Downhill MoutnainBike
When you think about mountain bike, you probably think about a bike that is easily found in every shop. But it is more than that; for some people, it is a passion and it priceless to practice.
First, downhill mountain biking is a kind of extreme sport in its own way. You start your race at the top of a mountain and you end it at the bottom. You have to go down the quickest way you can without getting off the track. There are a lot of rocks, jumps and drops all along the trail; you have to be alert all through the race! Some of you might think that this sport is for lazy persons because of the way bikers are only going down a hill. Those people are wrong. If you want to be the quickest, you have to pedal all the way to the end. During a race, you are always fighting with your bike and with the track in order to stay on your bike without crashing into a tree.
For more information: www.pinkbike.com
A downhill mountain bike is worth between 5000$ to 8000$ depending on the components you choose to put on it. Every part can be customised. In fact, building a high-end mountain bike depends on the rider’s personal choices and on his riding style. A recreational downhill bike is not built the same way as a downhill race bike. In racing, money is not a problem; weight, strength and suspension are the only things that matter. Those bikes can be really abused before broking. Don’t forget that nothing is indestructible!
The main part of a downhill bike is the frame. It has to be very robust, very heavy, and suitable to big drops. The frame is build for abusive purpose only. The rear travel of those bikes is between 7 to 10 inches. The entire frame is built with aluminium 7005, nearly the same as the one used in airplane structure. The frame weight approximately 12 pounds. In fact, this is a kind of motocross but with out an engine!
For more information: http://www.bikes.com/
The front fork is built for the same purpose as the frame is. It has 8 inches of front travel and it is fully adjustable. All can be customised on it: rebound, compression and preload. The spring inside the fork can be changed for a stiffer one. This is the same thing for oil level and viscosity. My personal choice was the marzocchi 888 fork, this is almost the same as the picture. It’s an Italian fork. There is also other high end purpose fork builder like rockshox and Manitou.
For more information: http://www.marzocchi.com/
Groupo is the name given to call all other parts on bike. In fact, it is a group of parts. All the shifting gear is powered by shimano or sram most of the time. A rear derailleur is used to change speed of the real wheel cog. A rear cog has between 4 to 9 gears. The crank is the thing that allows you to move when you pedal. Brake in downhill is one of the most important mechanisms. It allows you to control your speed while you are going down. In downhill, we use hydraulics discs brakes. In general, the size of disc is between 6 to 8 inches of diameter. 8 inches ones got much more fresh air than 6 inches ones because they are bigger. The size gives you more breaking power, which is very important in downhill racing.
For more information: http://www.shimano.com/ or http://www.sram.com/
What is coming up in the downhill scene in Quebec? Well, this sport is gaining in popularity each year. Quebec downhill racers are very strong in this type of mountain bike racing. They ride in very technical. In Quebec, it’s almost impossible to live from mountain bike unless you are Marie-Helene Premont, one of the greatest cross-country racer. Actually, this sport is much more popular in British Columbia
Technology in mountain bike is always progressing. Few years ago Honda came out with a prototype bike, which was lighter than other bikes. This bike has an internal gearbox system. This gearbox provides very precise and fast shifting. It might seem to be heavy but in fact, this is very light. The frame is a one piece hydroformed which give you more rigidity to your frame. Also, some part where made in carbon fibre. The first bike worth approximately 100 000$ in R&D. You can see this bike in the downhill world cup series.
