# Riding entry-level hardtail down stairs - and how NOT to break my bike?



## GregTKY (Jun 2, 2014)

Hi All

Haven't owned a bike for a long time. Recently interested in a MTB mainly for urban use and some side-road type stuff. I live in Tokyo and plan to zip around on hard, man-made surfaces, and ride down stairs occasionally. Also, a couple of small jumps/drops from maybe 1 foot. I'm not into speed at all, so won't be ripping it up.

I'm quite interested in a Scott Aspect 27.5 model because of its price and relatively good reviews. But I'm concerned that its frame will not hold up to what I want to do.

Can someone tell me more about the durability limits of an entry-level MTB, and particularly the Scott Aspect if possible, in relation to what I want to do?

Thanks.


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## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

It'll be fine.

The biggest risk is wheels. Especially since you're riding concrete. But a foot is not very far.


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## eb1888 (Jan 27, 2012)

And you need a good fork, not a Suntour 'X' series.


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## ou2mame (Apr 23, 2010)

Id go with a dirt jumper style bike for urban bashing

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## 6sharky9 (Aug 14, 2011)

ou2mame said:


> Id go with a dirt jumper style bike for urban bashing
> 
> Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


I agree with that statement..Get a bike intended for its usage..A mountain bike isn't an urban assault bike...A BMX bike isn't a road bike etc..

Either way you need good insurance..lol


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## GregTKY (Jun 2, 2014)

6sharky9 said:


> I agree with that statement..Get a bike intended for its usage..A mountain bike isn't an urban assault bike...A BMX bike isn't a road bike etc..


Thanks for the reply - I agree in principle and would certainly get a high-end bike for the job if I had the cash, but... I'm not going to be doing a Danny Macaskill 24/7. I'm not an aggressive rider either and will spend 95% of my time on regular routes - urban or 'down by the river' type trails.

However, for the few times I ride down some stairs at a controlled speed or drop off a larger than normal curb, I want to know that the bike will stay in one piece.


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## Calvin27 (Mar 25, 2014)

Two word - Fat bike. Stairs were made for it.


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## Burt4x4 (Feb 21, 2013)

Buy the bike that feels and rides the best for you and RIDE. Next step, start saving to upgrade your wheelset....research save and RIDE..that way if you taco your front wheel you already have begun saving for a new wheelset..maybe something welded and a bit wider stronger....


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## slapheadmofo (Jun 9, 2006)

GregTKY said:


> However, for the few times I ride down some stairs at a controlled speed or drop off a larger than normal curb, I want to know that the bike will stay in one piece.


You'll be perfectly fine with a bike like the Scott or something similar. The only 'upgrade' you really NEED to do IMO is to run your tire pressure a bit higher than you would on the trail. It wouldn't hurt to put a set of pavement-friendly tires on it either, something like a Maxxis Holy Roller, etc, but whatever, the knobs will wear down with some mileage anyway.

Street/park bikes are really fun, but nothing you're going to want to put miles on regularly, unless you like riding standing up everywhere you go. Though there's a lot of hype about "Fadbikes" these days, it's mostly that - hype. If you're not riding in deep snow or on a beach regularly, there're much better tools for every other job. A 'regular' XC/trail oriented mountain bike will offer you the best performance/versatility/value IME.


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## GregTKY (Jun 2, 2014)

Burt4x4 said:


> start saving to upgrade your wheelset....research save and RIDE..that way if you taco your front wheel you already have begun saving for a new wheelset





eb1888 said:


> And you need a good fork, not a Suntour 'X' series.





slapheadmofo said:


> You'll be perfectly fine with a bike like the Scott or something similar. The only 'upgrade' you really NEED to do IMO is to run your tire pressure a bit higher than you would on the trail. It wouldn't hurt to put a set of pavement-friendly tires on it either, something like a Maxxis Holy Roller, etc,


This is all good info and what I'm looking for. It seems that the emphasis is on wheels/tyres, front wheel, and forks. Are these the components that generally take the most abuse? Nobody has mentioned the frame, so I'm assuming that these other parts are likely to fail before the frame does. Is this a reasonable assumption? Or is it possible to break the frame without trashing anything else?


