For the bike fanatics amongst us

[Cymric]

If you are a bike fanatic, you know of the various cycling categories. You have the esteemed road category, the speedy and high-adrenalin indoor, zany antics with BMX, and so forth, and so forth. But all bow down to the daredevils (some would say 'brainless idiots') of freestyle downhill.

Not convinced? Well, check out this movie. I'm not going to say what it is about, but it sure is very impressive, very scary, and off-the-scale in the 'don't try this at home' category. Windows Media Player required (unfortunately).

[PMC]

That's extreme freeride for you.  The objective of which is to hurl yourself off cliffs and try to hang on while plummeting fifty feet into oblivion.

You'll need something like this (or it's even loonier brother, the Specialized Demo 9)

http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?spid=9694

Funnily enough I rode a friend's Demo 8 last night and the thing went off foot high drops like they just weren't there thanks to eight inches (200mm) of ultra plush suspension travel.  

My five inch (130mm) travel Enduro felt like an XC race bike in comparison.

PMC wrote:
Funnily enough

Note to PMC

:laughing:

On topic, anyone stupid enough to throw themselves over a cliff hoping to be saved by a scrap of metal on tires is stupid enough for the Darwin awards.

Wayne

[Cymric]

Ah... Yes, those bikes are quite flexible. They have to be, otherwise the shocks and vibrations will tear the frame apart. I'm considering buying a new hardtail bike myself---which will have a very simple (but very good quality) single crown fork (a Magura Asgard with just 80 mm of travel). In Holland, there is simply no terrain to really put a true MTB through its paces. And besides, I'd pee my pants first, although with training and decent supervision I think I'd be able to enjoy it. (If there is a bike large and strong enough to carry my 1.99m and 110 kg.)

[Vincent]

Cymric wrote:
Well, check out this movie.

What they don't show is the tangled mess lying at the bottom of the drop, possibly something resembling Tetsuo :-P

Oh and WMP is not required, Winamp and RealPlayer do just as good :-P (I thought there was a wmv player for Amiga, maybe not)

[blobrana]

@Cymric

Wow...!!

And he/she missed that guy & rock halfway up the cliff.

Must have been a smooth curve at the bottom no doubt.


¬
.\_____

[PMC]

Note to Wayne:

Yes it [bleep]ing is!  :lol: Well, in my neck of the woods anyway ;-)

Back o/t.  

Those bikes tend to be massively overbuilt out of thick guage aluminium, with much of the framework consisting of forged sections for strength at the expense of weight.  Too much flex in a frame makes accurate placement of one's front wheel difficult and the bike won't handle as responsively.  Aluminium doesn't flex well and tends to break suddenly and without warning.

The secret is in the suspension and geometry.  Freeride/downhill bikes push the riders weight back over the rear wheel while bringing the bars up high.  When downhilling, you want to be as far back as possible so that you're not fired over the bars.  

[X-ray]

"...When downhilling, you want to be as far back as possible so that you're not fired over the bars..."
------------------------------------------------------

This is a concept I understood back in the days when I had a BMX (it was a Supercross, quite a nice bike in those days). Unfortunately for me I didn't check the nut and bolt that tightens the handlebars and while I was coming down a fairly steep hill the handlebar collapsed forwards and my face was pressed into the front wheel before the whole lot did a cartwheel. There was a moderate amount of blood but a whole shedload of cursing.

@Wayne

Funnily

In an American dictionary too of all places! :-o :-P

[PMC]

@X-Ray

Sounds like a nasty face plant!  Ouch!

BMX bars have a lot of leverage between the grips and the stem mounting point which was responsible for many a BMX related crash back in the day.  

Try this website for bike related mayhem

http://www.pinkbike.com/modules/photo/

It gives an appreciation of the technology involved in keeping your face from the tarmac and the "Girls in action" gallery is compulsive viewing for red-blooded lady biker fans!

[blobrana]

@mdma

ironic

In the same American dictionary too...

blobrana wrote:
@mdma

ironic

In the same American dictionary too...

Scottish in the same dictionary too! ;-)

[blobrana]

 :lol:

[Cymric]

PMC wrote:
Try this website for bike related mayhem

http://www.pinkbike.com/modules/photo/

It gives an appreciation of the technology involved in keeping your face from the tarmac and the "Girls in action" gallery is compulsive viewing for red-blooded lady biker fans!

The section 'Carnage' is sometimes just painful to see. The rash and bleeding cuts don't bother me so much, nor the pins in broken arms and wrists. It's the photos of people who are nosediving which have me wonder how you can survive such crashes. Human bodies are apparently a lot sturdier than I thought... See this picture, for example.

blobrana wrote:
 :lol:

I miss KennyR, he'd rip me to shreds for that one! :-)