Bike recommendations

motas

Adventurer
Hey all,

Hoping someone can point me in the right direction for starting my search for a bike!

I'm a downhill rider looking to do a few long multi day rides and a little bit of the harder cross country tracks. The problem i have is I've ridden some x country bikes and hate the "forward" geometry of them compared to my downhill bike. They just feel really wrong and nervous to ride and I don't really want to spend the money on a bike that I don't like riding.

So could anyone recommend a lightweight bike with fairly downhill oriented geometry? At this point I am leaning towards a hard tail. I don't have a specific budget but would prefer to be looking at the lower end bikes, something quality but no fancy features.

Thanks for any help guys!
 

bhguy

Observer
I roll a felt dd30 fatbike....it had the feeling to me what your after. Alot of people think that they are a bear to ride but I disagree. This bike is a commuter for me during the week, just under 30km each way in the two city's I cross to get to the office. It's not as fast off the line as my tri- bike for sure but super comfortable to ride.
 

ddog45

Adventurer
I love my surly instigator i have put about 500 miles on it this summer. Im going to build a surly 27.5 karate monkey this winter for dirt road riding.
 

motas

Adventurer
Unfortunately neither of those bikes are available in Australia :( we don't seem to have a very good selection here.
I've been very interested to try a fat bike! They aren't very common here yet and are only just starting to pop up in shops, so doubt I'll get to try one out for a while yet. I'm a bit iffy on dropping the money on something I can't try out!
Likewise there's only one Surly dealer and they don't have the Instigator or a lot of other Surly bikes. The only way to get one would be to import it without seeing it.

Cheers for the help so far!
 

bhguy

Observer
Unfortunately neither of those bikes are available in Australia :( we don't seem to have a very good selection here.
I've been very interested to try a fat bike! They aren't very common here yet and are only just starting to pop up in shops, so doubt I'll get to try one out for a while yet. I'm a bit iffy on dropping the money on something I can't try out!
Likewise there's only one Surly dealer and they don't have the Instigator or a lot of other Surly bikes. The only way to get one would be to import it without seeing it.

Cheers for the help so far!

I'm the same way...I would never buy without trying....I would by the charts ride a medium but the feel I like I'm running a large . Fatbike are not that popular here yet either....good luck
 

MudderNutter

Adventurer
A good hardtail with "downhill" geo is the Kona Honzo. It won't pedal as well as an XC bike, but it's a fun/rowdy hardtail!
 

motas

Adventurer
Yeah I know it's not going to be efficient as a proper X country bike, but I know I will never really want to ride one of those. So I'm hoping this is a good compromise that I won't sacrifice too much efficiency with it still being a lightweight hard tail. Because I do really want to do a 3 day long single track on it. And would also like to do some other adventure style riding. Feel free anyone with more experience to chime in and tell me I'm wrong.

Checked out the Kona Honzo! It's so far the only one I've found available in Aus. They want about $3k for it which seems a little pricey for a fairly basic hard tail and a bit more than I wanted to spend. Plus the reviews I've found haven't been overly great.

So I've been trawling second hand and the Internet and have pulled up some stuff.

Is anyone familiar with Dartmoor bikes? Specifically the Hornet? I can get a frame here for $300ish and it looks exactly what I want plus the petrol colour looks awesome. Or someone local is considering selling theirs hopefully for a reasonable price.

Cheers for the help guys.
 

MudderNutter

Adventurer
Yeah I hear what you are sayin! From what i've heard the Honzo is a really solid bike, but I agree the price is a bit up there. I've been lusting after a Honzo for awhile, and stumbled across the On-One DeeDar. It's an agressive Cro-Mo frame as well, but comes in at a much better price. You can get a DeeDar with a Sram X01 1x11 group, and a 140mm RockShox Revelation for 1800 euros... or the sram GX1 1x11 group with the 140mm Revelation for 1200 euros. On-one is known for making good frames for a entry level price. If you haven't hear of them there is tons of info on mtbr.com (great forum if you're not on there yet).

http://www.on-one.co.uk/c/q/bikes/mountain-bikes/deedar

The Canfield nimble 9 is more at the high end of the spectrum... but has a huge following for a reason. Check it out!

http://canfieldbrothers.com/frames/nimble-9

I don't personally know anything about dartmoor bikes, but I just did a quick search and it seems like they are a quality bike company. I'll let you know if I find any other bikes that seem like they would fit the bill
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
I don't have experience with downhill bikes, so what I can offer is only that the bike I built up this year is considered an all-mountain steel hardtail. Usually looking at a 29'er frame based on a 120mm to 140mm travel fork that ends up being very slack. It has been fun for me and definitely feels slow compared to the normally race-ish geometry I'm used to riding.

The Kona Honzo MudderNutter mentioned is good example of this, but also the Niner ROS, On-One 456, Marin Pine Mountain, Orange Clockwork, Mondraker Vantage, Commencal Meta, Chromag Surface. These bikes have usually around 67 degree head tube angles, comfortably slack without being too slow or dirt jumper. They're not ultra light, so loaded they aren't going to feel overwhelmed on the trail and are pretty unlikely to break.
 

p nut

butter
If you've got a Surly dealer, I would pick up a new Karate Monkey. For 2017, the bike got a full make over. Slack angles and clearance for 27.5 Plus tires. That would be a fun bike.

http://www.bikepacking.com/bikes/surly-karate-monkey-27-5-troll/
_
The Surly Wednesday would be another fun bike. Full on fat, so riding will be different, but some love it. If you ride in sand a lot, this may be the way to go. Although, I will say Plus tires would work pretty well, too.
 

Christophe Noel

Expedition Leader
Just as an aside, nearly every bike in the last 2-3 years has been progressively laid back. Many XC bikes now have head angles that were very "trail" oriented a few years ago.
 

Klierslc

Explorer
Little late to the party here, but two thoughts:

First, riding a XC bike more will make it more comfortable/make you more comfortable with it--your body can get used to multiple riding positions. I ride 4 different road bikes and a mountain bike--only two of them are close to the same riding position.

Second, if the riding position is a "must" you might try getting a bike that is one size up, keep the seat low, and run a stubby stem.

Good luck and keep us posted with what you end up with!
 

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