Buying a new bike, but am I pigeon holing myself?

[Stf]

Judging by the experience and knowledge i've seen in this newsgroup i figured i'd throw this out to
anyone. I've been thinking about buying a new bike. I currently ride a schwinn mesa, a good all
around bike for the price. I rode in a couple cx races last summer, and it was fun as hell. lately
we've been getting into some crazy downhill stuff and I'm contemplating buying a new bike that
would suit both purposes. I'm stuck between dual suspension cross country or dual sus out of
bounds. So heres the delima, the two types of bikes i have in mind are a kona kikapu or stinky. I
cant have both nor can i keep my schwinn if i decide to upgrade. I've been leaning towards the
stinky but am wondering, isn't it a lot of cash for one area of riding? I know damn well i wont be
racing cx with it.

is there really a bike to serve both purposes?

Trevor

 

[Bomba]

STF wrote:
> Judging by the experience and knowledge i've seen in this newsgroup i figured i'd throw this out
> to anyone. I've been thinking about buying a new bike. I currently ride a schwinn mesa, a good all
> around bike for the price. I rode in a couple cx races last summer, and it was fun as hell. lately
> we've been getting into some crazy downhill stuff and I'm contemplating buying a new bike that
> would suit both purposes. I'm stuck between dual suspension cross country or dual sus out of
> bounds. So heres the delima, the two types of bikes i have in mind are a kona kikapu or stinky. I
> cant have both nor can i keep my schwinn if i decide to upgrade. I've been leaning towards the
> stinky but am wondering, isn't it a lot of cash for one area of riding? I know damn well i wont be
> racing cx with it.
>
>
> is there really a bike to serve both purposes?

In short, no. Cyclo cross and downhill are at totally opposite ends of the spectrum, and as such,
there are specialist bikes to do those purposes. CX bikes are based on road bikes and downhill bikes
are based on moto X bikes. Can you see why finding a compromise would be difficult?

It really depends how 'crazy' the downhills are that you're doing, but I'd go for the more XC-based
bike. You can still do the downhills, but you'll have to use more skills, and a little less bravado,
to negotiate them.

You may also want to check out the Santa Cruz Heckler and the Orange Patriot, which try to fulfill
the 'do-everything' role.

--
a.m-b FAQ: http://www.t-online.de/~jharris/ambfaq.htm

b.bmx FAQ: http://www.t-online.de/~jharris/bmx_faq.htm

 

[Mark Bockmann]

Trevor wrote:
> buying a new bike... I'm stuck between dual suspension cross country or dual sus out of bounds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hopefully you already know this, but whatever bike you buy, please keep it ON THE TRAIL.

Thanks.