You should also test entry-level hardtail mountain bikes like Trek Roscoe and Marlin which beginners like me can afford. Most of us buy new ones instead of Ebay.
With retro bikes they become a labour of love, a very expensive labour lol my stinky garbanzo originally bought for £450 now stands me to over £1000 but still love it 😜🤙
The choice is actually this: do I ride an old, cheap bike with suspension and components that work fine, or do I ride the bus to work for a year, until I might be able to afford a modern one.
I have poster Kona Stinky Duluxe FR and Giant Gambler from 2010 magazine when i decide to start biking... I always imagine before i sleep...how great that bike..that make my sleeping time more easy
Nah I think the designs have reached sort of peak evolution. At around 2007-2010. Every change since then has been minimal. Slightly more slack longer top tubes maybe. Anything within 2007 and now is completely capable and can compete with any year.
I remember working at a Kona shop and selling matching Stinkys to a couple. Bit overkill on the prairie but maybe they drove to the mountains frequently
It was my first "DH" bike and it was absolute rubbish ! Worst bike I ever owned and at the time I was a complete Kona fanboy, completely bias and yet came to this conclusion, speaks loads for that bike lol.
IronHorse sgs downhill pro! pick up the frame and rear shock for $300 on ebay! That is like buying a frame for $150. $50 fsa headset, $400 kke forks, Swapped my sram Eagle GX drive train, brakes and rotters from my old bike. Had to purchase DMR downhill front wheel with 20mm axle to fit the heavy duty fork- $300. $200 seat dropper post, Maxxis Holey Roller tires for commuting and shredding the mountains here in Maine.
I took a 2015 Trek Session 88, ripped all the drivetrain off, switched it to a 12 speed SRAM drivetrain complete, Rebuilt the Boxxer fork, put a Kitsuma 170mm dropper post, some 50mm riser bars a Rockshox Select+ rear air spring and is now my favorite bike in my fleet. 210mm travel rear, 200 front. And with the drivetrain and dropper I can actually climb pretty decent. Your “Downduro” series motivated me to build this bike and it’s awesome. Also, found it on FB market place👍🏻
Oh man, bringing back the memories. The Stinky Dee-Lux was the first good downhill/free ride bike that I bought brand spanking new back in the day, only the frame was black and tan instead of black and green. Damn I loved that bike!
I bought a 2011 Demo8 last year for $500 and it is a blast to thrash. I've been rebuilding and replacing as I go. New brakes, rebuilt suspension, new bearings, and just did a total strip down cleaning and fresh paint job. Even with the purchase price and what I've put into it in new parts, I'm way cheaper than any new DH bike on the market. There's plenty of life left in these bikes. Get it and rip it!
I bought an old Specialized 26“ FULL SUS XC bike as my first MTB. It is circa 2006-2008. Feels really light. Fork sucked so I replaced it with a modern RockShox Reba with 100mm travel, put disk brakes on it and new Schwalbe Rocket RON tires, as well as new handles and pedals. I really love this bike. It is nimble, it is light, it is fast and it has a beautiful sky blue metallic paint job 🎨 Will ride this bike for years to come! ❤️🏔🚲
The skelatal brakes on the mongoose are made by Clark’s components. They make cables and import lots of oe catalogue parts and brand them up etc . The kona bike Blake rode has a mavic d321 rim on hope bulb. The mongoose worked on a variation of the I-drive system that GT used (same parent company) so not a true URT design like say a Klein mantra
Nice dude! I'm a hard tail'er that also rides downhill and my hard tail will not even come close to keeping up with the bumps. I ride clipless, been riding hardcore since 1999!
My 2000 Stinky Dee ended up with cracks around the BB and all the linkage yokes after DH use with a Shiver. The whole rear end was basically ready to self destruct. Fun tho, extended the rear travel to 190mm
Don’t forget that in 10 years from now people will look back on your cutting edge 2022 downhill bikes and wet themselves with amazement at how rubbish they were! You rode what you had! great video though and I also enjoyed the first video as well👍
@@olas701 well said sir it’s never about what you ride it’s the ride itself when everyone had hard tailed x country bikes with no suspension we still had a total blast
@@olas701 gmbn etc are obviously pandering to the bike industry, nothing inherently wrong with that, but you'd think riders and local shop community should be more supportive. I have friends with expensive bikes and they admire me hauling that heavy old cheap bike up the mountain. I drool over their bikes, but what matters is we get out there and ride what we can afford. It's all about being out there and having fun
@@olas701 with all respect, it's a GB channel, so it's targeted more towards EU/US audience with the salary level there is in those countries and 400$ Is not an insane price for EU I understand that in some parts of the world it can be a big difference. U can go to any EU bike park, and it's common to see 3-4k+ bikes there lol, as people can afford it as for this marketing stuff, I don't know... having compared more expensive stuff and cheaper stuff, I can say that usually more expensive stuff indeed performs better, but... it's all about the budget and what piece of equipment we are referring to I mean, u can always use Yari fork + select+ suspension mixed with Deore and be very happy about that. And that does not cost a fortune, but it makes a huge difference on the way you ride. I've ridden Sram Guide R brakes in the mountains and those brakes stopped working within a couple of days :) so... depends also, when you watch shows like Top Gear, u don't expect them to be praising cheap cars, do you? :)
Mongoose suspension is _NOT_ URT. It is an offshot of GT i-drive suspension. it is true that the BB moves with the swingarm, but it happens through a linkage and it works really well. GT was using this kind of suspension as late as mid tweens, if I recall correctly. Also - complaining about weight of a bike with a monster-t ( 4,5kg of fork ) when 2.0kg lyriks and 2.2kg totems were available during that era is also not really fair. Lastly, most of these can be salvaged with trading off their fairly high BB with HA, by using offset shock mounting hardware and dropping $20 for 800mm-ish bar.