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## ou2mame (Apr 23, 2010)

What you break will really depend on what you do. The moving parts will obviously break easier, especially if you use them outside of their designed purpose. Such as suntour x series forks down stairs and multiple foot drops. Wheels is hit or miss. Hit a cheap wheel the wrong way and you'll taco it, or break spokes, ruin a hub, etc. How cheap you want to go is your call, but you aren't going to find a purpose built bike made for what you want to do, that is also a commuter bike. 

Basically, we can all sit around and hypothesize about what will break when, but it's like trying to figure out what's going to break first on a Walmart bike going down a mountain... It's not what will break, it's about how badly you will get hurt when it breaks lol 

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## joel787 (Nov 21, 2011)

get a dirt jumper with gears

2013 Norco Magnum Bike - Reviews, Comparisons, Specs - Mountain Bikes - Vital MTB
2014 KHS DJ 50 Bike - Reviews, Comparisons, Specs - Mountain Bikes - Vital MTB


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## slapheadmofo (Jun 9, 2006)

I would go for a dirt jump type bike if you're looking to ride somewhere to session 'street' style stuff, like stair sets and random things that might be jumped, ride some skatepark or find some local dirt jumps, etc. I really like them and have a few, but they wouldn't be my pick for the riding you describe. A plain old no nonsense hardtail 'XC' or 'trail' bike really sounds like it would suit your needs to me. I lived in the city when I first got into riding, and wanting something that could handle going down some stairs or taking a shortcut off the beaten track here and there is what made me decide on a MTB. I really wouldn't sweat suspension performance much, and I highly doubt you're ever going to have a problem with almost any frame. If you find after time you get into riding and start pushing the limits of your equipment, by then you'll know it's limitations.

Tokyo looks awesome, always wanted to visit, never got the chance.


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## theboomboomcars (Sep 10, 2007)

You can always get a road bike.


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## root (Jan 24, 2006)

LOL, beat me to it with that vid. That said, a decent hardtail MTB should work fine. I've beat on various ones through the years trialsing. Things I've broken is bent cranks, bent forks, bent rear gears, dented rims, broken axles. I did break one frame, head tube stress fractured and cracked off. Prob better off with a full chromo frame. Aluminum if made cheaply prob wont hold up as well.
Messing around with urban, the first thing to go will prob be your wheels/rims, esp if its entry level machine produced stuff. I hand laced my own wheels, wide 36 hole rims laced three cross to top quality hubs with straight guage ss spokes and brass nipples. Lace em as tight as possible. They'll hold up to a lot. And if you go disc brake, dents and minor wobbles in rims wont keep you from riding. Denting rims usually mean pinch flat tube though, tubeless was not around when I was doing this, I'm not sure how tubless holds up to this kind of stuff. Run the fattest tires you can. 
Riding stairs and small drops any decent MTB will do fine. They wont likely break from a single event, Just keep your eyes on the frame for stress cracks.


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## GregTKY (Jun 2, 2014)

ou2mame said:


> Id go with a dirt jumper style bike for urban bashing
> 
> Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk





joel787 said:


> get a dirt jumper with gears
> 
> 2013 Norco Magnum Bike - Reviews, Comparisons, Specs - Mountain Bikes - Vital MTB
> 2014 KHS DJ 50 Bike - Reviews, Comparisons, Specs - Mountain Bikes - Vital MTB


Now that I'v learned a whole lot more :thumbsup:, these posts are starting to look good. I don't think these 2 models are available here, but I took a quick look at the Scott Voltage YZ 20 as a comparison, and it looks really similar to the Scott Aspect 750. The only real noticeable differences to my untrained eyes are 26 inch wheels on the Voltage and slightly different frame shape/geometry - but nothing major.

So I figure if I pop the seat up on the Voltage, it will ride very similar to the Aspect, except (hopefully) with a more durable structure?


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## Joules (Oct 12, 2005)

GregTKY said:


> Now that I'v learned a whole lot more :thumbsup:, these posts are starting to look good. I don't think these 2 models are available here, but I took a quick look at the Scott Voltage YZ 20 as a comparison, and it looks really similar to the Scott Aspect 750. The only real noticeable differences to my untrained eyes are 26 inch wheels on the Voltage and slightly different frame shape/geometry - but nothing major.
> 
> So I figure if I pop the seat up on the Voltage, it will ride very similar to the Aspect, except (hopefully) with a more durable structure?


