How much CAN an XC bike take?

[Disco]

After noticing a comment on this in another thread, i thaught we could share and shame some XC bike thrashing experiences to fing out how much an XC bike can take?

*the following accounts are hardtails, but feel free to add in duallys too!!

1) My bike is a 2003 Merida Matts Speed. It has handled up to 5' drops, 5'doubles and numerous thrashings on Downhill courses. the frame and bits are in perfect nic ( cant say much about the Rockshox Pilots! after casing a set of doubles tho......) *nb my riding is usually pretty smooth tho

2) My former bike is a 1999 Merida Matts Slick Rock, and has handled 6' hucks to flat, 5' doubles, DH courses and hitting a tree at about 35km/h (the rear triangle), 360s out of the half pipe to bank, Gapping out of the bowl and OUT of the skatepark! about 7 foot air acheived here to flat (not me riding) and is still in perfect nic (keeping in mind when i first baught the bike i replaced the wheels with velocity deep Vs imediately) . *nb my riding is pretty smooth tho

3) My Bosses bike was a Avanti Agressor 2000 model. it was raced DH for a season and a half, riding 4X, 6' doubles, urban, MASSIVE gaps and (apart from plutting stronger rims on it at the start) is only a little twisted in the frame (rear triangles) *nb bike THRASHED as much as almost physically possible


Tell us your stories guys! How much CAN an XC Bike Take?

Little Mike

[Rexy]

dude i dont want to know how much my bike will take ive dropped it nearly 2m to tranny and almost 1m to flat sand and done smallish djs on it and the odd bit of urban... im upgrading to a freeride bike as soon as i can afford one mines got a tough rear rim and that didnt help i found it wasnt that tough when i put a flat spot in it doing sucking alot amuter trials (dont laugh i like my stuff perfect hate flat spots) xc bikes will take alot more abuse than people think but dont push them too far or the fuck up fairy will visit

the way you were riding my bike on thursday.. not very much ;)

*jump...CASE* :lol:

[fatkat]

my haro in the week that ive had it has had some pretty knarly stacks and serious bashings.
i went down the wrong line after getting stuck in a water channel and pinch flatting the rear, then while it was flat i went off a 2ft drop (i didnt know it was flat) and carreered down the mtn for another 20m.. dont know how the rim survived (its a zac 19 piece of shit)

also the stairs going down two creeks track.. well yeah it kinda fell out of my hands and went down there- only a couple of minor scratches and the front wheel came out a bit wonky but thats all fixed now.

also i got HUGE air off one of the water-bars at cascades and landed on my front wheel and then into a tree.

my friends avanti barracuda has gone through much worse though. no probablems with his either.

so yeah this was all within a week- this bike is stock standard too.
they can take quite a bashing- my old trek 800 trail took a huge bashing too

[jasco]

XC bikes can take quite a beating, but generally they will wear out (read: brake) a lot quicker. I use to do hucks etc on my Norco Storm and eventually snapped the top tube on it (god knows why it broke there and not on the headset junction)

But as far as giving them a beating is concerned I think Rik and I can attest to giving our XC hardtails a good workout on the weekend doing St.Helenas in the Blue Mnts at 30+ km/h on some of the downhill sections
(Rik was on his GT Zaskar Race, and me on my Avanti Agressor)

[struggles]

I gave my old atx 870 a hard time and it took 5 years to form a crack in the chainstay.

[SPyX]

I reckon my GT is counted as an XC bike ("adventure" bike), it can take a fair bit of bashing :)

[Rexy]

what type of gt is that?
who wants to find out how much one will take?
from what ive found they are pretty sturdy my main problem is the position on the bike is not suitable for jumps (over the front position) and this kills my wrists

[jasco]

what type of gt is that?
who wants to find out how much one will take?
from what ive found they are pretty sturdy my main problem is the position on the bike is not suitable for jumps (over the front position) and this kills my wrists

Not to mention your balls with the seat up so high :shock: :oops:

[Rexy]

i chopped my seat so no ball crusher happen only the top tube is high enogh so i put a pad on that and its all good if you want to get off the ground on a xc bike these are two good ideas

[Disco]

try putting on a shorter stem, to change the steering ( because it is in fact easier to bunnyhop with a high front end - hence trials extra long stems). a shorter stem will give u slack, sweeping steering (needed for DH) and a long stem will give u quick, flicky steering used on XC for uphills. Personally i have a 90mm Titec stem so i get the best of both worlds!

Little Mike

[skeet]

XC bikes can take a huge beating. except for the rims, buckled.
i Dj, lite Dh and ride on the road a bit. nothing broken cept bars bent when i stacked over double.

[M@DM!KE]

Hucks....on XC bikes.....you guys are so silly. If i need to find you i will look in the emergency ward.

[Mo]

GT "Adventure" series are Avalanches. same frame as most GT hardtails, except for a few Zaskar.

my stem is 130mm, i find just a tad forward when riding on road, but it's pretty good. i've also done a fair bit of drops and jumps, nothing major, and a lot of stupid sh!t on the road. the only issue i have is the drivetrain. (crap alivio combo)

btw Gt Avalanche 2.0 with a lot of updates.

[Bodin]

This thread is technically about XC bikes, but there's so little actual XC or road content that it really belongs in the DJ or Freeride areas. I'd be motivated to move it if it contained anything worthwhile, but it doesn't.