Have a 2003 Stinky Dee with Boxxers on the front. Changed the wheels and brakes for something more decent and converted to 1x11. It's not as capable as the latest free/DH bikes for sure but doesn't stop me from keeping up with most. The boxxer on the front has also changed the Head angle to 64 degrees so I'd say blakes bike is roughly the same. love the Stinky Dee and is a perfect compliment to my Norco Manik, running 200mm dual crown on the front. Nothing wrong with the older bikes, just gotta ride them differently.
I have a 2008 Kona stinky that I got for about 450-500 USD, put some love into it and its a pretty fun free ride bike. Although the rear shock was garbage lol
Picked up an old 2002 norco atomik for £200 a couple months back and swapped some parts bin stuff onto it. I've no idea if it's that good as it's the only full sus bike I've had, but I wanted one back when I was at school and you can't go wrong with some cheap retro nostalgia!
Do a video upgrading / modernising this bike for an insight for people that might get something like this and want to ride it well. Things such as brakes, handlebars, stem maybe even drivetrain
It always amazes me how shitty bikes were in the mid 2000s, while dirt bikes had it all figured out in terms of suspension and geometry. My 2006 YZ250F was an incredible dirt bike all around, even by modern standards. Mountain bikes on the other hand were still in the stone age apparently!!
Full suspension bikes were hard back then. Hardtails were sorted out much earlier, oldschool Konas and Marins and things like that are still pretty good. Full sus from the 90s are terrible and 2000s were getting better slowly. It is not easy to invent a good system I guess
Right? Its an interesting comparison. It took an extraordinarily long time to get MTB suspension to the point where it's affordable,light and good. To be fair it was an uphill battle. They were trying to make it 1/5th of the weight of dirt bike suspension ,while supporting 2/3rds the weight
I never thought about this, but you are right, it took a while for mountain bikes to catch up. I used to race a 2007 YZ250F, and now I race a 2015 bike - one is carb, one is fuel-injected, but if we're looking at suspension and geometry - they're very, very similar.
In 2013 i built up a Dabomb dirt bomb x frame from 2011. Put good stuff on it and updated when they broke or wore out. Rode it all the years til now when i bought an eduro bike. Absolute tank of a bike that one. Once in like 2018 the shock broke and i rented a scott gambler 27,5. Actually i did not think it was any better. The rear suspension is so bloody good on the dabomb it runs like butter! Will keep it forever even if it wont be ridden too much any more.
also the bb height is raised relative to rear axle and also you have toe overlap issues. Goes back to the ol’ 69er mtb of early 00s - the original mullets
Picked up a 2020 Calibre Triple B for £700 in March. Nothing wrong with it and has done me 200mi already including trips to Glenlivet. Second hand is the way to go these days.
I picked up a norco Bigfoot (not the fat bike version) for £120 not long ago and although it’s far from a DH bike it is one of the many “ hardcore hard tail” bikes to come along in the early 2000s that seem to be capable of most things. with a few minor tweaks it is a way more confidence inspiring ride than my upgraded diamondback peak and it’s ideal as a loaner bike if a mate wants to come along on a ride 😀👍🏼
The other day I brought a carerra banshee my first full suss budget bike and changed all the bearings on it. done the bottom bracket. done the headset it now rides like a bran new bike, I couldn't be happier as I don't think I could bring myself or my wallet to go any higher than 300 quid on a bike specially in these times.
The Stinky frame is worth £300. A £3000 all singing, all dancing carbon frame has a limited life. A Kona Stinky will outlive the human race. Those things are tanks.
