Mountain Biking - Aluminium for a downhiller?

Hi there,
I'm not usually on this forum cos my MTBing days were a long time ago, but at the weekend my buddies and I got talking to a guy who's spent $6,000 on an Aluminium downhill bike. Does this strike you as madness, lor is there something I'm missing? I don't know the make of the bike but it had 100mm (at least) forks and an gas-adjusted rear shock, masive tyres and a weirdly long seat.
Cheers

p.s. sorry for the dreadful colour choice. It seemed like a god idea at the time

for 6,000 it better have 200mm +

Its not madness if its what he likes to do and can afford it... good downhill bikes are $$$

Hi there,
I'm not usually on this forum cos my MTBing days were a long time ago, but at the weekend my buddies and I got talking to a guy who's spent $6,000 on an Aluminium downhill bike. Does this strike you as madness, lor is there something I'm missing? I don't know the make of the bike but it had 100mm (at least) forks and an gas-adjusted rear shock, masive tyres and a weirdly long seat.
Cheers


Ummmmmmm.......almost all downhill bikes are made out of aluminum. It could be a really sweet bike, or it could be total junk.........but we have no idea since you didnt post a picture.

so whats wrong with alluminum?

p.s. sorry for the dreadful colour choice. It seemed like a god idea at the time

Changed it to red for you. That Cyan is horrible!

L8R

Hi there,
I'm not usually on this forum cos my MTBing days were a long time ago, but at the weekend my buddies and I got talking to a guy who's spent $6,000 on an Aluminium downhill bike. Does this strike you as madness, lor is there something I'm missing? I don't know the make of the bike but it had 100mm (at least) forks and an gas-adjusted rear shock, masive tyres and a weirdly long seat.
Cheers

all of santa cruz's bikes are aluminum and they're about high end as it gets.

Most downhill bikes are aluminum. Brooklyn Machine Works is about the only company that I can think of making DH bikes out of Chromoly. Wait, there is another one, but their name escapes me.

Regardless, Most DH frames will run in the mid $2,000 range. If you go custom expect to pay a bit more. Add a triple clamp fork and you're at $4,000 for just the frame and fork. $6,000 for a DH bike is pretty much ball-park!

$6,000 for a FR bike is easily achievable.

$6,000 for a trailbike isn't out of the question if it's full XTR, Crossmax wheels and some Titanium tid-bits here and there.

People like to have the latest and greatest regardless of cost.

Think it's ludicrous? Have you priced a set of PING golf clubs lately?

It's all what you're into!

L8R

Steel for hardtail, Alu for full suspension.

I rode a steel split frame with a motorcycle shok for a toptupe in..???? 1978. Word.

Anybody want to talk about that...HIJACK!

Thanks for the responses. I'm surprised at Alu as the default choice in this area, tho glad the guy I met hasn't been stupid. It wasn't the price, it's just what with all I've heard about alu cracking, having no fatigue life and being so difficult to repair, I'd've thought in a situation where you are deliberately stressing the bike big style, something with a more gradual fail profile and non-indeterminate life would've been better? Anyone?

Keewee bikes make there Freeride/DH bikes out of Cromoly also.

Is that what your thinking of A2. My friend has an Avanti D8, it's just a rebadged Keewee Cromoeight. It's a pretty nice bike.

Aluminum has a bad rep. But really failure rate is low and weight does matter.

Alum, when broken, is garbage. Can't really repair it easily or cheaply.

Also, doesn't steel not work so good when you have two peices to the bike?