Descending is a skill that you either have or you aquire. Either that or you haven't had any high speed accidents yet- so you don't realise how downhill and speed can hurt.

It is true that certain bikes give you more confidence than others and this is in the build of the bike. A longer wheelbase will feel more stable, Slack head angles will make the bike more steady, and there is the funny thing about the trail of the fork that affects all sorts of things. I have never bothered about any of this as a bike either suits you, or it doesn't. The more standard type of bike will be built with handling as part of their build. Fortunately most of us want/get/ aspire to a better bike than the standard, but this is where some problems come in

I am not saying that ALL the high end bikes have faults, or that some of us cannot cope with the bikes that are purpose built. Thing is some of these high end bikes do require a rider with the capabilities to ride them to get the best out of them. That longer wheelbase-slack head angle and the flex within the frame (Or lack of it) that the standard bikes have does not help in the Handling of the bike. Steepening the head angles will give you a more responsive bike, but does get to the stage where it can be classed as twitchy. The ultra lightweight frame for hill climbing can flex at speed, not a nice thing to have at 45mph with a corner coming up. And there are the time trial bikes that are fine in a straight line, but do not like low speed corners.

As I have said- I do not want to run down the high end bikes, or the capabilities of the riders that have them, but Remember that old adage of "You get what you pay for"? In this case- it is "If you buy a bike for a particular use- then expect a disadvantage to be evident somewhere else". Why else do you think the TDF riders have such a variety of bikes for the various different stages? Just imagine riding a hill climber or time trial bike over the Belgian cobbles. Or for that matter the tough "Ordinary bike" in the mountains.

It sounds as if your hill climbing skills are progressing with the Medone. I dare say that the flat riding has improved aswell and probably the all round riding skills. Just because you don't feel right on fast descents does not mean that you or the bike are lacking. Take advantage of where you are good. and take take care on the tricky bits. A gentle progression of speed on each downhill will improve confidence- or find your, or the bikes, limits.

Now if I could transfer my Downhill speed and skill into uphill riding??......