I got a 2009 one of these for £500 and it was in perfect condition, Besides from things you expect to be warn e.g caset. The suspension was great and the brakes were great. I would recommend if your on a budget but make sure its in good condition :D
Got mine for 200€ (isch 2000kr in swedish money), bought a totem 180 for 40€ and new brakes 120€. Bought a 27.5" nukeproof front wheel and thats it! 😁 Third fastest on my local hill 😅 but its is way to short its a 17" large but bars 780 barley pass the sadel haha
It wasn't downhill but I was given thru freecycle (a website where people give things away for free to avoid landfill) a dmr trailstar with hope m4 brakes, mavic rims, hope hubs, manitou sherman forks and a dodgy saddle. Bargin
Had a 2007 kona stinky black frame with an 888 fork on it and 8 inch rear travel sus that bike was stretched out more than it was supposed to be really cause of the cane creek headset so thats why i fit the 8 inch rear kinda stood it back up. It had a high center of gravity after all that was said and done but man. It huckkkked. And i never smashed my bottom bracket on that bike. As soon as i got my canfield jedi i started smashing the bottom bracket until i got used to taking better lines or hopping a bit.
Buy a frame from 2013 for £500 I got a cube two 15 frame then build it up with morden parts best thing I bought when I finished my project it’s cost me just over a grand just I can’t stop throwing my money at it lol
Pedant point: The Mongoose isn't a URT. The BB is floating, on URT's the BB is fixed around the chain stay effectively making it rigid when you stand up. That said, it's still garbage. :D
Got a 2008 Kona dawg deluxe last year for 350cad ended up spending another 1100cad on rear shock rebuild(fox rp2) new front fork new front and rear sram brakes sets and new 180mm rotors front and rear. I spent more then I was hoping but damn does it ever ride nice.
actually i has a 2009 canfield Jedi with fox 40 and Avalanche rear shock, i9 hubs, formula one brakes, saint cranks, all for $800...and i sold it two years ago like the jerk that i am. such an awesome bike it was
Mmh 69° yeah, but with what fork? Cause if the length is not the same you are going to change the angles quite a bit: for example, have a very old Cannondale Jekyll 1000 from 2004, just to play with it i tried a talas 32 with 150mm travel, and got 65.7° degrees of head angle, with quite some stability and the headtube on those old Cannondales is beefy even by today standards. Mostly the point with older bike is: you are going to get into complicated life mostly, cause the standards have changed so much, especially in the last 10 years.
Loved this video!👌🏻 Those old bikes bring back so much nostalgia!🙌🏻 I think you should get "Needles" in or on Skype to talk about his time with this epic piece of s**t!👍🏻😂 It would make a great episode!👌🏻🤔
Heres what i done. I went 2013 its old yes but heres the catch. I ride a canfield jedi upgraded to fox 40 in front and marzi rear sus. Its upgraded to hydraulic elixr brakes. I used to ride a 2007 kona stinky i had the 888 fork on that and fox rear sus with a lock out because i used that as as all around. The kina also had elixrs on it. Before that one i had a 1998 kona stinky that i had a super t fork on and fox dh rear suspension. It was also fitted with elixr brakes. What can i say i love the elixrs lol. But they were all very capable bikes. But i am glad i upgraded to the canfield to give it a more stretched out feel because its slacker by quite a bit than either if the konas.
Had a giant glory was in it 1500 cad did a fork used new brakes cassette and derailleur on sale and it was great but too small for me at the time most bike maxed out at sz large
@@LCNismo I'm not broke. I'm a student so I can't afford a full suspension. Besides I'm a beginner so it's better to start with these bikes. In future, I will be able to afford it so then I won't mind spending over three thousand pounds.
How easy would a frame swap be? aside from worn brakes and broken pieces how easy would it be to buy a modern shockless frame online and swap everything else?
I'd like to see a similar video for dirt jump or jump bikes which don't get much love or attention. Overbuilt hardtails with short wheelbases and overly strong for tricks etc. Then I'd like to see them used for the wrong disciplines like XC and DH. My Deore equipped Saracen Xile was only £40 s/hand and in perfect nick.
The devinci people still ride. I have not seen a mongoose in person in years. But the Kona I seen lately a friend was riding one. He bought it for the parts soon after he stripped it for another frame now he rides a old Ellsworth bike which to me is great
Is it though? I mean 26 inch wheels don’t feel as big, fast and safe compared to larger 29ers, which you would need the longer reach for, to further enhance this effect. I mean how did we ride all those „cramped“ 26ers back than then? Since 26ers are naturally playful, I would stick to regular sizing. Upsizing - if told to our past selves from the 26er era - would sound borderline silly, wouldn’t it?
i've only been riding a year and spent most of that year on a 2010 kona stab. it was ok to learn on but i'm now on a spesh enduro which is waaaaaaay better!
@@ivwshane first thing i noticed was how unfit i was! with the DH bike i was walking the ups and not really getting that much riding done. also it opened up a lot more places i could ride. in terms of actually going down, not much difference, my new bike is 160 fork 27.5 wheels it defo feels a little easier over mild rough than the 200mm 26 in DH Bike. but the biggest difference....Dropper post!!!
