DJ Newb

[RICOCHET]

Hey Guys,
Hate to Hijack the thread but I have a few questions about Jump Bikes, I'm looking at building my own (2nd hand frame maybe some new parts) Yeti DJ Short, I'm going to be using it on the street and for a bit of free ride and jumps. Anyways I'm doing it to help with some of my techniques when I race/ride XC/Trails with my lines and hitting the jumps on the trails.

Is it worth going geared or single speed (I'm thinking single)
Also what travel fork should I be looking for?
And what sort of tires would you run tubeless or tubed?
Any tips on Brake setups etc.

I'm not going to be doing crazy stuff I just want a fun bike to beat around on.

 

[eljordo407]

Definitely go single speed, when I ran gears they seemed to slip at the last second and i consequently landed on the top tube of my frame (without my feet touching the ground...)

Standard fork travel for DJ bikes is 100mm or 80mm depending on what fork you get.

Run tubes as it doesn't make a huge difference in weight and it's easier to repair than if the sealant gives way and starts leaking air...

For brakes I use an Avid BB5 with an odyssey monolever (I'm going to get a BB7 soon I heard they work just as good as hydro's)

Hope I helped

 

[yakuza857]

if you set up gears right they will be fine. just get a small casstte and a small rear mech.
for brakes i would go for front and rear mid range hydros.
forks, not sure on what the yeti uses but i think it would be around 80-120mm range
if your doing dj jumps i would go tubes.

if you want more of a street bike just go single speed, rear brake only and tubes.
also imo steel is way better for street and jumps, alloy may be lighter but just dosent feel as good.

 

[RICOCHET]

Thanks guys,
The majority of my riding will be dirt, however, sometimes I see cool stair gaps I wouldn't mind hitting. As for the weight tubed thing, I'm not worried to much, just prefer to get the best of what I need. I am also leaning towards a shorter travel front fork as I want a fairly balanced bike

 

[singlespeedfreeride]

for brakes a rear bb5 road is more than enough for me. same power as a bb7 but less adjustments.

singlespeed is much better for dirt, less things to break, less maintenance and cheaper, and if you want to learn barspins your not going to have to ghetto mount your shifter to the downtube. same principle for front brakes, you just dont need them on dirt and are a hassle when you want to get barspins. if youve got any brake control at all you can stop before the next jump using only a rear brake

fork travel has a lot to do with the frame. general rule is dont run anything more than 100mm, although i find 75mm feels great on dirt as it gives you sharper steering and a nice low front end

 

[RICOCHET]

forgive my retardnis, but how do you run a rear brake and still do bar spins? I'll probably run front and back till I get the confidence up.

 

[singlespeedfreeride]

longer cable. most stock cables are long enough, but front brake cables are almost always too short and tend to snag or things a lot more. you can run the front brake cable through the top cap but its just more expensive without a significant gain

 

[song]

O O remember the bar size! pending on what you want to do most on your dj it's best if you choose the right bars. Considering the amount on rise, angle of sweep, length etc. Say if you want to do lots of Dirt jumping and you want some good stability you would choose some low riser, extra wide bars.

When it comes to gears again depends on what you want to do.... drive train wise i like to run a short cage derrailluer.

Best if you keep everything nice and tidy! i.e you want to zip tie your cables properly, i've zip tied my rear brake and shifter cables together to make it cleaner.

Another golden rule i've learnt was keeping your bike silent... that is get parts and fix parts to stop them making sounds, rattling while you jump, 'cause a soundless bike gives you confidence!

 

[singlespeedfreeride]

yeah its hard to recommend bars though as sweep and rise is mainly preference. id run no more than 2" of rise, anything below will be good. a low front end gets you into a good riding position and gives you more control, i also find that ditching the thick and squishy grips also helps.

for me 53mm rise, 710mm with a 9 degree backsweep works very well, but then again i have a very high bottom bracket so keep in mind that the lower your bb is, the higher the stack will be