable of proper downhill - also it's single pivot.
I would get a Marin Quake for it's virtual pivot design and dhx air but well it's a beast of a bike to pedal for a smallish person. Their 6 inch bike (Attack Trail) is just too dog ugly!
Will no doubt change my mind when I get there....
SX trail with a light wheelset & a front derailler for a granny gear would serve you well
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You can download files in this forum
All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner. The comments are property of their posters, all the rest ℗ 2000-2008 by Tama Easton.
Extra design ℗ by Scotty Lane and Nathan Whitley. Photos and written work on this site are property of their owners, do not use them for commercial purposes.
Developed for Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 and Mozilla Firefox 3.0