@@DownhillDesireMTB Buy an e-bike and have the best of both worlds. Retain your crappy fitness, but still ride up the hill. No need to walk the bike, but also, no need to be in shape to ride up.
@@DownhillDesireMTB I thought I hated them until I bought one on clearance. Best decision I made regarding bikes. I get out riding way more than I did before because I don't need a shuttle now.
Never heard if skeletals? What? Im barely 25 and most of my old bikes have had skeletals lol i inly started upgrading brakes when i got up to the 2007 kona stinky. I out avid elixrs on that bike and never experienced and brake fade in parks so ive been running elixrs ever since. They have better stopping brakes but ive noticed those higher end brake tends to get fade in the parks i ride. Really steep stuff.
I want to buy that DaVinci for the price that you paid I only ask that you clean up that front fork and put some fresh oil in there how much would this cost me in full detail with shipping Plus I would like to have your names on each bike that was used in other words yes I would like to purchase all three but it would be a slow process
"URT design" where is doddy to proper explain things.. Neil rode gt sanction and probably gt force with AOS system yet calls the mongoose URT? Although at least he said there are some linkages there
I offer my bike for review. It is possible to exchange for your mongoose bike from this video. I have a hardtail, I drove the Mega Avalanche 2023 race in Russia on it. Next season I'll ride your bike and shoot a video, I think there will be interesting content.
Shit loads of your viewers would probably love one of those 'bad' bikes. Seeing as I can't afford car money on a mountain bike I know I would. Strip down and rebuild I'd be like a pig in shit.
Have you ever found a bargain DH bike? What were your experiences if so!? Share them down below with the GMBN community!👇
No, surprisingly I haven't!
You should also test entry-level hardtail mountain bikes like Trek Roscoe and Marlin which beginners like me can afford. Most of us buy new ones instead of Ebay.
@@umarrk3082 most people buy off ebay
With retro bikes they become a labour of love, a very expensive labour lol my stinky garbanzo originally bought for £450 now stands me to over £1000 but still love it 😜🤙
could you put a 29 inch wheel on the front of the kona? what woud be the head angle then? Master mullet
The choice is actually this: do I ride an old, cheap bike with suspension and components that work fine, or do I ride the bus to work for a year, until I might be able to afford a modern one.
ride now! tomorrow often doesn't come.
@@davidsuzukiispolpot no question about it!
Ride now, and ride a £50 road bike to work, until you can afford a better mountain bike
Commuting on a bike with suspension is very wasteful. Only rigid for commuting
@@stuvademakaroner9607 depends on distance. And front suspension might not be too bad. But yes, rigid best for commuting on paved roads
Ten or more years from now, people would say that it's unimaginable how we can ride such crappy "modern bikes" today.
Ughhh I don't think so mate, just look at the grim donut lol.
I have poster Kona Stinky Duluxe FR and Giant Gambler from 2010 magazine when i decide to start biking...
I always imagine before i sleep...how great that bike..that make my sleeping time more easy
If head tube angles get any slacker, we’ll be ridding “choppers” 😂
Nah I think the designs have reached sort of peak evolution. At around 2007-2010. Every change since then has been minimal. Slightly more slack longer top tubes maybe. Anything within 2007 and now is completely capable and can compete with any year.
I absolutely loved that kona when it first came out, lbs was a stockist and I always wanted one but they were big money back then!
I remember working at a Kona shop and selling matching Stinkys to a couple. Bit overkill on the prairie but maybe they drove to the mountains frequently
It was my first "DH" bike and it was absolute rubbish ! Worst bike I ever owned and at the time I was a complete Kona fanboy, completely bias and yet came to this conclusion, speaks loads for that bike lol.
IronHorse sgs downhill pro! pick up the frame and rear shock for $300 on ebay! That is like buying a frame for $150. $50 fsa headset, $400 kke forks, Swapped my sram Eagle GX drive train, brakes and rotters from my old bike. Had to purchase DMR downhill front wheel with 20mm axle to fit the heavy duty fork- $300. $200 seat dropper post, Maxxis Holey Roller tires for commuting and shredding the mountains here in Maine.
I’m still riding a 2007 demo. I never stop and think about the bike holding me back, I can always ride better
I rode a Stinky at whistler in 2004 and had the time of my life. This vid made me nostalgic.
I took a 2015 Trek Session 88, ripped all the drivetrain off, switched it to a 12 speed SRAM drivetrain complete, Rebuilt the Boxxer fork, put a Kitsuma 170mm dropper post, some 50mm riser bars a Rockshox Select+ rear air spring and is now my favorite bike in my fleet. 210mm travel rear, 200 front. And with the drivetrain and dropper I can actually climb pretty decent. Your “Downduro” series motivated me to build this bike and it’s awesome. Also, found it on FB market place👍🏻
Oh man, bringing back the memories. The Stinky Dee-Lux was the first good downhill/free ride bike that I bought brand spanking new back in the day, only the frame was black and tan instead of black and green.
