[bobkatebob]

After my Juliana taking a thrashing in the Alps this summer going down DH tracks, I'm starting to look at DH bikes.

I don't want a full on massive DH rig as I want something more nimble and I don't think I will be trying any gaps anythime soon. But I am wanting something more beefy than my Juliana and I don't want anything just al little more than the juliana, otherwise I can just keep with my Juliana. I don't expect much peddling up hill as it will be for lift assisted DH mostly.
Another thing that has to be taken into account is I have 28" inside leg  (my Juliana is an XS).

So far on my list to look at are:

Commencal Supreme (prob FR,maybe DH, liked the look of the 6 but the s/m looks too big)
Transition 250
Cannondale Perp

I don't know why but I don't like Stinkys.

So can you recomend any other bikes, or do you have any opinions of the bikes I have on my list?

[bigtuboflard]

saw a fair few of these in Chatel this year;

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/commencal-supreme-24-2013/rp-prod83594

if you don't riding 24 wheels i bet it would be pretty bombproof. Orange do their alpine 160 is xs too;

http://www.orangebikes.co.uk/bikes/alpine-160_am/

guess it depends on how much you want to spend and just how burly you want the bike to be. This year in portes du soleil I rode a Specialized Status and one of the other lads i was out there with was on an Orange AM running rockshox totems and that as near as damn it as fast as mine on everything except rooty off camber nastyness.

[ferret]

my housemate just bought a commencal supreme fr, he bought a medium which was listed as a 15.5", I,m 5'7" and it feels about right for me (30" inside leg) is very similar in size to my scott voltage short, except the top of the headtube sits an inch or so higher.
based on that i would imagine the small could be ok for you. action on the rear suspension is very impressive.
chain reaction seem to have good deals on these.

[ferret]

saw a fair few of these in Chatel this year;

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/commencal-supreme-24-2013/rp-prod83594

if you don't riding 24 wheels i bet it would be pretty bombproof. Orange do their alpine 160 is xs too;

http://www.orangebikes.co.uk/bikes/alpine-160_am/

guess it depends on how much you want to spend and just how burly you want the bike to be. This year in portes du soleil I rode a Specialized Status and one of the other lads i was out there with was on an Orange AM running rockshox totems and that as near as damn it as fast as mine on everything except rooty off camber nastyness.

Not sure about the commencal jr, geometry looks good but if i was gonna spend hard earned coin on a dh/fr lift orientated bike i'd want alot more than 140mm of travel.

The orange is an all mountain setup build to be able to climb as well, the geometry is gonna cost you in the downhill and your paying for weight loss instead of plushness and size of travel and burliness of the frame.

These look like options based on your size not the kind of riding you actually want to do.

*obviously a good rider can crush anything on any style of bike, but personally as i'm not a good rider i appreciate having a bike thats designed exactly for what i'm doing on it.

Having checked the commencal website the supreme fr 26" in a small is for riders 5'1"- 5'7" the supreme jr small is for riders 4'6"-5'1" and the medium 5'1"-5'5" and is now available with 160mm travel.
So if your not 5'1" you may as well buy the full size bike have the smoother rolling of 26" wheels and an extra 20mm travel front and rear

[bigtuboflard]

This looks a good option https://mobile.twitter.com/Chipps/status/372664867942965248

[bobkatebob]

This looks a good option https://mobile.twitter.com/Chipps/status/372664867942965248

Like the write up, looks like they realise that 29" is just nuts for the alps unlike SC Juliana which now comes in many different versions but only 2 FS have 26" the rest are 29" or 27.5", madness I say, madness! 

Anyway, back to this discussion...

No way am I riding 24", I maybe short but I am not a dwarf 

I like the look of the orange alpine-160 and if I was going to have 1 bike then it would be a contender, but my Juliana is fast and light so I am looking for something much more narly but still manuverable (blues in the les gets bike park for instance).

 Also as Ferret says, something forgiving, I'm trying to improve my riding style but I know that I have a long way to go.

Ferret, I think your right. Out of all the commencals, the supreme FR looks like it goes small enough yet has decent travel etc

[bigtuboflard]

OK i think i know what sort of bike you are looking for now

not sure how small the small of the Specialized Status' are, but I am 5ft 9 and with a 32 inside leg and ride a medium, but if the small is small enough for you I would definitely recommend having a look at one of those too. For the money you get a lot of bike, the status 2 at £2500, whilst not perfect (135mm rear hub spacing) is very capable with fox vanilla rc out back and boxxers up front, the bike certainly had a lot more in it when I gave up/got scared/fell off when I was riding Portes du Soleil a few weeks back...

[runt]

Titus El Guapo, small is pretty small! have a look at on-one if you haven't already

[account_inactive]

I've been pretty happy so far with my Trek Remedy 7. I found my dh bike too much for the majority of the nearby.  The only place it's been underpowered was on the harder Hamsterley grade 3 dh stuff

[ferret]

not exactly an uplift orientated bike park machine tho is it fella?

[ianv]

All the commencal people are riding meta sx's at vallnord, they look pretty cool. A Scott voltage would be an option as well. As would the enduro evo.

Or you could go for a proper bike like a demo 8 in XS  (my son is angling for one of these)

[account_inactive]

not exactly an uplift orientated bike park machine tho is it fella?

I wondered what you meant by this at first as mŷ bike has 160 travel.......but then I realised mine was an ôld version and they've come up with the scratch!

[ferret]

Some photos, the top of the tape is where a 28" inside leg ends when stood on the floor, might give you a bit more idea of standover height.
The Voltage is a short, smallest they make
The Supreme FR is a Medium,
The Reign X1 is a Small, my wife is 5'5" comfortably rides this, not a full on DH/FR bike but has 160mm at front and 170mm in the back, and the geometry is geared more towards the downhill, similar to an enduro evo, basically a pedally fun bike.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamwoodsphotos/9641270098/#

Cannot embed these images for the life of me, follow link and click through. 

[ianv]

Yt noton pro, air suspension all round which will save on new springs. Looks ace.

The perp is possibly the ugliest bike ever (saw one in the flesh yesterday)

[bobkatebob]

Thanks everyone for your input.
Sorry it's taken so long to post, I've been changing job and city so things have been manic (even more than usual if that is possible :-S ).

Ianv, don't you dare say that about a Perp in front of bkb Jr, he has one and loves it.

Anyway to cut a long story short(I did literally write it then delete it for your sanity) I am now the proud owner of a transition TR450 frame in size small

So big project for me sorting out all the components etc ready to ride it next year