So…as my username suggests, I’m a roadie at heart. I like lycra, shaved legs, embrocation and consider hardtails to be as ‘rad’ as I’ll ever need to get.

So when the opportunity came around a few weeks ago to join in on a group trip to Morzine which would include participating in the passportes du soleil I (eventually) said…”Ok!”

I now find myself reluctantly deciding to dress like a power ranger for the first time and am looking at bikes that look like they should make noises like ‘bounce’ and ‘boingggg’.

So the point of this post, friends, is…can anyone reccomend a ‘buy it and use it once for this trip’ bike? Also…protective kit, 661 seem to offer very good value for money (especially when bought through CRC) but I seem to recall from my last experiences with them a few years ago that their kit didn’t last so well, is this still the case or is it more hare wearing now?

Thanks in advance and maybe I’ll see some of you over there…

could you not hire it all over there?

southern downhill classifieds are good for this sort of purchase.

I’m clearing out some protective gear, drop me an email if you;re a medium size – address in profile.

Or if you prefer new have a look at Brand X, CRC are usually doing cheap offers and it’s decent enough stuff.

Thanks for the offer chakaping but I’m around the XL XXL size…

Ive got some larger sized ( XL)661 Pads lying around doing nowt…

alfabus – Member
southern downhill classifieds are good for this sort of purchase.

for instance, on the front page at the moment is a complete RM Slayer 50 for £650, or an alpine 160 for £1800.

It is worth registering on there, lots of bargains come up, and you could easily pick something up, ride it for the PDS and then sell it on.

Dave

Speed stuff is probably the best value for money body armour out there at the mo – large range avaliable on CRC. I’ve got one of their DH jackets and its rather good, fits better than my old 661 did (but that could be luck).

My experience of 661 DH leg armour isn’t great. The ones I had were ok, but didn’t like staying up without an additional thingy to keep them in place. Have now had Raceface ones for 5 years and much more impressed with them. If you’re not going to be making a habit out of this sort of thing 2nd hand is probably the way to go.

Re Bike: Just happen to have a 2009 Big Hit in medium that needs a loving home. Now no use to me since I stumped up the cash for a “real” DH bike. If you’re interested send me a mail and we can discuss.

Thanks for the tips offers and advice all.

Rob, re: the Big Hit, I’m 6″2 and whilst I accept that this ‘all mountain’ type stuff is going to be more compact and ‘chuckable’ than the bikes I’m used to I suspect that a Med is going to be a bit too small. What do you reckon?

I got an SX trail off here for £1100 and ended up keeping it a few years, this buy once and sell can be dangerous 🙂

2nd hand SX Trail – loads about, cheap and very good
or if you like riding a sofa with a mattress on top, get a Big Hit

Just checked out what PPdS involves – do not get a Big Hit!!

It can be ridden up mountains, I have done so, but its a hell of an effort. They were Welsh mountains & I reckon climbing in the Alps on one would be a nightmare 🙂

I’d be looking for a Rocky Mountain Slayer (pref SXC), 05/06 Spesh Enduro or similar 6″ travel bike for something like this that is ok to climb on & great for descending. SX Trail could be ok, but would be a little harder than an Enduro to climb on.

Re: size. Hard to say. I know a guide who’s 6’2″ & rides medium bikes, but he’s pretty skinny, if you’re wide as well as tall a large could be more suitable.
I’m 5’8″ and have a mix of small and medium bikes. For me medium = a bit big but very stable and small = very chuckable/easy to jump.

SX Trail could be ok, but would be a little harder than an Enduro to climb on.

I’ll be doing PPdS on an 06 Enduro with a coil shock and 170mm forks (basically an SX Trail) – it will be hard work but I’ll enjoy the rest of the week more 😀

The advice from a friend who did it last year is that this is more XC than DH and he said he wished he’d taken his heckler rather than his V10 for the Passportes.

I’d reckon that getting something aimed at all mountain riding rather than pure DH is the way forward here.

5-6″ front and should do it – something relatively slack but still steep enough to climb – poss with fr/rr lockout.

You will need a Five then….