Damn I loved that bike!
I bought a 2011 Demo8 last year for $500 and it is a blast to thrash. I've been rebuilding and replacing as I go. New brakes, rebuilt suspension, new bearings, and just did a total strip down cleaning and fresh paint job. Even with the purchase price and what I've put into it in new parts, I'm way cheaper than any new DH bike on the market. There's plenty of life left in these bikes. Get it and rip it!
Yes but you can't change one thing - 26", that why it's cheaper.
Sick. I remember dreaming about those when they were new. I bet it holds up just as good as stuff today tbh
I bought an old Specialized 26“ FULL SUS XC bike as my first MTB. It is circa 2006-2008. Feels really light. Fork sucked so I replaced it with a modern RockShox Reba with 100mm travel, put disk brakes on it and new Schwalbe Rocket RON tires, as well as new handles and pedals. I really love this bike. It is nimble, it is light, it is fast and it has a beautiful sky blue metallic paint job 🎨 Will ride this bike for years to come! ❤️🏔🚲
For some of us, part of the fun is dialling in a bike to the point where it is perfect. And then Enjoying it.
The skelatal brakes on the mongoose are made by Clark’s components. They make cables and import lots of oe catalogue parts and brand them up etc . The kona bike Blake rode has a mavic d321 rim on hope bulb. The mongoose worked on a variation of the I-drive system that GT used (same parent company) so not a true URT design like say a Klein mantra
Love the knowledge Matt
I bought a set of Clarks hydraulic brakes for my hard tail. Four years later I’ve yet to bleed them as they still work just fine.
Would be sick to see one of these old DH bikes versus an aggressive hardtail🤔
Nice dude! I'm a hard tail'er that also rides downhill and my hard tail will not even come close to keeping up with the bumps. I ride clipless, been riding hardcore since 1999!
Yea the hard tail is no match for a DH bike even from the 2000s, it’ll be quieter and lighter but that’s about it
Those old school bikes would outlive every modern bike nowadays. I like build from origin country
My 2000 Stinky Dee ended up with cracks around the BB and all the linkage yokes after DH use with a Shiver. The whole rear end was basically ready to self destruct. Fun tho, extended the rear travel to 190mm
Don’t forget that in 10 years from now people will look back on your cutting edge 2022 downhill bikes and wet themselves with amazement at how rubbish they were! You rode what you had! great video though and I also enjoyed the first video as well👍
@@olas701 well said sir it’s never about what you ride it’s the ride itself when everyone had hard tailed x country bikes with no suspension we still had a total blast
@@olas701 gmbn etc are obviously pandering to the bike industry, nothing inherently wrong with that, but you'd think riders and local shop community should be more supportive.
I have friends with expensive bikes and they admire me hauling that heavy old cheap bike up the mountain. I drool over their bikes, but what matters is we get out there and ride what we can afford. It's all about being out there and having fun
@@jurgenimschoot1704 i see, Maybe i should reconsider with who i ride my bike and i understand that about gmbn.
@@olas701 with all respect, it's a GB channel, so it's targeted more towards EU/US audience with the salary level there is in those countries
and 400$ Is not an insane price for EU
I understand that in some parts of the world it can be a big difference. U can go to any EU bike park, and it's common to see 3-4k+ bikes there lol, as people can afford it
as for this marketing stuff, I don't know... having compared more expensive stuff and cheaper stuff, I can say that usually more expensive stuff indeed performs better, but... it's all about the budget and what piece of equipment we are referring to
I mean, u can always use Yari fork + select+ suspension mixed with Deore and be very happy about that. And that does not cost a fortune, but it makes a huge difference on the way you ride. I've ridden Sram Guide R brakes in the mountains and those brakes stopped working within a couple of days :) so... depends
also, when you watch shows like Top Gear, u don't expect them to be praising cheap cars, do you? :)
@@ostankovalex1176 you got a point. Sorry i just threw out a little bit of my frustation in my comment.
I have Specialized Big Hit from 2011 and i love that freeride dh bike
A good cheap bike will always be great
Arguably the most fun! 😉
Sam Pilgrim: It's the best bike ever!!!!!!!!!!!
Mongoose suspension is _NOT_ URT. It is an offshot of GT i-drive suspension. it is true that the BB moves with the swingarm, but it happens through a linkage and it works really well. GT was using this kind of suspension as late as mid tweens, if I recall correctly.
Also - complaining about weight of a bike with a monster-t ( 4,5kg of fork ) when 2.0kg lyriks and 2.2kg totems were available during that era is also not really fair.
Lastly, most of these can be salvaged with trading off their fairly high BB with HA, by using offset shock mounting hardware and dropping $20 for 800mm-ish bar.
