How far could I push a Helius AM?

[Anoobis]

Currently have a Last Herb FR and its superb apart from the weight so looking at other alternatives. The Helius AM seems to be looking good right now. Head angle, reach (dunno the stack on the Last) and weight are what I'm looking for. Think I could possibly maybe get below 30lbs (devilles/vipr, reverb, 1x9, hope/flows, xtr brakes) but what can it handle in terms of drops and DH?
Drop sizes I do on alps trips, so 10ft tops?:
http://i.imgur.com/Hzqnb.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ncf75.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/uD3a1.png

And its crossing my mind to enter the Fort William 6hr DH enduro next year.

Regular riding would be trail centre style stuff with the full UK gravity enduro series and FoD DH, yearly alps stuff - verbier/morzine.

[thepimpmessiah]

Most of us AM riders are into the same sort of stuff so an AM would be great for that... but as I posted over on STW;

if I didn't have the AM I'd be all over the ION16. Much as I love my AM I'd like some of the updates they've added to the ION, and as there is no weight difference I'd go with the new.
My AM is my third Nic... I've not broken one which with my history is impressive... I'd like the light weight of a carbon frame but my experience with the material so far has not been good. I'd like to be proved wrong and discover how ace carbon is but I'm not going to pay to beta test stuff again so I'll stick with what I trust.
Nicolai fan boi signing off

[Warp]

Has anybody seen a broken AM?

[akdmonsters]

You can do everything you want with the Helius AM
The wheels will break before the frame!

Here is the kind of stuff I do 2/3 times per week with my Helius AM (Deville 170/Vip'r/XT...):





And I never had any problem in the Alps

[THEDOCTOR46]

Great Vid!!

[raschaa]

Have you seen what team rider Frank Schneider does with his AM?

Nicolai Webisode Pt. 3 - Braunlage von soul_ride - mehr Mountainbike-Videos

[dinkle007]

ace video

[drakche]

Another question for you AM owners. How far can you push you AM's with Monarch Plus RC3?
Does it pay to add 70e more for the Vivid air? Or is the monarch a better all rounder? For instance will the monarch be suitable for riding like akdmonsters posted.

[raschaa]

if your riding leans more than 50:50 towards going down then you should start thinking about another shock although you will probably sacrifice some uphill performance