Depowsepow

Hi everyone, I'm new to mountain bikes but not a stranger to bikes in general. recently ive been looking around for something to get started on. i've been considering specialized's 08 xc fsr comp and the bighit fsr1. i realize these bikes are built for 2 different purposes but i'm considering the bighit for the longer suspension travel. what i want to know is how big of a drop/ jump could i handle with the xc's 4 inches of travel before it bottoms out (i's around 150lbs). i want something i can beat on and not worry about it too much. i've searched for info on the bighit and heard mixed reviews about it. the xc seems like a great all around ride but i'm just not sure if it's got enough travel. i want to do jumps and drops and i'd probably stick to a more downhill environment, which the bighit is more built for. i grew up on dirtbikes and the bighit would probably feel more similar. any help would be much appreciated. thanks alot!

M_S

There are some very skilled riders who can do some pretty massive drops on fully rigid bikes. Which doesn't answer your question, obviously.

My own personal philosophy is that XC bikes can take quite a bit of abuse as long as you're decently smooth. Also, something like a 2-3 foot drop can seem a lot bigger when you're actually facing it on some steep singletrack than it does in abstract. I'm as guilty as anyone of exaggerating my on-trail exploits. There are some very skilled riders out there, including ones on this forum who definately can make use of 7+ inches of travel, but are you one of them?

My hunch is that as a beginning mountain biker the XC will do you better as a more versatile bike. The obvious middle ground in Specialized's lineup is the Enduro SL, but seeing as the 08 base model is 3200 dollars, it may be a tad bit out of your price range.

Before offering any other advice, however, how about answering these questions:

1) How big of drops and jumps do you wish to do? General consensus is that up to about 2 feet is considered cross-country, though like I said, if you're smooth enough that can be stretched.

2) You say you;re not new to bikes in general? Do you mean you've only done moto, or do you have some BMX/road/trials/cyclocross experience as well?

3) Do you want to do any climbing with the bike? Because that pretty much rules out the BigHit.

4) What other brands do you have access to? An all-mountain bike like the Enduro sounds to be right up your alley, but first it would be good to know what you can get your hands on before we start making recommendations.

dminor 

Another ex-dirt biker - - welcome!

If you want to get more into the gravity end of riding - - which will for sure more resemble what you did with your dirt bike - - then the BigHit will serve you well. It will always be ready for the next challenge that you want to progress up to, take it without a whimper and be ready for the next bigger thing. It will also peddle adequately enough (especially if you leave the front derailleur and granny gear on) back UP the hill to go have more fun.

You will find the XC FSR will eventually limit you in the fun dept. Almost as important as the suspension travel is the frame geometry; and the BigHit has a slacker, more MX-bike head angle that will be more friendly to you as you increase in speed, attack steeper rock faces and plow harder into corners. For drops, I would not habitually take an FSR XC off anything more than about a 3-foot-to-flat or 4-foot-to-transition; it's just not built for this kind of repeated abuse.

Let's use a motorcycle analogy: You want to ride fast trails and hit the ORV park, maybe throw in a few turns around the MX track at the ORV every now and then and maybe throw in an endurocross every once in a while. So you want a YZ250F and maybe buy a desert tank; you DON'T want the PW 200 dual-purpose because it won't do what you want it to and you'll beat the crap out of it trying to make it work.

The BigHit is an excellent machine. A lot of people did not like the 24" rear wheel - - there was a difference of opinions on whether the trade-off between the extra acceleration snap of the smaller wheel was worth the loss of a larger wheel handling square-edged bumps and such. But, with it's geometry it was a wheelying and manualing fool, the FSR suspension allowed it to be trail-ridden easier than many long-travel bikes and it was generally a time-tested, bullet-proof design. The BigHits were built for rough play and they did (and still do) it very well.

P.S. - - ignore the snooty rantings of M_S. Some of us get it.

Depowsepow

to m_s, the bike experience i have in offroad terms is bmx mostly. i just prefaced my experience so that i can be spoken to as not a complete bike noob. id like to be able to do up to 4 footers or so if they're there. climbing is a maybe. climbing really doesn't interest me the same way does going fast on a downhill does.

to dminor, i feel like the bighit is a little bit more upgradeable if something does break. also. the 08 comes with 26" wheels so the 24 dilemma is obsolete. thanks for your concise opinion of the big hit.

the lbs that carrys the best selection of mtb stuff carries specilized and cannondale. the other bike i was looking at was a prophet 3 but once again, it seems more similar to the xc fsr than the big hit. it seems like only specialized is offering what i want, a dh/freeride- ish bike, in the right price range.

M_S

I'm not exactly sure what was "snooty" about my rantings. Care to enlighten? Most of my post was trying to work out exactly what the OP wanted to do with the bike.

I've pedaled freeride bikes uphill, though granted not the BigHit in particular. It's ok, but not very fun to me. They are lots of fun going down though, obviously.

What is unreasonable about suggesting an All-mountain bike to the OP?

EDIT: I suppose instead of saying that getting the big hit rules out doing any climbing, it will definitely be limiting in that department compared to something more "all mountain."