Have a 2003 Stinky Dee with Boxxers on the front. Changed the wheels and brakes for something more decent and converted to 1x11. It's not as capable as the latest free/DH bikes for sure but doesn't stop me from keeping up with most. The boxxer on the front has also changed the Head angle to 64 degrees so I'd say blakes bike is roughly the same. love the Stinky Dee and is a perfect compliment to my Norco Manik, running 200mm dual crown on the front. Nothing wrong with the older bikes, just gotta ride them differently.
I have a 2008 Kona stinky that I got for about 450-500 USD, put some love into it and its a pretty fun free ride bike. Although the rear shock was garbage lol
I still have the original 2006 Kona Stinky and I still ride it every now and again. I cant let it go for some reason
Picked up an old 2002 norco atomik for £200 a couple months back and swapped some parts bin stuff onto it. I've no idea if it's that good as it's the only full sus bike I've had, but I wanted one back when I was at school and you can't go wrong with some cheap retro nostalgia!
Do a video upgrading / modernising this bike for an insight for people that might get something like this and want to ride it well. Things such as brakes, handlebars, stem maybe even drivetrain
It always amazes me how shitty bikes were in the mid 2000s, while dirt bikes had it all figured out in terms of suspension and geometry. My 2006 YZ250F was an incredible dirt bike all around, even by modern standards. Mountain bikes on the other hand were still in the stone age apparently!!
Full suspension bikes were hard back then. Hardtails were sorted out much earlier, oldschool Konas and Marins and things like that are still pretty good. Full sus from the 90s are terrible and 2000s were getting better slowly. It is not easy to invent a good system I guess
Right? Its an interesting comparison.
It took an extraordinarily long time to get MTB suspension to the point where it's affordable,light and good. To be fair it was an uphill battle. They were trying to make it 1/5th of the weight of dirt bike suspension ,while supporting 2/3rds the weight
Yrah basically any mx bike from mid 2000s up is great, and yamaha didnt change anything on the yz125 since 2005 to 2021
I never thought about this, but you are right, it took a while for mountain bikes to catch up. I used to race a 2007 YZ250F, and now I race a 2015 bike - one is carb, one is fuel-injected, but if we're looking at suspension and geometry - they're very, very similar.
Mtb has it figured out now similar to how dirt bikes god good back then
In 2013 i built up a Dabomb dirt bomb x frame from 2011. Put good stuff on it and updated when they broke or wore out. Rode it all the years til now when i bought an eduro bike. Absolute tank of a bike that one. Once in like 2018 the shock broke and i rented a scott gambler 27,5. Actually i did not think it was any better. The rear suspension is so bloody good on the dabomb it runs like butter! Will keep it forever even if it wont be ridden too much any more.
I know Neil likes his mullets, so could it be possible to slacken the HA a bit by fitting these bikes with a fork for a 27.5 wheel?
I did it to mine. The 26" fox 40 fork can actually fit a 27.5" wheel in it no problems and plenty of clearance.
Tbf combine that with a offset bushing to lower the bb height you added and further slacken it and it could work, the reach would still be tiny though
also the bb height is raised relative to rear axle and also you have toe overlap issues. Goes back to the ol’ 69er mtb of early 00s - the original mullets
They used to use 24" rears sometimes
Picked up a 2020 Calibre Triple B for £700 in March. Nothing wrong with it and has done me 200mi already including trips to Glenlivet.
Second hand is the way to go these days.
I picked up a norco Bigfoot (not the fat bike version) for £120 not long ago and although it’s far from a DH bike it is one of the many “ hardcore hard tail” bikes to come along in the early 2000s that seem to be capable of most things. with a few minor tweaks it is a way more confidence inspiring ride than my upgraded diamondback peak and it’s ideal as a loaner bike if a mate wants to come along on a ride 😀👍🏼
A second hand bike just has so much more character I feel
Ergo unforeseen mechanical problems lol. Fun fixes if you have money to spend though.
@@possibly8180 very true
The other day I brought a carerra banshee my first full suss budget bike and changed all the bearings on it. done the bottom bracket. done the headset it now rides like a bran new bike, I couldn't be happier as I don't think I could bring myself or my wallet to go any higher than 300 quid on a bike specially in these times.
The Stinky frame is worth £300. A £3000 all singing, all dancing carbon frame has a limited life. A Kona Stinky will outlive the human race. Those things are tanks.
