DH bike question.. Gah. AGAIN.

[Stripes]

So I think it's in the cards that I won't be riding the Cuervo. I've spent the whole year building up that bike and just ended up with nothing but problem parts.

At this point, I'm going to look at two options right now:

1.Doing a second wheelset (heavy duty) for Northstar and running Saint calipers I already have a Works headset slacking the HA out a full degree anyway, so it should be plenty stable at speed, even with 150mm travel.

2. Getting another DH bike, this time, an entire one new. Not sure which one at this point.

So 1. seems reasonable since I've had bad experiences with rental DH bikes and don't planon doing the lifts that often, but 2. seems like it's a good idea, but not sure if it is if you go DH riding only 1-3 times a year.

Thoughts?

[cyclelicious]

What was wrong with with the Cuervo. Frame or parts problem? I'm not familiar with that brand

Not sure if you have a back up bike like an AM that you can ride in the meantime while you decide what you want to do. Do you need a double crown?

Last time I rode at Mont Ste Anne, I blew my fork (Marzocchi Bomber) the first day. I rented a Scott Gambler and enjoyed 3 full days. It was my first experience riding with a double crown. I enjoyed the benefits (riding faster but I didn't like it in tight areas) I'm not racing (yet) I'm very happy with my Syren (the frame is solid) I ride it every weekend all summer at the local dh bike park. I've had no problems with small drops and jumps. 180mm travel is plenty for my riding style. I sent my fork to Marzocchi and they replaced the seals etc.

I guess I'm not sure what exactly you are looking for.

[Stripes]

What was wrong with with the Cuervo. Frame or parts problem? I'm not familiar with that brand

Not sure if you have a back up bike like an AM that you can ride in the meantime while you decide what you want to do. Do you need a double crown?

Last time I rode at Mont Ste Anne, I blew my fork (Marzocchi Bomber) the first day. I rented a Scott Gambler and enjoyed 3 full days. It was my first experience riding with a double crown. I enjoyed the benefits (riding faster but I didn't like it in tight areas) I'm not racing (yet) I'm very happy with my Syren (the frame is solid) I ride it every weekend all summer at the local dh bike park. I've had no problems with small drops and jumps. 180mm travel is plenty for my riding style. I sent my fork to Marzocchi and they replaced the seals etc.

I guess I'm not sure what exactly you are looking for.

So you kinda asked the same question I did: "Do I need a long travel fork for a weekend at the DH park or am I going to be fine on an AM bike for the weekend?"

The Cuervo is a Ventana. Great frame, really, it's just I can't seem to get the damn thing on dirt There's an interesting history with this frame.. I couldn't ride it the first time (back issues from being overweight, lost the weight, and was able to get it back), so now it's mechanical issues and it's just frustrating.

Two problems: the fork is hydrolocking. It's an older Boxxer that Push did. The other problem is the swing has a crack in it, but Ventana is really really cool and fixing it with no issues. So the bike would be out for the weekend even without the frame issue because the fork gets 3-4" of travel on an 8" fork.

Not sure I really need a double crown, but longer travel that a 150mm Fox 36 (I lowered it 10mm) would definitely be easier on the body, but it's not like I'm doing anything big on it.

So it may not be as bad as I thought it would be to get a new fork: For some reason, I was thinking all the new DH forks were around $1700, but they're not. I found the lower end Boxxers are around $800-$900 for the coil versions new.

However, there's also the weight issue. The DH bikes are much heavier (42 lbs vs 32 lbs) and it might not be that bad to ride the AM bike at Northstar because it'll be a bike I'm familiar with that isn't as heavy.