‘R in D’ ….just been through a very similar process!
A friend has done the Pass’Porte before, bigged it up in the pub and before I knew what was happening we were on the easyjet website booking flights!
Considering I ride gentle XC in Leicestershire which isn’t exactly well known for its hills, let alone mountains, and my user name gives you a clue to my age, you can imagine the slight sense of panic when I woke up the next day and realised what I had done!
I was originally planning to hire a bike out there, but it seemed very expensive (£200+) and I found trying to book something all very French and vague – I lost all confidence that when I got there I would find a decent reliable bike waiting.
I’ve spent the last few weeks scouring this forum, ebay/pinkbike etc looking for a suitable bike – lots of options, but anything decent seems to attract a decent price, which I guess makes sense.
Then I made another mistake(!) and called into Freeborn bikes. Fantastic shop full of heavily discounted bikes all shiny and spangly, very knowledgeable and helpful staff – and the bank account is now heavily dented! I’m picking it up tomorrow, and will look ridiculous bedding it in on our group ride Sunday – I anticipate some serious p*ss taking!
Were doing it on the Sunday starting from Morgins – Gulp!

I did the PPDS a few years back on a 4″ trail bike, which to me was perfect as it is quite a long route and you have to consider the lifts will close at a specific time. I did use elbow/shin pads and a full face helmet, more of a confidence thing, but plenty of people didn’t.

I just upped the rotor size on the front of the bike and put downhill tubes in and big tyres and cable tied my quick releases.

Aside from the PPDS, you probably need to ask you associates what kind of riding you are going to be doing there as well. I did the downhill runs on my bike, but there were quite a few things that would have befitted have something with more travel…and brave pills.

Are you going for the whole of the following week or a long weekend just for the event?
5-6″ travel at either end should see you alright, you don’t sound the type to being nailing 15ft drops or setting records on dh runs. If you’re taking it steady then a hardtail with big disc rotors and fat (2.4″+) tyres wouldn’t be a terrible idea.
From what I’ve seen its a bigger version of UK trail centres, I didn’t think the descents are killers. I could be wrong though.

What MTB do you usually ride?

I’m doing the PPdS on a 140mm FS bike this year and I’m confident I’ll enjoy it a lot more than when I did it on an older Big Hit 2 years ago.

I would say get…

140-160mm travel FS bike
Open face helmet fine
Elbow and knee pads
Dual ply tyres or DH tubes or both

It’s easier than many UK trail centres.

Just a nice, big XC ride that uses the lifts.

Great event – I’m sure you’ll love it.

I’ve ridden it a few years running on a Meta 5.5 with Pike U-turn airs (140mm front and back) – for SOME sections I would have wanted a bigger bike, but for the vast majority of it I thought my bike was perfect.
I did make a few changes from ‘norm’ – 2.5″ heavy Maxxis High Rollers (tubeless)and stuck a 180mm disc on the rear. Both these (IMHO) are overkill for most of my UK riding, but are reasonably cheap and easily swappable.
I also have a 2×9 and bash, but that’s my norm for the UK.

I wore a full face one year, lid the next. I felt ‘safer’ in the Full face, but did get pretty hot on the extended climbs and more XC sections, so on balance would wear a lid (giro zen) again, but take the FF for bike park fun!

Enjoy it – it’s brilliant fun, and is a bit of a challenge to complete – you do need to crack on with it to finish (no mincing)!

DrP

Big hit or stinky from Pinkbike seem to be cheap and you’ll probably get similar to what you paid for it if you sell it when you get back… unless you get the bug and then you could sell your road bike?!

Dirtbiker is wrong partly, it is like UK trail centre but the runs are much longer, I could ride it on a hartail but would much prefer the comfort of my Prophet. We were clocking up to 80 miles a day downhill for a week and don’t think I’d have managed that on a hardtail. I’ve ridden a few uplift days here on a hardtail with big forks and it does tire your legs much more quickly.

Just noticed you say you’re 6’2″. I’m a bit taller and found 661 back protectors stop about 3 inches above my belt! May want to try before you buy anything.

Having done it last year, I’d say you’d suffer on a hardtail. You’re in the saddle all day remember. And the braking bumps are pretty serious on the downhills.

I used my Intense 5.5 which was perfect. Orange 5’s, Santa Cruz Blur’s etc seemed pretty well represented too. You don’t need a ‘bigger’ bike than that

Whatever you ride, you’ll enjoy it. Its a right laugh 😀

Have been working away with no tinterweb for a week. Mega thanks for all the advice all. My current thoughts are that I’m going with a guy I’ve ridden with before. He’s taking a SC Bullit with Coil shock, and having ridden with him before I am quite certain that he will not be hanging around on the descents. So much so that I was thinking that the 2009 Giant Glory from Pauls Cycles might just be the way to go…I know it’s probably a bit ‘over biked’ for that event…but we do have the rest of the week to consider and the whole aim of the trip seems to be more ‘ride lots of downhill’ rather than ‘ride miles and miles and miles’.