Tell me about it. my 2003 is still shredding the local trails, albeit with a lot of mods from standard!
i just put 24" wheels on rear of older dh bikes slackens out the head angle
That stinky is iconic, amazed it didnt win the peoples choice
I got a 2009 one of these for £500 and it was in perfect condition, Besides from things you expect to be warn e.g caset. The suspension was great and the brakes were great. I would recommend if your on a budget but make sure its in good condition :D
Got mine for 200€ (isch 2000kr in swedish money), bought a totem 180 for 40€ and new brakes 120€. Bought a 27.5" nukeproof front wheel and thats it! 😁 Third fastest on my local hill 😅 but its is way to short its a 17" large but bars 780 barley pass the sadel haha
Kona of those days = ripped of steerer tube :)
It wasn't downhill but I was given thru freecycle (a website where people give things away for free to avoid landfill) a dmr trailstar with hope m4 brakes, mavic rims, hope hubs, manitou sherman forks and a dodgy saddle. Bargin
Had a 2007 kona stinky black frame with an 888 fork on it and 8 inch rear travel sus that bike was stretched out more than it was supposed to be really cause of the cane creek headset so thats why i fit the 8 inch rear kinda stood it back up. It had a high center of gravity after all that was said and done but man. It huckkkked. And i never smashed my bottom bracket on that bike. As soon as i got my canfield jedi i started smashing the bottom bracket until i got used to taking better lines or hopping a bit.
I don’t know about your local FBM, but every one of those bikes would be $1500+ on mine 😂
Would love to own that Kona if you guys are parting with it
Buy a frame from 2013 for £500 I got a cube two 15 frame then build it up with morden parts best thing I bought when I finished my project it’s cost me just over a grand just I can’t stop throwing my money at it lol
Built an old school astrix stryke. Love it and still shred with it 🤟😂🤟
Love listening to him gasp for air
Pedant point: The Mongoose isn't a URT. The BB is floating, on URT's the BB is fixed around the chain stay effectively making it rigid when you stand up. That said, it's still garbage. :D
Got a 2008 Kona dawg deluxe last year for 350cad ended up spending another 1100cad on rear shock rebuild(fox rp2) new front fork new front and rear sram brakes sets and new 180mm rotors front and rear. I spent more then I was hoping but damn does it ever ride nice.
I always have a dh bike they are so much fun and my banshee scream from 03 is still current in geo and I sized up when I bought it new
I've got a full sus commencal dh 6.10 supreme going for cheap,would love to see it in one of these type of videos!
That marzocchi monster t looks nice!
Got Corsair maelstrom 2011 Large. highpivot pulley . Marzocchi 888s 09
and roco wc shock. and its 64degree hA
rides awesomely good for 800bucks
actually i has a 2009 canfield Jedi with fox 40 and Avalanche rear shock, i9 hubs, formula one brakes, saint cranks, all for $800...and i sold it two years ago like the jerk that i am. such an awesome bike it was
I got a Specilized Rock Hopper Elite for £200, 2018 model, my mate just bought a Wyhte and wanted rid of it!!
Mmh 69° yeah, but with what fork? Cause if the length is not the same you are going to change the angles quite a bit: for example, have a very old Cannondale Jekyll 1000 from 2004, just to play with it i tried a talas 32 with 150mm travel, and got 65.7° degrees of head angle, with quite some stability and the headtube on those old Cannondales is beefy even by today standards.
Mostly the point with older bike is: you are going to get into complicated life mostly, cause the standards have changed so much, especially in the last 10 years.
Loved this video!👌🏻 Those old bikes bring back so much nostalgia!🙌🏻 I think you should get "Needles" in or on Skype to talk about his time with this epic piece of s**t!👍🏻😂 It would make a great episode!👌🏻🤔
Heres what i done. I went 2013 its old yes but heres the catch. I ride a canfield jedi upgraded to fox 40 in front and marzi rear sus. Its upgraded to hydraulic elixr brakes. I used to ride a 2007 kona stinky i had the 888 fork on that and fox rear sus with a lock out because i used that as as all around. The kina also had elixrs on it. Before that one i had a 1998 kona stinky that i had a super t fork on and fox dh rear suspension. It was also fitted with elixr brakes. What can i say i love the elixrs lol. But they were all very capable bikes. But i am glad i upgraded to the canfield to give it a more stretched out feel because its slacker by quite a bit than either if the konas.
Had a giant glory was in it 1500 cad did a fork used new brakes cassette and derailleur on sale and it was great but too small for me at the time most bike maxed out at sz large
You should also test entry-level hardtail mountain bikes like Trek Roscoe and Marlin which beginners like me can afford.
Watch hardtail party he has a video on the trek roscoe
Broke people problems
@@LCNismo I'm not broke. I'm a student so I can't afford a full suspension. Besides I'm a beginner so it's better to start with these bikes. In future, I will be able to afford it so then I won't mind spending over three thousand pounds.
@@LCNismoIf you say that, then I would be happy getting 500$ from you so that I can buy a better bike 😅
How easy would a frame swap be? aside from worn brakes and broken pieces how easy would it be to buy a modern shockless frame online and swap everything else?
In germany the monster t fork on the kona costs over 1000 bucks alone xD
I'd like to see a similar video for dirt jump or jump bikes which don't get much love or attention. Overbuilt hardtails with short wheelbases and overly strong for tricks etc. Then I'd like to see them used for the wrong disciplines like XC and DH. My Deore equipped Saracen Xile was only £40 s/hand and in perfect nick.
