Mini DH or DH?

[Guest]

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
May 19, 2012, 11:18:02 AM

1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever

Login with username, password and session length

[What is the main type of machine you use to surf the site?]

What is the main type of machine you use to surf the site?
Desktop
	111 (28%)
Laptop
	158 (41%)
iPhone
	50 (12%)
Android phone
	28 (7%)
Tablet
	24 (6%)
Other
	14 (3%)
Total Voters: 285

[rugbyred]

As the title suggests, which one?

There is a thread on here with two beautiful Mini's up for grab which has got me thinking!

I have a Meta 5 which is serving me well but would like to get a dedicated DH rig. I use the Meta for everything from a 12hr race to DH. Most of my riding is done at a ski hill (Bromont, in Quebec, home to a World Cup race). I ride up then come down on the DH runs before using the chair lift.

In my eyes, please correct me if I am mistaken, I see Mini DH being more of a heavy duty all mountain/ light DH bike, which I could set up to ride up the hill and blast down, while the DH, is well, for DH.

What I would like to do is keep my Meta for riding up and get a bike solely for using the lift. The bike needs to handle everything the mountain has to throw at me and help me make it safely down (yes, both will do this).

From what I understand, they have the same geometry but one have an inch extra of travel. Besides this, what are the other differences? 180mm of travel should be adequate for me and I would prefer coil suspension for this use.

Open to all input and suggestions as this purchase won't be made for a while (end of season).

Thanks everyone and sorry for the length of the post.

Eric

[Ant]

Differences also include pivot point, and frame sizings.

Pivot point on the supreme is at the BB, pivot point on the mini is in line with the middle ring.

The mini frames tend to be a bit bigger than the supreme too.

[twin]

there's also the matter of weight distribution, or rather how the suspension is set up to work in terms of weight distribution. If you look at the tech sheet about the contact system you'll notice that while the dh is designed to be ridden downhill "only" and thus is balanced when situated at an angle, the mini is set up like at meta, balanced when flat. Keep in mind though that the mini is super capable downhill too as its geo is spot on for all around larking about. The reasoning behind the frame is also that a lot of if not most riders benefit from a bike with less travel and that is more flickable than a full blown dh rig. Sure, the dh rig is better at mach 3 speeds, but not everybody rides at that speed nor has the skills to handle a full blown dh rig. I've never tried a dh rig myself, but i do love my mini. It is one excellent bike and the new one due in 09 looks very promesing as well

keep in mind though that when i asked commencal directly about if i needed a dh for full on racing when i had a mini, their answer was no, they're too similar so one should suffice. Which is the better depends on your use and ability, but it's hard to go wrong with either imo.

and no, their geo is a bit different too, mainly pivot placement, chainstay lenght, ac height (eh, well obviously),  bb height, and so on. One is a pure bread dh bike, one is a pure bread do it all mini dh bike (or shorter travel dh bike with all mountain friendly geo).

[Vic-Tim.com]

I have a Meta 5 which is serving me well but would like to get a dedicated DH rig.

Get the DH then 

It would be far too tempting to either keep the MiniDH 'All Mountain' or start lightening it up to get it up hill.

A nice Supreme DH will be set up to point downhill, with single ring set-up and bomb-proof parts.

Also you can run 180mm triple crown forks on one ( a MiniDH is only really built for 160mm single crown )....and lets face it we all really dream of riding big rig bikes on hairy downhill tracks don't we? 

Tim S

[rugbyred]

Yes, most of us dream of riding big rigs!
I would put a Totem or a 66 on though. Don't enjoy the look of triple clamps.
Thanks for your imput.
Eric

[gravity-slave]

I had the same dilema when speccing my new fleet and ended up with a Meta 5 and a Surpeme DH.

My mate runs a Mini DH and while DH biased, it's definitely OK as a beefy all-mountain fun bike as well as a mini decender.  He takes that out, I choose my Meta or Supreme depending on the ride.

If you are doing ski lift access DH runs top to bottom, I wouldn't hesitate but get the Supreme DH. When you want to pedal up, bring out the Meta.  This will also give you a clearer differentiation between bikes and help you choose which one to take out to play!

Regarding the single crown deal, check the axle-to-crown length before you spec if for a Supreme DH.  I'm running a Boxxer on mine (200mm travel) and ended up pushing the stanctions through the crowns by another 10mm to slacken the angles off a shade.  That's with the head angle on slack too.  I don't know the dimensions on the forks you're looking at but check they are not too short.

[rugbyred]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Lots of food for thought!
Will definitely have to look into the axel to crown measurement before putting a Totem or 66 on the DH. Any suggestions SteveB? I know you don't like either company but Fox doesn't make anything longer than 160mm in single crown.

Eric