So…next question…anyone any experience of the 2009 Giant Glory? Good buy, or is there something better?

I must say i just don’t get why people do PPDS. Crowded trails, loads of mid life crisisers and shitloads of knobs.

Thanks for the helpful post, Joe. To answer the question, I’m doing it cos the opportunity came around to do something new and different to what I usually do.

yeah! Joe loads of people riding bikes and enjoying it. Should be banned

I’m doing it mainly because I will be spending the weekend with mates riding bikes, which I enjoy – plus I’m having a midlife crisis and am a bit of a knob, so should fit right in with the crowds!

So…next question…anyone any experience of the 2009 Giant Glory? Good buy, or is there something better?

Absolute tank! If you’re into Victorian engineering then a Glory is definately the way to go

One of my friends has got one, he’s very happy with it and is finding a whole new world of riding off silly things has opened up – he’s now doing 8 to 10 foot drops 🙂
That’s really what those bikes are designed for, but are great fun to point down hills. The same applies with the Big Hit – they aren’t for climbing on! However the Glory comes with a granny ring so you can winch your way up.

If it was just a case of doing the PPdS I’d still stay away from a bike like the Glory and go for a Reign instead – they are very capable descenders and reasonable on the ups. But… as you’ve got a week of mostly downhill riding to do you might survive better on a bigger, burlier bike – I generally manage 3 days of DH before I can’t hold on any more, but I do tend to go for the rockiest descents poss.

Whatever you get I’d highly advise coil suspension as air generally isn’t robust enough to cope with repeated long descents.

Don’t buy a Glory to do the PPdS – get a 6in travel bike and you’ll probably enjoy it more than your mate.

Air shocks will be fine for the PPdS, I’m going to do it on a 140mm bikes with rp23 and Revelation.

I’m pretty hefty so I was definately looking for something with a coil shock…basically what I’m looking for is a bike with a coil shock and a double rather than a triple ring chainset… It also has to be ‘large’ or 18″ at the smallest (I reckon).

I haven’t ordered the Glory yet but I’ve yet to see anything else which gives me that ‘want that one’ sensation. Obviously I’d be grateful for any further suggestions.

’09 glory
’11 kona operator dh…if you can find one
’11 mondraker prayer (tweekes cycles)

either of these 3 will be perfect 😉

I personally ride a ’11 scott voltage fr30 that ive upgraded a lot….but at you’re height i wouldnt bother as both sizes only have a 14″ seat tube…im 5’10” and its perfect for me

That’s useful information, thanks transporter13. I’ve had a look at the Kona Operators but I’m running into price/size difficulties. Also hadn’t discovered tweekes cycles so I’m off to have a look at them now. Thanks!

whats your budget RID?
you wanting new or not fussed…..been helping a mate out with the same dilemma as you for the last 2 weeks…..he finally settled on an 09 bighit 1 from the pinkbike classifieds for 850 in excellent condition.

he’s 6’2″ and 18 stone…looked at all the options you are but couldnt justify the extra expense. fwiw, he said my bike rode nice….seattube aside.

hope that helps

My thoughts are that this is the only time I’m ever likely to get a chance to do something like this so I don’t want to find that the second hand bike I bought from the classifieds breaks in some way on the second day, due to the nature of the use that this type of bike gets I’d guess that that’s a bigger possibility than with an XC bike.

Also I’m pretty hefty and unused to ‘radical gnarr-core freeride’ type stuff so I’m expecting to be pretty harsh on the bike. So, from that perspective I’m looking for a new bike for around 1.5k. Obvioulsy if I can go cheaper then that’s more beer money for the trip!

Is this not Trance/Reign/Enduro/Meta5.5/Pitch type riding?

right, thats fine

have you considered the lapierre zesty…not as much travel as the above mentioned bikes, but perfect for general trail duties

what about this?
http://www.ashcycles.com/site/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5129&language=en

for me, it would be that ^^^^ or the 09 glory from pauls….the spec would last

I’ve always thought that lapierre were a bit…spindly? Not as reassuringly well built as the other two we’re discussing…

Anway I’m off for my tea now, thanks for the advice and I’ll let you know what decisions I make.

Thanks also to Pauloxo, part of the problem is that I’m really not sure what kind of riding this is. In my previous cycling life I’ve had an XC hardtail and just got on with it.