The devinci people still ride. I have not seen a mongoose in person in years. But the Kona I seen lately a friend was riding one. He bought it for the parts soon after he stripped it for another frame now he rides a old Ellsworth bike which to me is great
I have an old Whistler Joyride edition Kona Stab. it definitely cost me more then 300 pounds it's a sweet bike though!
You should have noted that painted bikes can hide cracks. I would not buy a repainted frame.
My 2021 xc hardtail has wider bars than a freeride Kona MTB and with 68 degrees head angle lol how times have changed.
Yeah boi
Yo! 🤘
Sizing up is pretty smart for this actually...I wouldn't mind a vintage DH bike
Is it though? I mean 26 inch wheels don’t feel as big, fast and safe compared to larger 29ers, which you would need the longer reach for, to further enhance this effect. I mean how did we ride all those „cramped“ 26ers back than then? Since 26ers are naturally playful, I would stick to regular sizing. Upsizing - if told to our past selves from the 26er era - would sound borderline silly, wouldn’t it?
I’ll buy that divinchi bike gmbn!
I’ve got a 2003 trek diesel I’ll swap for the back downhill bike lol
i've only been riding a year and spent most of that year on a 2010 kona stab. it was ok to learn on but i'm now on a spesh enduro which is waaaaaaay better!
What would you say the biggest difference for you was with regards to your riding when you upgraded?
@@ivwshane first thing i noticed was how unfit i was! with the DH bike i was walking the ups and not really getting that much riding done. also it opened up a lot more places i could ride. in terms of actually going down, not much difference, my new bike is 160 fork 27.5 wheels it defo feels a little easier over mild rough than the 200mm 26 in DH Bike. but the biggest difference....Dropper post!!!
@@DownhillDesireMTB Buy an e-bike and have the best of both worlds. Retain your crappy fitness, but still ride up the hill. No need to walk the bike, but also, no need to be in shape to ride up.
@@YFZriderdude15 believe me i've thought about it! my mate has one and i'm being left behind!! lol
@@DownhillDesireMTB I thought I hated them until I bought one on clearance. Best decision I made regarding bikes. I get out riding way more than I did before because I don't need a shuttle now.
my mtn bike was about 1100 usd. thats roughly one pound worth of dope here in Michigan.
You should try make a bike with rear suspension and no suspension at the front.
Never heard if skeletals? What? Im barely 25 and most of my old bikes have had skeletals lol i inly started upgrading brakes when i got up to the 2007 kona stinky. I out avid elixrs on that bike and never experienced and brake fade in parks so ive been running elixrs ever since. They have better stopping brakes but ive noticed those higher end brake tends to get fade in the parks i ride. Really steep stuff.
@Global Mountain Bike Network -I'll take the DaVinci if you're trying to get rid of it. :)
any chance you would be willing to sale the monster t's off the Kona bike to me I am in Canada
I want to buy that DaVinci for the price that you paid I only ask that you clean up that front fork and put some fresh oil in there how much would this cost me in full detail with shipping
Plus I would like to have your names on each bike that was used in other words yes I would like to purchase all three but it would be a slow process
That stinky front tyre is on the wrong way round!!!😂😂
im 6'3". what size frame do i need?
Head over to Matt Jones' channel and see exactly what the Kona Stinky is really capable of lol
Why try make them sound cheaper in this video. Yesterday blakes cost 350 richies cost 500 and yours was 550.
Man I wish I could get my hands on one of these cheap downhill bikes
430mm for a reach on a medium is weird.
my 2015 wilson is 411mm, same size
YOO THATS A MONSTER T
but you cant have a replacement derailleur hanger for a devinci wilson of those generation !!!
So you can ride a $300 downhill bike after you add a thousand dollars or more of upgrades to it?
With Blake taking home the Kona - I'm courious what he ends up doing with it. :-)
"URT design" where is doddy to proper explain things.. Neil rode gt sanction and probably gt force with AOS system yet calls the mongoose URT? Although at least he said there are some linkages there
Its not my Wilson but if you want rid ill take it! 🤣
Someone stole my Da Vinci bike, Neil… 😇
I offer my bike for review. It is possible to exchange for your mongoose bike from this video. I have a hardtail, I drove the Mega Avalanche 2023 race in Russia on it. Next season I'll ride your bike and shoot a video, I think there will be interesting content.
Can we get this video re-shot / edited to take out the breathy intake of air affectation?
It is good because it is not a rockrider ;)
its not mine but i will happily pick up the bike for money
front tyre is mounted wrong way
D321 front rim
could i have one of the bike my bike is rubbish and i would love to try some better trails and jumps
Try mongosse boot r next
Shit loads of your viewers would probably love one of those 'bad' bikes. Seeing as I can't afford car money on a mountain bike I know I would. Strip down and rebuild I'd be like a pig in shit.
Let's be honest they're not 500 quid downhill bikes from the modern era they're a grand worth of bike back in the early 2000s