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Noob interests in freeride bike

750 views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  ihaveagibsonsg 
#1 ·
My son now wants a freeride bike as his upgrade from Spec Hardrock which he totally kills on DH single track. But we both don't know anything about it and yet he thinks that is his style of bike! He will take on Drops at much as 3' for now cause there is no serios trials we've hit with major drops and bomb down rock gardens). I was shopping for a FS Like Giant Trans X4 but know he said he wants Freeride instead and there are good buys on CL which is fine cause I'll save $$$. But please share your thoughts and advice going from a XC AM to freeride. I do know it's the front travel that differentiates DH, XC, Am, freeride but what else?
 
#2 ·
Giant Reign would be a good option maybe the sx version. A FR bike will be more work if he plans on pedaling but it can be done. I have a '11 Scott Voltage FR10 that I take to the DH parks and have ridden it on normal trails. I would say rent some bikes and see what he likes but it may be hard finding FR bikes unless you are near some good dh/am trails.
PS my Voltage is for sale if you want to save a hunk of cash.
 
#3 ·
If you buy your son an upper end AM bike, he should be happy with it and be able to take it just about anywhere. I'm riding a specialized enduro with 6.3 inches of travel(160mm) front and rear. It can do nearly everything, it goes up the mountain pretty well but flys down. As with any bike, you have to tune the air pressure in the suspension and set the compression and rebound properly to the trail you're riding. If you're anticipating big jumps and drops around 4-6 feet it would be a good idea to put more air in compared to normal trail riding with 1-3 foot drops and jumps.

Above all, a lot of it is rider skill more so than the bike. I've smoked people with full down hill rigs on a singlespeed rigid bike before. If I want I can swap out my fork for a beefier one and put a coil shock on the back if I'm going to be doing serious downhilling, but for most trails a stock enduro will dominate. Be sure you look for a bike with a fork that has a 20mm axle upfront. Some other good bikes besides the newer enduros are santa cruz nomad, santa cruz butcher, giant reign X0(anything less uses the sissy forks and suspension) intense m6, rockymountain slayer, transition covert, trek slash and the gt sanction. There's many other great 160mm travel bikes out there but these are some of my personal favorites. A 160mm travel bike is more on the DH/FR category than the average AM bike but still easily able to pedal up a trail. FR/DH bikes are exhausting and frustrating.
 
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