Cyclist30907654

Wait, it doesn't have the 24 inch back wheel anymore, does it?

Cyclist30907654

Here's my philosophy on bikes. You have to have a LOT of bike to have something that you can't handle. While I wouldn't get a 10 inch downhill bike to do the local trails, I would rather get a "All Mountain" bike instead of a XC hardtail. I want something that is stable and something that will inspire confidence. For me, that means always getting slightly more bike than I need.

dminor 

The OP needed to know what to expect with limitations of a cross-country bike in the context of what he wanted to do; not that someone who's "really smooth" can make bigger drop happen on one.

You said "My hunch is that as a beginning mountain biker the XC will do you better as a more versatile bike." You are making a rash (hence my charge of 'snooty') assumption that since he is new to mountain biking that he is a rank novice and that he might not immediately benefit from from the differences that a more gravity-oriented bike might give him for what he wants to do.

One of the things that primarily attracted me off of dirt bikes and onto mountain bikes was when they sprouted suspension at both ends and got slacker geometry. They started resembling more what I knew and were speaking my language more of what it meant to have fun on two wheels.

You stated, "2) You say you're not new to bikes in general? Do you mean you've only done moto, or do you have some BMX/road/trials/cyclocross experience as well?" What did that question have to do with it? Other than to set up a follow-up with some condescending answer? You might be surprised with how well the skill-set translates for a rider off dirt bikes. How was asking the questions you asked useful toward "working out whayt the OP wanted to do with the bike"? He was pretty clear - - he said, "i want to do jumps and drops and i'd probably stick to a more downhill environment."

Because you don't find pedalling a long-travel full-suspension uphill fun (who does?) does not mean that there are not many of us who are willing to make that suffering trade-off to have the kind of fun we want to have on the way back down. Up until last year, my downhill race bikes were my primary trail bikes for almost everyhting except cross country races (and I've done a few of those on it for fun too). It's just another thing to get used to - - like riding a SS 29er is something different to get used to.

You weren't unreasonable in suggesting an all-mountain bike; but you WERE unreasonable in discounting his interest in a burlier bike when you really don't have any experience with them and how they might relate to the riding experience the OP is seeking. You might limit your 'advice' to road bikers seeking to branch out in mountain biking.

dminor 

You're right - - my bad. I honestly didn't know the BigHit was still being made; I thought it got replaced by the Demo 7

Funny, the BH has come full-circle. My first "DH" frame was a 2000 model - - the only year it had 26" wheels front and rear until recently.

M_S

Did you read the sentence immediately following that? Where I qualified that it "didn't answer your question."

The OP's first question was as to the limitation of the bike. Specifically "how big of a drop/ jump could i handle with the xc's 4 inches of travel before it bottoms out (i's around 150lbs)." My point, though perhaps I could have communicated it more effectively (you'll have to excuse me, I'm on all sorts of painkillers just having had my wisdom teeth pulled yesterday) was that the size of the drop that the bike could handle is largely rider dependent. Basically, none of us can really answer how big of a drop he (the OP) can handle on either of the mentioned bikes because we don't know how skilled he is. The motorcross background probably indicates he's got a pretty fair base of bike handling skills, but it's impossible to say given what we know about him.
No, my thought process was that the FSR XC will be slightly better at giving the OP a taste of a wider range of mountain biking. Though to be fair my real recommendation was for an all mountain rig which would give him a decent taste of most of what mountain biking has to offer. Another good idea would be for him to try and rent/borrow a few different bikes if he hasn't already to see what sort of style end sup being the most appealing.
Okay.

Because by gaging his previous experience I could perhaps offer some comparisons analogies that I was more familiar with than motocross? I most certainly was not setting him up for a condescending answer, that's a conclusion you drew all by yourself. Also "jumps and drops" can mean a lot of things. The size of the jumps and drops probably determines the equipment.

I have one friend, an ex motocrosser, who I have taken mountain biking a few times, and he has very good handling skills for someone new to the sport, so no, I probably wouldn't be surprised at how easily the skill-set translates between the two sports.

Fair enough. One of my friends uses a 50+ pound banshee for his only bike. It seems to work for him.

I suppose I can see your point about discounting his interest in the burlier bike, however my advice to anyone who is new to sthe sport would generally be to er on the side of versatility in terms of equipment choices.

cryptid01

The Pitch would would be a solid choice I think.

M_S

^^
Completely forgot about that one.

Now If y'all will excuse me, time to take some more meds and lie down.

Cyclist30907654

I don't remember which one that is.

I think Specialized made a pretty bad move with all the new lines. It used to be Demo for DH, BigHit for FR, and Enduro for AM, now they have all these different product lines, and the worst part is, that they all somehow look the same.

Depowsepow

i just want to say i didnt find anything M S said out of line. i put alot of info in my first post so i realize it was hard to pinpoint the question and get a decent answer. anyways, i think the bighit would be a better choice for me generally. the pitch looks good but a little too much than i can spend, or at least right now. if anyone has any more suggestions for this style bike under 2000 that would be cool.