Those DJ bikes are a terrible choice for what you say you want to do. If you were getting a bike for just urban stairs/drops etc, sure. Pedaling one for even a mile sucks, notice how they only come in one or two sizes, and if it's 2, the only difference is the length/reach? Unless you are a little kid, they are going to be too small and low to get the seat to a pedaling height. 
in general, the more specialized you get with a bike, the more it's going to suck for everything else. In this case, a bike that's designed to nothing but tricks, jumps... is not going to do anything else well.

On a "regular" hardtail, the part you're going to have problems with is the rear wheel; you'd have to f up pretty bad to do anything to the front. Stock forks on low end bikes suck, but suspension that doesn't suck is expensive. Get the biggest fairly slick tires that fit (holy rollers or k-rads work), and keep them inflated closer to max pressure than you would for riding off road.


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## NYrr496 (Sep 10, 2008)

How about a Surly Instigator 2.0? 
Sounds like exactly what you need... Little pricey but cool as hell.


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## Bruce in SoCal (Apr 21, 2013)

The laws of physics tell us that force is proportional to velocity (speed). The faster you hit an obstacle, the greater the force with which you hit it. Fast down stairs is harder on a bike than slow. Dropping off a curb is harder on a bike than rolling it. Plus good technique also reduces the force during an impact. If you really are going to ride as you say, most any bike will hold up. But, as others have said, a DJ bike is only good for that. OTOH, if you are going to hit big curbs and stairs hard, fast and often, the cumulative stresses will add up.


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## slapheadmofo (Jun 9, 2006)

Bruce in SoCal said:


> The laws of physics tell us that force is proportional to velocity (speed). The faster you hit an obstacle, the greater the force with which you hit it. Fast down stairs is harder on a bike than slow. Dropping off a curb is harder on a bike than rolling it. Plus good technique also reduces the force during an impact. If you really are going to ride as you say, most any bike will hold up. But, as others have said, a DJ bike is only good for that. OTOH, if you are going to hit big curbs and stairs hard, fast and often, the cumulative stresses will add up.


This can actually work kind of counterintuitively, where it's jusally a lot smoother to 'hit' a descending type features with more speed. What you say is true about the type of 'hit' that involves running into a protruding object/obstacle, but stairs and small drops are way smoother moving at a decent clip. You are not actually 'hitting' much if anything on the way down, so there's really not a lot of impact involved. It's all in the vectors yo.


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## GregTKY (Jun 2, 2014)

Joules said:


> notice how they only come in one or two sizes, and if it's 2, the only difference is the length/reach? Unless you are a little kid, they are going to be too small and low to get the seat to a pedaling height
> 
> On a "regular" hardtail, the part you're going to have problems with is the rear wheel


I actually never realized how much smaller they were until I looked at the specs. The pictures on websites without something to compare them with make them look normal sized. So thanks! I going to be ruling out dirt jumpers!

Also, any recommendations for (affordable) wheels that can take a beating? Not too concerned about weight. Also, will a wider rim be better than a narrower rim for overall robustness?


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## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

You don't even have a bike yet. Maybe wait on shopping for wheels.

If I read your intent right - getting around town, which may happen to involve the occasional curb or stairset - you really don't need anything special.


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## abelfonseca (Dec 26, 2011)

Your bike will be fine. Just Ride!


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## StuntmanMike (Jul 2, 2012)

When I was a kid my friends and I rode our rigid Huffy's and Team Murray's down stairs all the time and never broke anything. You should be fine on most any bike that isn't from a Dept. store.


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## ou2mame (Apr 23, 2010)

Me and my friends broke a lot of huffys maybe you were doing it wrong lol

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## StuntmanMike (Jul 2, 2012)

^^^ Maybe so!


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## ou2mame (Apr 23, 2010)

You have to run into trees and throw them in canals.. Make a game out of fishing them out. Then bash them around and have contests to see how many pieces fall off

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## GregTKY (Jun 2, 2014)

Guys, thanks for all the input. I've learnt a lot from this thread alone. I'll probably end up going with the Scott Aspect 750 and just ride it like you say. Then when I feel the need to upgrade I'll be back with more questions. 

Cheers!!


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