Perfect Park Bike?
- Thread starter a.s.
- Start date
JonF
Well-Known Member
I bought a Giga in '21 and ride it almost exclusively at bike parks. Its long, slack, stable and very plush--perfect for the bike park IMHO. The frame is very burly and rugged so it will take the punishments of the bike park (especially creek since its so rocky). The 38mm fork is plenty rugged enough for me and at 180mm, i personally seldom get close to full travel since i'm an intermediate rider at best. I mostly ride all the freeride trails except the biggest ones and do dabble in the rocky tech trails. Mine is set up to be a bit plush since i ride Creek most often. I added Dh casing tires, an EXT coil shock and tuned the Fox 38 to be more compliant in the rough bits but you can set it up to be more lively and poppy for flow trails. Creek does rattle bolts loose and i have had some pivots work loose but nothing some locktite cant fix. The pivot bearings aren't that great and i've had to replace them already due to water ingress due to a few wet park days. Mine's an XXL and weighs in at 36+ lbs (though likely more after adding the coil, DH tires, flexx bars and other stuff).
For shits and giggles i took my 140mm trail bike to the park for closing weekend instead of the giga. The flex and general lower limits of the bike were apparent over the Giga but since its a bit smaller and lighter, it was a different, more playful experience.
Another bike i would consider is the Transition Spire--equally as big as the Giga (maybe a bit more) and so would make a great park rig.
krink
Eddie Munster
Thanks! Looking into both
iLuveketchup
Well-Known Member
I would look into the Spire, as already mentioned. I chose to get a Trek Session when this season started as it was the only bike available at the time. I prefer the Session at Creek for the chunky stuff. In relatively smooth trails at Windham and Killington (requires some pedaling), I'd rather have an enduro bike.
Ian F
Well-Known Member
Agree. I enjoy Bluephoria for what I believe it's supposed to be: more of a "pure" enduro trail with mostly descending with a bit of flattish stuff and even some climbs. I wouldn't want to ride it on a pure DH bike.
I tend to believe the "perfect park bike" will depend some on a few variables. 1. budget. 2. How often you plan to ride at bike parks. 3. skill/commitment levels. Budget is sort of self-explanatory - if you can only afford one bike to do everything, your choices will be different than someone with an "N+1" attitude. 2 & 3 are a bit more variable. If you plan to ride at parks a lot, then splurging for a dedicated DH bike can be worth it. They are generally designed to take more abuse than most enduro/trail bikes are. That said, modern DH bikes are really designed for racing and in my experience, only really "work" if you can pilot one at a certain minimum speed. Below that speed and they can be awkward and ill-handling beasts. The latter is what keeps me from building another DH bike. The want is there, but the skills are lacking.
Tires and wheels can really transform a bike and make it more suitable for park riding. If you can only afford or have room for one bike that needs to do everything, springing for a set of dedicated park wheels and DH casing (heavy AF) tires along with a set of lighter wheels/tires for every day riding can really help a bike serve multiple purposes.
Cassinonorth
Well-Known Member
That trail needs to be turned into a Cat and Mouse clone from Thunder Mountain.
There's zero blue flow at Creek without jumps.
a.s.
Mr. Chainring
Why anyone would want to take a chairlift to ride a trail like Bluephoria is beyond me. It’s flat, chunky and slow. I can ride trails like that at Ringwood or Wildcat.
But I digress. Personally I feel a dedicated park bike should be single purpose- awesome at shredding all types of downhill trails. That means it’ll suck at climbing and feel cumbersome on flat sections. Something you’d probably never ride without a lift.
That's my favorite aspect of Thunder, and really every bike park that I've ridden that's not Mt Creek. Mt Creek is basically completely binary. Either you're riding a "flow trail" like breakout which will have nearly zero rocks, or you're riding a tech trail like, say "The Jack", which is basically just rocks and most of them are a random jumbled pile that you have to make sense of especially toward the bottom of that trail. Monarch or something like that might be a better example. But there's very little that combines those things. Once you're done with the flow trails at Creek it's like "alright, now I'm going to get the crap beat out of me", which I also enjoy, it just feels like Thunder has a really nice mix figured out. Also love that something like "Bushwack" is a blue trail. Good luck to the higher level beginner who is starting to venture out onto blue trails with that one.
iLuveketchup
Well-Known Member
I am a beginner (2nd season on an mtb / 1st season in park) and, to be honest, the only reason I'm staying upright on the chunky stuff like Bushwack is because of the DH bike. 😁 I don't know what I am doing when it comes to jumps/flow, which in my case (no pun intended 🤣).. the dh bike doesn't really help.
Last edited:
JonF
Well-Known Member
It does *seem* that way since the majority of the trails are either/or. But the fact that most creek trails are rather short and end mid-mountain, you can string together a combination of tech and flow. And there are a bunch of those blue tech trails that do have a little of each mixed in like outlaw, the jack and others.
What’s the point of a flow trail without jumps lol
Well, it’s an enduro trail they built for the enduro races…so it was never intended as a “lift” trail or for DH bikes.
I actually love the fact that Creek is so raw and technical. It’s bred by racers. Not that I’ve been to a ton of DH parks, but I definitely haven’t been anywhere with trails like Slayer, DMLH, BMW, Deceit. The pucker factor on any of those double blacks is unrivaled. What’s the point of a 200mm travel if you aren’t smashing the most brutal of rock gardens?
Ian F
Well-Known Member
So many of the tech trails at Creek have been there since the late 90's when we started racing there. From what I remember, one thing that makes them tricky is you really have to stop and figure out the line. Once you do, they aren't bad. But if you roll into most of them without really knowing where to go, it can get overwhelming really quick. Also, if things go wrong, they can go wrong quite painfully.
Bluephoria reminds me a bit of the Faux Pine trail at Highland. That was one of my favorite "last run" trails if the lift was closing, since it usually took a while to get down it.
Bluephoria reminds me a bit of the Faux Pine trail at Highland. That was one of my favorite "last run" trails if the lift was closing, since it usually took a while to get down it.
a.s.
Mr. Chainring
Exactly why they should have a sign stating that. Maybe something like, “Do you even enduro bro?”
😆
Cassinonorth
Well-Known Member
Yep that's a great point. There's no Trillium there.
They seem to be pretty popular. Sideshow Bob at Killington gets a ton of traffic. Does Domboo have any jumps? That's gotta be one of the more popular trails there too.
There's just very minimal progression from Greenhorn before you're on a jump trail with no ridearounds (tables, obviously but still). It's not for the seasoned bike parker...but there's absolutely a demand.
Last edited:
Cassinonorth
Well-Known Member
Tempest has a bunch of jumps that have no ride arounds. At least 4 of them are step downs that force you into the air.
a.s.
Mr. Chainring
Back on topic...
The Commencal FRS is a dope AF park bike...
https://www.vitalmtb.com/product/guide/Bikes,3/Commencal/FRS-Ride,35188
The Commencal FRS is a dope AF park bike...
https://www.vitalmtb.com/product/guide/Bikes,3/Commencal/FRS-Ride,35188
If I got a DH bike it would be this.
Maybe a difference in terminology with "ride arounds". Everything on Tempest, with the exception of the two wooden features (and I guess the new natural/rock drop) can be rolled and those features definitely have plenty of space to go around them. I'm terrible at anything that requires being off the ground so I take full advantage of this.